This Christmas season I learned a valuable life lesson about the true spirit of giving, love and happiness.
The lesson is this: When you want to give the gift of true happiness, when you want to see the faces of your loved ones light up with pure joy, there is one and only one thing in this world that you need to give them. It’s just three simple little words: Cold. Hard. Cash.
I’ve always lived a life focused on fun experiences and connecting with loved ones rather than spending all my waking hours chasing dollars. I mean, I’m a print journalist, for heaven’s sake.
My viewpoint changed, however, after a lesson that was taught to me, as all my life lessons are these days, by my two young children.
The evening was winding down at a family Christmas gathering this holiday season when my two boys – ages 2 and 5 – were both presented with one final gift: a cute little felt stocking, kind of like something you’d find hung over the mantelpiece of a wealthy raccoon.
Inside each stocking was a folded piece of paper. My older son couldn’t read what was written on it, but he knew it was a cheque, and that meant money. But how much money?
The total was announced. It wasn’t an obscene amount, but it was more than his little hands had ever held before. His sharp brain immediately converted it into his preferred form of currency: Lego. He knew that with the current state of the TSX, global brick prices and the surging Lego Index, the piece of paper in his hand was worth a pirate ship, two fire trucks and at least three Han Solos.
That’s when it happened, quite possibly the greatest celebration I’ve ever witnessed in person. My son is a good receiver of gifts. At Christmases and birthdays, even when presented with a practical yet unexciting gift like socks or life insurance, he somehow manages to stop and thank the person who gave it to him before moving on to the next present. This little monetary gift, however, took him to a whole new level.
“Yeeeeesssssssssss!” my son yelled, immediately flying into jumping bean mode like Jim Carrey in The Mask. He was like a symphony of celebration, every few seconds adding another layer.
First he was screaming and jumping. Then he was screaming and jumping and picking up the stocking and throwing it into the ceiling over and over. Then he was screaming and jumping and throwing the stocking into the ceiling and slyly shouting out all the bad words he’d picked up on the school bus since starting kindergarten. I could hear the bad words but there was no way I could step in to stop the celebration now – if I tried to stick my nose into that whirlwind I would have been eating Christmas dinner through a straw.
But I didn’t want to stop it. It was an incredible show. When I recall the celebration now the song “Ode to Joy” has been added as background music.
And it was contagious. Almost instantly my two-year-old son was doing the same celebration even though he had no idea what he was celebrating (he has such a poor grasp of the value of money he could practically be the CEO of B.C. Ferries). But the little guy knew his brother was more excited than a zombie at a free brains buffet, so he lost his mind too.
Before long we were all jumping and laughing and dancing. My wife and I resisted for a little while but eventually we couldn’t help it. The celebration did, after all, last a good five minutes.
By the end of it my son was just walking around in a delirious daze mumbling “oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my goodness.”
It made me rethink my stance on money. I’ve watched It’s a Wonderful Life over and over and it’s near impossible to stop from tearing up at the end when the whole town comes into Jimmy Stewart’s house. But why do we always cry at the end? I’ll tell you why. It sure as heck isn’t Zuzu’s petals.
Ask yourself this: which would you rather receive at Christmas – a couple of flower petals, a bleeding lip, or a Big Basket of CA$H!?!
Now I may be wrong about this. In fact, my son didn’t stay happy forever. By the next morning he was furious that he couldn’t spend his money Right Now. That may, however, have just been a speed bump on the road to eternal happiness. I probably need to test out this theory further.
How about this? If you would like to help me get to the bottom of this, why don’t you send me a big wad of cash, care of the North Shore News. One year from now I’ll write about how happy each of those dollars made me. Remember now, this is for science. And your happiness depends upon it.
Happy holidays everyone, and a Money New Year!
Andy Prest is the sports editor for the North Shore News and writes a biweekly humour/lifestyle column.He can be reached via email at [email protected].
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