Christmas cards and the little things in life

Christmas, for me, is all about kindness and small gestures that can give another a reason to smile. Christmas, for me, is about love and happiness and togetherness. I've always loved making cards and sending them to people I love. I've always loved the process of deciding what gifts to buy and how to wrap them.

This year, I was heading towards Christmas with a heavy heart and mind. I was lost in life and feeling quite purpose-less. So I asked my friends on Twitter and Facebook to send me their address if they would like a Christmas card. To be completely honest, this wasn't to make other people happy. It was because I needed my life to be something. I needed to keep myself busy.

So I made the cards and card-making is always fun. I made sure each card was different from the rest and made envelopes in various colors. People I had met, people I hadn't met, people I speak to a lot, people I rarely speak to; it didn't matter who was getting the card. All that mattered was that making them, deciding who got which and spending a long and hot hour in the post office pasting stamps, made me feel alive again.

I felt like shouting at the world, "look at me! I'm alive and I have something to do. I'm not wasting my days sleeping! All these people have given me a reason to be alive and do something that makes me happy!"

I expected the Christmas card project to result in a messy table, bits and pieces of paper everywhere and glitter that seemed to be glued to my skin. I expected hours spent deciding who got the cards and writing addresses on envelopes.

What I didn't expect was how happy the entire project made me feel. How happy I felt buying Christmas stamps and pasting them. How happy I felt when I heard them land at the bottom of the postbox.

But most of all, I didn't expect the happiness I felt when others received the cards. I honestly didn't think that such a simple gesture could spread so much happiness. I mean, it doesn't take long to make a card. And these weren't big cards. Yet, they were enough to make people smile.

Something else I didn't expect out of this whole card-making and card-sending deal was receiving cards from people. At no point did I ask for cards in return, but some did ask for my address. And whether they were store-bought or handmade, they made me feel like I used to as a kid, the morning of Christmas, running to the Christmas tree. Whenever I heard the postman ringing the bell, I just couldn't stop myself from checking the postbox, expecting mail.

Because in those envelopes were love and I was happy that Christmas 2015 didn't end up being a time I wasn't looking forward to. I'm so glad people gave me a reason to smile.

Sometimes we ignore the little things in life. We aim too high. We want fireworks and unicorns and rainbows. We want to spend bags of cash because it makes us feel like we have done enough. That we've done something.

And it's good to spend a lot. The five thousand that is easily spent at a good restaurant will help a poor family so much. The bags of clothes, books or dry rations given to them will be the best gift they ever receive. A dansala will feed so many hungry people. Huge or expensive gifts wrapped beautifully will make your family happy.

But so will something small. So will a packet of lunch for a hungry beggar. You can still make a poor child happy by giving her some stickers or some pencils. You can make small gifts for your family. And cards... You can always send someone a card and receive the best gift; knowing you've made someone happy.

This Christmas, I was broke. I had very little money and I just knew it won't be as fun or great as Christmas usually is. But I managed to make the most of it. And at the end of the day, it didn't matter that the gifts under the tree were small or that my room was a mess of colored paper, cardboard, glitter, glue and ribbon. None of it mattered because I was happy and I knew that I had, in someway, made other people happy too.

That's the best gift, isn't it? Happiness, with no strings attached. Happiness that will consume you fully. Happiness that you can spread among each other. Happiness.