bracelets…gloves and scarves…perfume and lotions…books…artwork…
I overthink staff gifts every. single. trip.
This trip was no different in that respect.
I gathered cute little tote bags. I gathered bracelets for nannies and handmade sleeve covers for them to wear to protect their clothes when they are working. I gathered chocolate bars and a postcard and a very cool OH HAPPY DAY necklace made by a talented friend on the team. I had all the gifts ready to go and then one week before the trip, it dawned on me.
They are getting ready to celebrate their biggest holiday of the year. We just celebrated our biggest holiday of the year. What if we took a gift to honor the timing of this trip, a gift related to our holiday, a gift that would serve a few purposes perhaps.
That’s how baby Jesus made it into my suitcase.
Baby Jesus 2 times over.
We gave all the staff gifts I had planned. We gave lots and lots of supplies and toys and therapy tools. Ayis had asked us if they could photocopy some of the games we had used before we left so that they could try to replicate them. They clapped their hands when I told them we were leaving them at the end of the week. We gave them the RMB equivalent to $1000 cash to use wherever it was most needed. But rather than accept the cash donation, the staff requested that we go with them to purchase $1000 of snacks, yogurt, and juice for the children. Apparently, they have an allowance for those things from the state, but they want to be able to give the children more that what the quota is. And, as is the Chinese way, we then had to pose for a picture just to confirm all that I just explained.
Yes, those are directors holding light-saber-looking bubble wands. Yes, that’s me holding some strawberry flavored capsules of yogurt-like substance. Note my daughter’s very large smile as she held in her giggle at the mysterious dried things she was holding.
After that, I took a deep breath and then presented just two more gifts in a very formal, ceremonial way.
You are preparing to celebrate Spring Festival, your most important holiday. WE just celebrated OUR OWN most important holiday. Do you know what it is? Yes, that’s right–Christmas! In honor of the timing of our trip, we wanted to give you something very special. This is a traditional Christmas decoration called a nativity. American families set nativities up in their homes for Christmas to remind them and teach their children about the Christmas story. You already have a Christmas tree which is so fun to see! We brought this nativity as a gift for your orphanage that you can set up under your the tree this year and in the future. We also brought this doll that was made by a friend of mine. It is a baby Jesus doll. In America, at Christmas time, children might hold this doll and rock it like this while they sing.
And, then we sang. I cradled that Baby Jesus, and the Americans in that lobby started singing. Right there in the middle of the lobby of a Chinese orphanage, we sang Away in a Manger while the staff stood by with big smiles until we sang the last “asleep on the hay” at which point they broke out in applause. Then one-by-one all of us helped set up the nativity under their tree. The tree that had made us giggle a few days earlier now looked like one of the most beautiful Christmas trees I had ever seen in my life.
