I hope you all had a lovely Christmas with your families. I certainly did. We had a very small gathering this year, just immediate family. The youngest woke us up in the living room pillow fort to open up present. Shortly after, my parents came over for Christmas breakfast, (although for old people like them, ten am is lunch.) We exchange more gifts with them.

There’s a funny thing about gift giving. One thing that never ceases to surprise me, is how it’s so hard to tell what people will like. I’m sure all parents have experienced ordering something that comes in a big cardboard box, and having your toddler spend all day playing in it, while he or she ignores the expensive toys you bought for them. What I didn’t expect was how it applies to adults, even old one like my dad.

My dad is a hard person to shop for, because all his hobbies are really specialized, and he’s got just about everything a guy could use for them. He’s not really into normal things. Each year, I think I get him the perfect present, and each year I find out that he doesn’t touch them. One time I got him a a DVD set of the speeches of a certain famous politician that happens to be Dad’s favorite speaker. When I visited him around Easter, I saw it was still in the plastic. Another year I got him the audio version of a Stephen Hawking book that he had been trying to finish reading for about six years. That was two years ago. He still hasn’t finished it. Finally this year, I’ve gotten tired of thinking too hard, and just got him the first book off the shelf that caught my eye. It was actually a two set of books, a thin book called The Tao of Pooh, and it’s big font sequel, The Te of Piglet. They are philosophical books that use A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh characters to show lessons in the eastern philosophy of Taoism. I honestly didn’t think Dad would care for it. He never uses any gift I get him. I got it because Dad used to read Winnie the Pooh  to my siblings and me growing up, and I figured it was a cute gesture, even if he never reads it.

Well guess what? Right after breakfast/lunch/brunch, he stuck his nose in it and started reading bits of The Tao of Pooh to my kids. Then long after my kids realized its not a regular Winnie the Pooh book and got bored, Dad continued to read it on my couch on his own. This morning, my mom called to say that Dad finished the first book already and was obsessed with it. Dad apparently loves the concepts of the book such as “effortless living.” Taoism (and Pooh) teaches to live without trying too hard to change what’s around you. Basically, they say to “go with the flow.” They say that you get the best results when you stop trying and just allow things to happen. Just like a kid in a cardboard box, Dad preferred the thing I didn’t put any thought into over all the presents that I planned very thoroughly. I guess the lesson is don’t think too hard, just do.