It's All the Same

It's the gift-giving season. That makes me think of this story about my daughter.
We got invited to a birthday party for a couple of her friends -- twins. We picked up a little something for each, some bath paint and magic towels. Nothing special, but things all four-year-old girls enjoy. As my daughter picked out a towel for each of her friends, she grabbed ones she herself would love. One was Rapunzel, and one was Doc McStuffins. I tried to talk her into at least picking two princesses, but she declined, saying she liked these. I just had to hope her friends did, too.

Of course, among the hundreds (maybe not quite that many, but it feels like it) of gift bags I own, I didn't have two the right size that were similar. I picked out several girly ones and let my daughter choose which two to use. These were her pick. She picked one because she liked the flowers, and one because it had hearts. Okay.
I don't think the girls even noticed what their gifts were wrapped in, so I probably shouldn't have given it a second thought. But I did. I wanted her to treat both girls the same. And she did. She didn't worry that their gifts were a little smaller. She gave them both things she loved wrapped in things she loved. It was all the same to her.
Maybe a good lesson for us as we go into this season full of gift-giving and gift-receiving, too. Let's keep in mind that not only are we giving things we think you're going to love. People are doing the same for us. Or at least we all should be.