The Christmas gift not in short supply

Some people have finished their Christmas shopping early, worried that the special gift they’d been eyeing might be in short supply. Yet others are rediscovering another type of gift that is never held up on an unloaded cargo ship or stuck in a clogged supply chain. 

It is an act of kindness. Reminders of this deeper spirit of Christmas are not hard to find.

Most of them are quite public. Nova Scotia, for example, has sent a giant Christmas tree to Boston each year in gratitude for that city’s act of kindness more than a century ago in aiding the province’s capital, Halifax, after a gigantic explosion. 

A similar gift of a tree graces London’s Trafalgar Square each Christmas. It is a thank you from Norway for Britain’s support in the fight against fascism during World War II. This year’s White House Christmas display includes a room decorated as “The Gift of Service,” publicly honoring the contributions of the military, front-line workers, and first responders.