Growing at the Speed of Failure
Give More Presence & Less Presents This Holiday: Give the Right Gifts to the Right People
Why do we feel that we need to spend so much on each other for Christmas? Because they’re doing it to me? Out of nostalgia? Some kind of eye-for-an-eye deal?
Her is an idea… What if families got together for Christmas Eve and had a grand celebration of family? The giving would be of each other’s presence not presents. The flying or driving home to mom and dad’s place for the gathering being the gift itself.
What if the family made Christmas cookies, got the tree together, decorated the tree, made the meals, went to a movie, went bowling while all wearing Santa caps or sat around the fireplace and sang carols together into the night?
What if the gift giving was made from the family as a group effort out to the community? Anybody need help this Christmas? Any homeless people this Christmas? Any soldiers stationed overseas this Christmas? Anybody need clean water to drink this Christmas?
We all know that we don’t need more stuff; stuff that we return because it wasn’t the right size, wrong color, you already bought one because you couldn’t wait until Christmas for the stuff, stuff that you’ll keep in a box until your work Christmas party next year stuff… STUFF!
Bypass the stuff, the collecting of it, the hours, hundreds and headaches shopping for all of it. Why are we doing this? That’s right, they’re buying something for me I may or may not remember a week later.
It’s kind of a charade that we all play. We’ve always done it this way – so why not keep doing it until the very last one of us dies!
Okay, without being too cynical – which I usually am not, I’m trying to make a point.
Giving is good – I just recommend that we give the right things to the right people. Family – we can give hugs, smiles, time, attention, experiences, etc. The truly needy need YOU and I. There are a lot of people waiting for you to meet their needs. $40 on another bathrobe for uncle Dan may not do as much as $40 on a nice winter jacket for a homeless person or $40 in groceries for a single mom or $40 to feed a kid for weeks in Somalia.
Give where there is truly a need; not a gift that will merely be put on top of a heap of excess stuff a relative doesn’t need and will complain about 2-4 years from now when they clean out their closet. Didn’t Tonya give that to you for Christmas a few years ago? Yeah, probably should hang on to that.
Think about how you can best give of yourself and your resources this Holiday season.
Wow, well said. It’s difficult to break away from tradition. My best memories have always been time together and not the stuff that I received. It’s the love and laughter that stay with you.