{Thriving this Winter} Day 19: Give

Good morning world! I am thinking about christmas today, more importantly I am thinking about gifts this morning! Yay!

Gifts can be one of the most tedious, or one of the most fun parts of Christmas. But instead of focusing on getting something for everyone possible, why not focus on getting really good gifts for a few people.  Try to reduce the number of people on your list, to just your family, and even then carefully consider who you need to really need to give gifts too. Only give gifts to people you enjoy giving gifts to! If you don't enjoy it, then maybe try to agree with that person not to give gifts anymore. This is totally non-offensive, especially if you make it a deal they you not exchange gifts anymore. Most people are happy to reduce their list.

If you couldn't possibly not give gifts to a certain group, try making one gift and give it to all of them. Bake them some cookies and put it in a cute jar, or make them a tin of gourmet popcorn. Buy everyone in the office a small (like $5-10) Starbucks card, or get them each their favourite coffee one day. For the ladies maybe make them a simple, but fabulous smelling sugar scrub, or make them bottles of vanilla. By doing just one thing for everyone, you make it easier on yourself, but I don't think anyone of these people need to receive a special personalized gift from you. You can leave the specialized gifts for your family.

For a large family why not do an exchange where you are responsible for buying a present for just that person, instead of buying a present for everyone? My family has just started doing this, because we realized that most of us don't want $30 presents, but none of us can afford to buy more expensive presents for everyone. So now we are only buying one present each, but we can spend more money on that one person and get them something they truly want.

Also carefully consider your parents. Most parents truly have all the "stuff" they need. Be careful to choose the presents you get them. Remember by this point some of their things are needing to be replaced, so getting them real items (like a new kettle or bathroom towels) is better than just getting them a cd or book. Unless, of course, you know its a cd or book they really want. Try to avoid just giving them more clutter. One year, we truly couldn't think of anything my parents wanted so we actually gave them a card that said "a goat has been bought in your name, and given to a family in need". It was kind of fun giving them a goat for Christmas. Compassion Canada and World Vision both have programs like this, just as examples.

If your parents are in a nursing home, I know for a fact that the greatest gift you can give them is to arrange to take them somewhere else with the family for an afternoon. Having worked in an long-term care centre, it is so sad how many families don't even visit during the holiday season because they are "too busy". Don't worry about buying them anything, they just want to spend time with you. This may also be true for families who are not in a nursing home, but simply live far away. If you are paying for an expensive trip home, maybe that can be in lieu of presents.

One of the things that we are also going to adopt this year is simpler stockings. We have done really crazy stockings (like $200 each in our first year of marriage) and more moderate stockings. But this year I finally know what I actually want to put in the stockings, and we aren't concerned with making sure they are full. Just a few items, that is all we need. We're actually going to follow the " Something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read". We are also adding "something to eat". 5 items should make things simpler. We hope.

I also have decreed that I will not do my own stocking, so Charming does it for me. My mom always did her own stocking, which totally loses the surprise, and if you are overspending on your kids and husband, often means you stocking is a little sad. Let Dad take the kids to the store and help pick out your stocking. It can become a new Christmas tradition!

So I like to start looking for gifts really early, so throughout the year I keep 2 lists: A wishlist for myself and Charming and ideas for the rest of my family. These can be broad categories, such as pajamas or tools, or they can be very specific. Then, if I see a great deal on something I want, I get it then. This is how we got a really great deal on a kitchen knife set for my mom in September last year. I keep these lists on my computer, hidden away in boring sounding files and misnamed, so no one will look at them. This way they can be constantly edited and added to.

Since we have family who live far away from us we have had to make a new rule, which is simply: we do not send gifts by mail. Mail for gifts is far, far, far too expensive and I have absolutely no trust in Canada Post. So instead, we either save our gifts and have them delivered if some family is visiting and can bring presents back, or we simply send them gifts that can be shipped by the company. This is easy to do, just simply change the shipping address when ordering the present, but keep the billing address the same. Some company's near christmas do have an option for gift packaging, where they do not put any identifying information on the outside of the package.

Today I am checking my wrapping supplies, and getting a spot ready for gifts I will be buying. This is the task from Week 2 of my christmas countdown. This helps me stay organized and know where I have kept items as I get them. There is no point of shopping early if you won't remember where the presents are or that you even got them.

Tomorrow I get to do my first day of present shopping! I am sure I will have lots of fun, and hopefully I will find great stuff.

How do you prepare for gift-giving?