Give A Christmas Gift From The Heart This Year
The Typical Scenario Around Christmas Time
It's December 1st. You realize there is only a few more weeks left until Christmas and you haven't even thought about buying presents for anyone yet. You've been too busy with work and life in general. (Plus you procrastinate!)
You make a list of the people you have to get presents for: boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife, kids, mom, dad, brother, sister, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, co-workers, pet dog, neighbors, me etc
How on earth are you going to decide what to get everyone? Sure you could get a box of chocolates or a bottle of wine for everyone...maybe even socks or shirts, but what are their sizes? Besides, you decide, they pretty much have everything they need or want anyways.
A few seconds later you realize that presents cost money and a growing list constitutes a growing budget. Yikes! You still haven't found the time to go to the shopping center and you're not sure whether the online store from overseas will deliver in time...
Does this sound familiar?
My Suggestion For This Year
Everybody knows that the world is in a state of financial turmoil at the moment. Nobody really understands what is going on with the world economy or how long it will last. Keeping this in mind, those who were struggling financially before are now much worse off that buying presents may be the last thing on their minds. Especially the poorer families with children who may miss out.
Christmas is a time of giving and showing people that you care about them. It often is, but shouldn't be, about the presents. I HATE this commercial aspect of it, I really do. I struggle with buying presents, not so much financially, but because it's hard to find a meaningful present for each individual at a reasonable cost. Also because at the same time I know the other person wouldn't have spent as much time and effort when buying presents.
One idea I had was that in groups (every family, each group of friends etc) everybody can put a bit of money into a tin. It doesn't have to be a lot - $10, $20 each? This can then be donated to a charity of your choice or to a family you know that may be struggling financially. You could make a significant change to the opportunities and health of children in third world countries (Unicef) or sponsor a child (World Vision). I really believe that if families took this idea on board it would make a massive positive difference. It will make you feel great that you are giving to those in need, changing somebody's life for the better and at the same it may only cost you a fraction of your otherwise would-be expenditure on relatively "useless" gifts.
Give a Christmas gift from the heart this year.
Something to think about anyways...
