One of the opportunities that the financial crisis has afforded us is to truly consider what is important to us. I recently had the opportunity to attend a training session for credit union staff members in Grants Pass. The training session was conducted by the Josephine County Consumer Credit Counseling Service and focused on Holiday Spending tips to help folks create an affordable gift giving plan. Their ideas revolved around making a plan and sticking to it. Once the folks shared their suggestions they asked the audience to provide some ideas on how to make holiday gift giving less about the money and more about getting back to the basics of the thoughtfulness of giving.
I was reminded of many ways to give gifts without breaking the bank. (Sorry just had to throw that in…) The group at the meeting came up with so many great ideas on how to make the holidays special and more personal. Folks came up with ideas like personal coupons for babysitting, housecleaning, or a specially prepared meal. One idea that I thought would be really fun is a dessert of the month club. In other words, your gift is to provide someone with a new or favorite dessert each month for the next year. I loved this because it shares the joy of giving well after the holiday gift giving season. I just wish my Great Grandmother was still with us because I would just ask for her peanut butter cookies each month!!!
The true purpose behind this blog is to share what I thought was the most amazing idea that was shared for holiday gift giving… the gift of Presence! (Thanks Micayla) What is the gift of Presence? It is the gift of your total attention and dedication to the person you are giving the gift to. It could be given with handmade coupons or with a calendar blocked once or multiple times where the giver totally dedicates their time to the receiver of the gift. Just think of how powerful this gift can be in our fast paced world of smart phones, iPads, personal video players, and personal video games. Just watch a family at a restaurant for dinner, or at the park to play… you are most likely to see one individual distracted by one of these gadgets and it becomes humorous when they all are. We know we are all in trouble when we start texting each other while we are at the same dinner table!
Your gift of presence can include time to go for a bike ride together, play catch, or go to a movie. It can be as simple as a game of checkers… or building a ginger bread house together. This idea takes the most precious of commodities… time, and dedicates it to someone that is special to you. In my mind there is no gift that is more precious.
I would love to hear from others on how they share the gift of Presence with their friends and family this holiday season. Please send a message to the Ask Gene Blog with your thoughts and ideas on sharing the gift of Presence or any other special holiday gift ideas. I am a firm believer that when we take time to reflect back on our lives we will not measure success by the material items that we have acquired… no we will measure our success by the friends that we have made and the lives that we have touched! You can start on your road to personal fulfillment this holiday season by giving the gift of Presence!
Finally, another great local resource for surviving the holidays can be found right here in our own backyard with Consumer Credit Counseling of Southern Oregon. Their Christmas 2011 page provides a variety of resources from shopping tips to budget worksheets that will help you make the holiday gift giving experience as joyous and happy as it should be.
Happy Holidays!
What a great post! There is nothing better than sharing your time with someone as a gift to them, I've known this since my childhood when my greatest wish was to spend time with my Dad after my parents were divorced. The greatest thing about the holiday season is the time that we spend together with our family, our friends, and helping out in our communities!
ReplyDeleteIn response to your asking for thoughts on the gifts we can give I would recommend that we all find time to give our presence to our community by finding some way to make it a better place, whether that be by giving cookies to our neighbors or raking somebody's leaves or getting involved in some local service activity that will make a difference for us all!