Gift Giving
Gift giving is an area that can be fraught. I absolutely love getting gifts, and I love the love behind it, but there is no denying that there is often a massive amount of waste at Christmas. Whilst nothing beats the Christmas magic of running downstairs to see if Father Christmas has been (and that’s just me!), you do not need a hundred presents to get the same magic. In fact, too many presents under the tree can be distinctly overwhelming.
For my own children, we try to keep the presents a little reined back and there is a useful little rhyme for this that I use;
Something they Want.
Something they Need.
Something to Wear.
Something to Read.
Using this, they usually get a nice stocking from Father Christmas, with the addition of some things like chocolate and socks, and a larger present from us. They do a Secret Santa among themselves (which encourages them to think of others!), but we try to encourage other family members to contribute towards experiences instead of presents. When we lived in the South of England, we had season tickets to a local theme park. Up here in Scotland one year, Grandpa’s Christmas money paid for several trips to the local slopes to ski and this year we are hoping that the Christmas money will go towards ski passes again.
As for the grown-ups, I have quite a large family, being one of 4, so we all do a Secret Santa between us, spouses included. It means that rather than frantically hunting round for heaps of presents for each person, we can spend our energy on just one and make it a really good one. I always try to make sure that the gift I give is thoughtful, but I appreciate that I may not always get it right!
As for receiving gifts, I always encourage everyone to receive gifts with grace and thanks for the love that has been given with it. The job of the gift (to show love) is done when it is given. Once the gift has been handed over, it is then up to you to decide if it has a place in your life and if it doesn’t, to release it with thanks. I cannot tell you how many of my clients are buried under heaps of things that were gifts and that they feel guilty about letting go of. Either keep it and love it, or let it go on its way to someone else.
Oh, and by the way, if anyone is at a loss of what to get me at Christmas, Molton Brown Gingerlily body wash always goes down a treat…