Tagged: Christmas

Why guess? Make a list

English: Gift ideas for men - wrapping paper e...
Image via Wikipedia

I was talking with a friend the other day and she expressed that she made a list for her husband for gifts for christmas. Instead of getting a gift she didn’t want, she wanted to get something that she needed but didn’t want to know what the gift was. I thought that her suggestion of making a list of things you want was brilliant.

I was thinking that perhaps something like Amazons gift list would be helpful for people all the time. Perhaps to show someone your appreciation you can give them a gift from their wish list instead of money. That seems like a personal and special way to show someone your love.

I was curious so I did a search. Apparently someone has already done an Amazon wish gift plugin! I am going to try it.

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Anyone else tired of hearing dumb sayings?

1902 Barber Dime
Image via Wikipedia

If you read on the Internet, you find certain phrases used way past a healthy lifespan. Today the phrase that is irritating me is “turn on a dime”.

Ok, let’s think about this for a minute. What can really turn on a dime? No car, vehicle or anything else that I know can turn on a dime. I saw a lawnmower once that seemed to rotate on its inner wheel, but that was a lot larger than a dime. I think the only thing that could turn on a dime is a drunk ant. Are you with me?

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Stories from my past: Giving at christmas

Farmers in the rural area
Image by IITA Image Library via Flickr

When I was a kid I lived in a rural area. It was mostly blue-color families, very few well-off people. So naturally in that environment there are always “invisible poor” people. We lived close to some of those invisible people.

They lived perhaps six blocks from where I lived. Their home was in poor shape from the outside, and even worse from the inside. I discovered that when they were chosen to receive help for christmas. We delivered food and I was shocked when they opened their fridge and nothing was inside. It was amazing to me that people could exist that way. They also got clothes and everything they received was like gold to them. They started to cry with gratitude for what they received.

Giving is such a great gift, it staggers my mind why people don’t seem to appreciate it. Why don’t we see that giving is getting?

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Staying warm two hours at a time

International Money Pile in Cash and Coins
Image by epSos.de via Flickr

I have a friend who lives in a building that has a heating system that only works for two hours at a time. That is, he can set his temp up to 72 degrees but it will only work for two hours. After that he has to set it for another 2 hours. They don’t charge him for the heat, but he hates the system.

Sometimes I wonder if our economy could be like that. It moves in small spurts of activity. I wonder if instead of having the ability to buy things all day, it would help focus us to only be able to spend money for 2 hours a day. That is, businesses would only accept money for that period of time. They could continue to work and do everything else, but if you missed that time period, you wouldn’t get services that day.

Why should we do this? I think that having the temptation to spend money is too difficult for people. If I knew that I could only spend money from lets say, 10 to noon each day I would focus and plan for the things that I needed that day. I don’t think we would do impulse shopping like we do now. I think that often christmas is an excuse to spend money we don’t have to impress people we don’t love, for reasons that are unclear to everyone. No I’m not a grinch, I’ve just seen firsthand that the best gifts are not material but emotional, spiritual and intellectual.

Maybe what the country needs is not a good five cent cigar, but a good 95% focus on being rather than doing.

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