Set a great example by starting something this year that your kids (or spouse) have been after you to do. Lose weight? Exercise? Cook more meals at home? Eat out more? Read more?
If you have a habit that is stressing out your kids – not to mention your own health – make a gift of quitting, tapering, changing or getting some kind of help that gives them peace. Show them how you plan to tackle the issue, and enlist their help.
Have everyone in the family make a list of his or her needs and wants for things that do not cost money, but need someone’s time and talent to do. Then print the lists and cut apart each item from the list separately. To make sure you do not pick your own, use a unique color (ink, paper, colored dot) for each family member. Fold each item “card” up and place them all in a hat, then on Christmas Day, or the first night of Chanukah, each person gets to pick 12, one for each month of the year. And that becomes the family’s gift to one another.
What will be on my list this year? Changing light bulbs around the house inside and out. Picking up shoes at the back door and putting them where they belong! Emptying the dishwasher. What kids list will depend on their age, but requests can range from a ride to the library to using the car on Friday night.
My favorite gifts from my kids when they were young? Coupons! “Anytime kitchen clean-up”, “shoulder massage”, “one hour of quiet time”, oh there were many such wonderful gifts. My girls made the coupons and wrapped each up for me to “cash-in” throughout the year.
Grandparents love to get coupons for guaranteed time with grandkids. From a scheduled visit to time on the phone or Skyping on the computer on a regular basis – this cherished commitment will end up being a gift to both grandparents and grandkids.
Holiday gift-giving is notoriously tough on budgets because so much money gets spent all at once. This year, try stretching that budget with a coupon. Do the kids love baseball? Coupon them tickets to a home game this summer and add a baseball or t-shirt to the gift to make it fun. What about a trip to a museum? A play? A movie?
Look around you. There are likely a multitude of things to be grateful for. A word or a card of acknowledgement is one of the best gifts you can give anyone.
I’m sure that if you sit down for five minutes and think about the blessings in your life you will generate a very long list of people that deserve a gift of your acknowledgement.
