Why is it that at this time of year, that being the end of November, I always look back at my life and do this weird reflection thing? Stupid things run through my head. For example...I think of my old friends, people that I grew up with, and wonder why the hell didn't I stay in touch with them? Last week, one of my childhood friends mother died, and I think about him just about every day, yet I don't get in touch with him. Why is that? Is it because I feel guilty that it took me 30 years to talk to him? Yup. So what kind of friend does that make me? A lousy one. Maybe I don't even have the right to consider myself a friend anymore. Is there a rule about this written somewhere? If there is, could someone please share that with me?
Another thing that I think about this time of year is "skipping Christmas". I hate that I follow the masses of people in spending hard earned money on people who need nothing. Wouldn't it be better if I just gave the $2000 to someone who really needed it? When I think about the countless hours I will spend pondering what to buy someone that already owns everything I think of how that time could be better spent. Do you know what I mean? I sometimes think I could just lock myself in a room until it's all over and emerge sometime after the first of the year.
Now don't get me wrong...I love being with family and the whole concept of Christmas. Then there is the food that we only make once a year...the cookies, the appetizers, etc. The thing that I hate is taking hours to pick out a thoughtful gift for someone, then taking a longer time to pick out the right wrapping paper and putting a fancy Martha Stewart type bow on it and in seconds the present gets unwrapped, the person oohs and awes for, maybe 3 minutes, and it's over. That person my hate the gift, but would never tell you that. It will probably end up at the back of some closet somewhere.
In the past few years I have been getting a little smarter about gifting. I have decided that if you get a gift certificate, then the present won't sit in the back of a dark closet somewhere that will never again see the light of day. Instead it will be used to get someone a nice cup of coffee or a meal.
One drawback to gift certificates is that kids don't like getting them. They want something to play with NOW. It's like giving a kid a savings bond for their birthday. Really? You think they like getting those? If you're one of those people out there that think this is a great idea, raise your hand so I can slap you. So I'm back to the dilemma of going to the store and searching for the perfect gift for the kid who has everything, and hoping that he doesn't already have it. Of course I will have to tape the receipt to it just in case they do already own it and their parents have to bring it back to the store to get something else. Geez.
I was talking to someone just the other day about this very subject and they told me that they take the child to the store just after Christmas and let them pick out their gift. I thought that was a good idea. Then the kid is getting what they want and they don't already have it, or they don't remember they already have it. The advantages of doing it this way are pretty substantial. You don't have to "guess" what they want and you don't have to wrap the darn thing and you have spent some quality time with them. Kind of a win-win.
Well, Happy Black Friday.
