This Christmas Give The Greatest Gift Of All

It is Christmas season and we are all in our last minute shopping frenzy trying to find that perfect gift for those people who are special in our lives. Because these people are so important in our life we want to make sure that the gift we choose – will be fully appreciated and enjoyed by each of them. We want this gift to reflect how much we truly care. We want these people to know how much they mean to us.

The value of a Gift can be measured from two perspectives: from the viewpoint of the person giving the gift and from the viewpoint of the person receiving the gift.

As a “Giver” of a gift, we tend to associate how much we value the person to whom we are giving the gift by the cost or expense associated with the gift. The more we like someone, the more special and the more precious the gift needs to be.

Not too surprisingly, the Receiver of a gift frequently uses the exact same analysis. If the receiver knows it cost little for the Giver to provide such a gift, the receiver knows he or she really wasn’t too important to the Giver. Conversely, if the Receiver recognizes that the gift being given came at a great expense to the Giver, he or she immediately knows how important they are in the eyes of the Giver.

Since we have experienced playing the role of both “Giver” and “Receiver” in the past we know this is true.

So, what then is this most precious thing we have that we can give to someone to show them how important they are in our life? What is this thing that if we were to give it to them, they would immediately know and appreciate how much we value them in our life? It is the one thing we value the most, because we have so little of it. It is the one thing they will appreciate the most because it is all they really want from us.

This special gift, this most precious of gifts – is our time. The people who love us don’t want material gifts, they want us! They want to know how much we care for them, they want to know how important they are in our lives, they want to know we care for them so much that we will gladly give our most precious resource, our time.

This Christmas, give the gift of “time”. Find a way to be with the one(s) you love. Yes, that will be difficult...but the more difficult it is, the more they will appreciate it and you. If you cannot find a way to be with them physically, pick up the phone and be with them mentally. In this world of Christmas Cards and emails – a phone call has become special.

Show them how much you care!

Merry Christmas

Tags: Christmas Gifts, Christmas, Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas, Gift Ideas

The Perfect Christmas Gift For A Teenager

For some reason, a lot of people ask me what is a good Christmas gift for a teenager, like I would know. The problem is that, although I have three teenage daughters and a teenage son, I can not be responsible for what other people get for their kids. I mean, come on. There are a million Christmas gift ideas out there, and no two teenagers are alike, even if they do all tend to dress as if they are. Christmas gifts for teenagers, like teenagers themselves, have to change, and so you should really talk to your own kid about what they might want for the holiday. Teens are usually pretty forthcoming about gifts.

When you’re shopping for holiday gifts, having a diverse group to shop for can be very challenging. There’s no one stop shop that will have something for everyone.

Of course, you might not be able to talk about your Christmas gift for a teenager if your point is to simply surprise them when the holiday comes. This can be a whole lot of fun, and I must recommend it. If you can catch a teen off guard with something that they have always wanted, but not gotten around to asking for, it can be such a festive occasion. Of course, what is the perfect surprise Christmas gift for a teenager is anyones guess. For a lot of girls, a nice piece of jewelry that they have never seen before might just be the perfect teenage Christmas gift. For boys, by contrast, they might want a new gadget or gizmo, such as an mp3 player, or a radar detector for their car. Girls like gadgets too, so think about a digital camera or a webcam for her computer as a gift. If you don’t know what to get your jock teen for Christmas, try this idea: a team jersey. Find out what his favorite team is in whichever sport, and buy some team memorabilia. Make him feel like part of the team with an official team jersey.I think that you will still have to sound your kid out to figure out the right Christmas gift for a teenager. It is not like there is some magic Christmas gift for a teenager formula that will tell you the right answer or idea.

The important thing with a Christmas gift for a teenager is the same as what is important for any Christmas gift. It has to be from the heart. If you take the time to find something that you think your teen will want, they will appreciate it, and it will probably be a whole lot more useful and in much better taste than anything that they would have gotten for themselves. The fact is that, as long as your Christmas gift for a teenager is from you, they will like it, because what are the holidays for, after all, but spending time with the family and friends.

Tags: Christmas, Christmas Gift Ideas, Teen Gift Idea, Gift, Teen Gift

How To Choose A Christmas Gift For A Man

I am sick of the marketing of Christmas, and I bet that you are as well by now. Oh, I know, people have talked to death about commercialism and consumerism and such, but these are not the things that anger me the very most. No, not at all. What angers me most is the way that our rigid roles are reinforced by the ways that people market their Christmas gift ideas. This, they will say, is the right Christmas gift for a man, that the right Christmas gift for a woman, and the other, the perfect Christmas gift for a teenager – as if the whole personality of someone could come down simply to their gender and age. Let me say this plainly now, and not be misunderstood: there is no ideal Christmas gift for a male. They may tell you that a Christmas gift for a man is a pocket knife, or a new tie, or a war book, but all of that is hogwash. The only perfect Christmas gift for a man is the gift that that man wants, and men are as different from each other as they are from women or teenagers.

Of course, I know that the companies market Christmas gifts for a man partly as a way to make things easy for the consumer. They want to put things that men usually want all together, so that when someone does go out and look for a Christmas gift for a man, they will see them all in one section. But beyond that, I think that the system of having men's Christmas gifts and women's Christmas gifts has a more sinister function. I think that they do it all to cement their hold over us. If a Christmas gift for a man is a pocket knife or a nice watch, then every year you have to buy all of the men in your life one of these things. And so on.

It is really every bit as sinister as all that, and I am not joking. There are people who spend years thinking about how to best market to a group of people, and this is how they think. They will try to make everyone buy the most expensive Christmas gift for a man that they can, and that way they will make more money. And money is, of course, what the holiday is all about for these companies.

Since men are quite particular to the practicality of their stuff, make sure that you give him items that the man can use. Before starting that journey of finding the perfect Christmas gift for him, make sure that you take into consideration his personal preferences or inclinations.

If you've looked all around and still can't find the perfect gift, consider a gift card. For the man that is truly impossible to shop for, let him do the shopping for himself. Gift cards are great because they give the recipient an opportunity to buy anything in the store, as determined by the value of the gift card, without spending a dime.

Tags: Christmas Gifts, Christmas, Christmas Gift Card, Christmas Gift Ideas