GIFTS THAT REALLY GIVE

We are smack in the holiday season.  Shopping for that perfect gift is always so stressful.  And sometimes we have friends that have it all.  What to buy?  NOTHING!  The best gift we can give is ourselves.

What ever happened to those laid backdays? We are just too BUSY.  And I realized that all my friends and family are in the same boat.  Schlepping their kids back and forth to every activity they have enrolled them in.  Working, cooking, cleaning, shopping, going, going, going......

I had done this a long time ago for some friends, and I have repeated it several times for different folks. 

My friends names were Leon and Wanda. They had 3 little ones at the time. I didn't have any kids back then so I was being brave.  I was going through some real hard financial times, but I loved them dearly.  Their 10th wedding anniversary was coming up and honest to God, I could not afford a gift.  But I came up with the idea to offer myself to babysit the kids so that they could have a night to themselves.  When I made the offer as an anniversary present their jaw dropped.  First of all they thought I was crazy for wanting to take care of 3 kids, but they were also afraid the kids were going to hurt me :-)  But after much convincing they agreed.  The kids were going to come to my house and have a sleep over.  This way the parents could wake up to a quiet house and have a relaxing cup of tea.  We packed the kids stuff along with a huge list of do's and don'ts and off I went with 3 kids in car seats.  I won't lie to you, it was a very long night for me. But in my heart I was so happy that I gave the parents something they hadn't had in a long time.  A DATE.

The next day when I took the kids back, Leon and Wanda were all smiles (wink wink ;-).  They told me that the best thing about the whole night was either having uninterrupted conversation and not have a little one screaming "MOM" all the time, or not saying anything at all and just enjoying the quiet and each other.  They told me it was the best gift out of all they had received.

Another time was with my friend Glenda.  She had so much going on in her personal life and with 2 babies of her own.  Her house was taking the toll.  So one day I came over with cleaning tools in hand and we attacked her kitchen.  We blasted the music and had a ball cleaning.  Yes it was a bit of work, but it was a gift of love and support.

My neighbor Randi didn't know how to cook fish and her husband goes fishing all the time. I offered to come over one night and cooked it for her.  I wrote down the recipe too.  And when her husband came home, he was happy to see his prize catch on the menu.

DO SOMETHING KIND TODAY IDEA:
Write out some coupons to give as gifts. It doesn't have to be for Christmas only.  It came be for any occasion. A coupon can be good for babysitting one afternoon, or if you are brave enough, a full night.  A coupon to help clean up.  Or a coupon to help a friend cook for the family one night.  How about a coupon to offer pet sitting if you know your friends are going to go away? Save them the boarding money.  It is about you giving of your time and yourself.  Try and beat that Wal-Mart.