Keep an Ongoing Gift List for Yourself and Family

Tis the season of giving…and receiving!

It’s that wonderful time of year when generosity abounds and when family and friends begin asking what’s on our Christmas list.

I personally feel extremely blessed and know that I honestly don’t need anything. There’s really not much I want either. Perhaps it’s because gifts aren’t my love language. Maybe it’s due to the fact that I’m somewhat of a minimalist. It could be the thriftiness ingrained in me. It could be that I know and know of people with real needs.

You may be the same way.

You may not :)

When it comes to Christmas celebrations, though, our family loves to celebrate! Our family has often had a such a big gift giving session that the entire room is filled with goodies. There’s also been times we’ve given to someone in need instead of (or in addition to) having a big Christmas gift exchange. We do, however, almost always have some kind of gift giving extravaganza.

You too?

I suppose that means we shouldn’t be surprised when a family member asks the “What do you want for Christmas?” question sometime around Thanksgiving.

Sometimes there is a person who knows exactly what they want! We tend to love those people because we can get to work on our early Christmas shopping.

The majority, though, have another answer: “I don’t know! I’ll have to think about it.”

Now if you’re the one asking the question, that answer just doesn’t seem acceptable. You’re on a mission to make your list, cross it off, and get the presents wrapped. You’ve caught the Christmas spirit and are ready to go!

I’m sure you know how it feels to get that dreaded response….but are you guilty of actually giving that response as well?

I am guilty! And I want to change…really, I do!

Since we know that we’ll be receiving gifts at some point during the year (whether it’s for a birthday, Christmas, or another occasion), we might as well be ready to ask for something we need (or at least want). If we don’t, there’s a good chance of receiving something that will just clutter up our life and home.

And clutter? Well, that just leads to more work!

The solution is simple: Keep an Ongoing Gift List for yourself (and your spouse/children). It will make answering the “what would you like for Christmas?” question easy as pumpkin pie!

A couple of tips to keep in mind:

• Make sure the list is easily accessible by keeping an Amazon.com wish list, a note on Evernote, or even a list on a piece of notebook paper. Don’t rely on your memory because it will surely fail as soon as the question is asked.
• When you think of something you’d like to have or hear a family member mention the same, write it down…immediately!

Keeping a gift list works for me so I hope it works for you!

Do you keep a gift list?

 

 

Tagged as: birthday, Christmas, gifts, seasonal