Okay, I know Black Friday is upon us. I know some of you are getting up very early or staying up very late to get the best bargain on the latest toy, game, boots, fill in the blank.
But before you dig your credit card hole a bit deeper, before you create a huge pile of “stuff” that will be opened with glee and tossed aside without a second thought, I am asking you to think.
That’s right, think. Drop the pen. Put down the list. Stop perusing flyers and catalogues or crawling web sites and take 5 minutes and ask yourself just one question?
What gift did you get 20, 30 or 40 years ago that makes you smile, right now?
Was it the most expensive? The biggest? The latest? I will bet you it wasn’t.
Over the years, I have been given many big, expensive gifts – jewelry, exotic vacations, works of art. Nice gifts but not my favorite gift, the one I am smiling about right now. For me, that gift was a used rocking chair.
My favorite Christmas gift is this rocker restored by my husband.
My husband found it on the side of the road, put out for trash pick up. Carefully, lovingly, he restored the oak to its full glory. Removing the shredded fabric and compressed batting from the coiled springs, he rebuilt and recovered the seat with warm, rich velvet.
This oak chair sits, today, in my sewing room. I see it every day. I sit in it, often, when I am doing finishing work on clothing or a craft project.
The total cost for this wonderful gift could not have been more than $10 but I remember crying when I saw it by our tree. Do you remember getting a gift like that? Not made in China or Taiwan? No batteries required? Not mass-produced? Lovingly made by someone you know, just for you? Those are the gifts you remember, you cherish.
If I go back even further for favorite holiday memories to when we were kids, the highlight of our Christmas morning was finding a big juicy orange in the toe of our stocking. Sounds ridiculous but there it was – five kids racing for the mantle (yes, a real fireplace mantle) pulling down stockings and pulling out the candy cane and walnuts, to get to the bottom, to get to the orange.
Why would an orange be such a big deal? Oranges weren’t available in December in the North. No one was trucking them up from Florida or across the country from California. Back then, an orange was a rarity – a real treat. Definitely not a big ticket item but a childhood moment I treasure, a wonderful memory of holidays gone by.
Want to have happy holidays filled with warm memories?
Don’t spend too much money on too many things that no one will need or treasure even two weeks after the holiday has come and gone. Think…and get gifts that really speak to the young, the old and the in-between people you love. This year, build some holiday memories yourself, memories that will make you smile, 30 years from now.
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