How to Give the Perfect Last Minute Gift and Totally Win Christmas
You’re welcome.
Maybe some of you are confident, happy gift-givers. Maybe you’ve never had any of those moments of doubt: did I spend too much? Too little? Will they like it? Is it the right size? The right proportion? Can I take it back? Can I get one for myself, or is that just tacky?
If you’ve never worried about any of these things, you may be excused. Please go read something else while we normal people deal with our issues here.
The problem is that we still believe that a gift should bring pleasure to both the giver and the receiver. But in a country like the United States, where we are already surrounded by more material goods than we can keep up with, it becomes harder and harder to hit upon another thing that will be unique or lovely or special enough to be incorporated into the already crowded spaces we inhabit.
So we cleverly give consumables — gourmet food gifts to people who will just throw out the sugary stuff on January 1 when they go back on keto — or resign ourselves to doling out “gift cards.” Whenever I give a gift card — and sometimes it’s the right thing to do — I just feel like one of the criminals in The Godfather, piously wishing each other a Merry Christmas while swapping envelopes of cash.
But this year, it’s different
This year, we’re all sick of looking at our stuff, or we’re broke, or both, and it’s just not the year for a big gift swap, somehow, when people are suffering. For children, I have no advice except be prepared for the younger ones to have more fun with the boxes and the ribbon. But for the adults on your list, I believe I have the solution for the pandemic year.
It comes from a woman I’ve known and admired for years. She emailed her circle of friends, family, colleagues, and clients and told them exactly what gift she would want this year. As it was a time of transition for her, she asked that people not buy her any more things — in fact, she was in the process of downsizing, already getting rid of material goods. She also just frankly said that her finances were such that she, thankfully, had no immediate needs. But she appreciated people’s good wishes…
She went on to say that if anyone wanted to gift her or honor her, they could donate to their favorite charitable cause in her name and let her know about it, and she believed that would create lasting happiness for both, without adding to the landfill of tissue paper.
So yesterday, I got a notice that she has made a donation in my name to Feeding America — which happens to be a terrific organization and one that my beloved supports. And you know what?
That gift made me totally, smiling, all-day happy
Happy enough to do the same thing for my extended family and friends, to share what I have with those who need it rather than Jeff Bezos, who gets plenty of my Amazon business already, believe me…
Happy enough to write this newsletter I’ve been putting off — to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a blessed New Year…
Happy enough to remind everyone to keep the faith… to share the faith, the faith that regular people, sharing with each other, can and will prevail.
So there’s your solution — go now, today, to the websites of the organizations that have been helping the people when the oligarchs and the politicians haven’t.
Make gifts in the name of those you love, and tell them about it, and pat yourself on the back for a minute, because dammit, you cared and you did something.
