Gift-giving is the difficult aspect of Christmas. For a person who has many loved ones choosing the appropriate gift to suit the recipient's temperament and character is really a hard task. Another area of concern is the often limited finances of many givers.
Here are some suggestions on giving logic and coherence to the complicated business of gift-giving:
1. Assess how much money you can set aside for Christmas gifts.
2. Make a list of your loved ones. Prioritize the list according to the recipient's importance in your life. Try to do some elimination according to the capacity of your budget. Your list may include only immediate family members - parents, brothers & sisters, spouse, children, nephews & nieces; and close-friends- best friend, a superior in the office for whom you have high regard, or a colleague whose companionship and work attitude you truly appreciate, one special neighbor.
3. Decide what gift to buy for them, something you can afford and which you think they will appreciate-- things they need or love to have but have not the time or chance to buy for themselves.
4. Think of the least fortunate in your surroundings. They need your gift of thoughtfulness and kindness in forms of basic needs like clothing, food, and opportunity to be self-reliant. Can you help even just one relative or neighbor to be employed in your office?
5. Give yourself a gift also-- a book, a ticket to a music concert or a stage play; a film you've wanted to see, a trip alone to the countryside, a dinner or lunch date with a special friend.
6. Try to give the best offering to God: Your talent-- that you will use it only according to His will, for His glory and the good of fellowmen; Your time-- that you shall find in your busiest hours to remember Him and thank Him for the wisdom, strength and the little miracles He sends your way. Make a sacrifice-- at a certain point in your life, you may want something or want to be someone that can never be; try giving them up, if you think such is His will. Strengthen your own will to put God above every thought, desire, need, person, fear, hope, want or craving you might have.
