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As the holidays approach, I start to think of the people who I want to give gifts to this year. I start to get a little sad because I believe the true meaning of gift giving has been lost. There are people on my list that I feel obligated to gift and those on my list that I truly want to gift.

But for some on my gift list there are people who just want to tell me what they want. I get more and more bothered by this every year. I am tired of the materialism of “having to get someone something good” or feeling obligated. That is why I am a huge fan of random acts of kindness.

I have this fantasy where I have a lot of money and I just walk around giving money to anyone. I am not necessarily talking about the poor on the streets, but to everyone. I see hard work being done every day and to get an unexpected surprise like that I think would just spread kindness. What a gift!!!

I don’t even think I could tell you what I got for Christmas last year, but I can tell you that I got a cookie jar with lemons on it that my Mom left on my front door one day. I can picture clearly the Easter dress I was surprised with when I was about 10 years old and we didn’t have money for new clothes. I still have a huge petrified rock that my husband carried home on his lap over hundreds of miles on rocky terrain because I was so interested in Geology.

These are my true gifts in life. None were required gifts on a holiday, but all were given in the true nature of giving.

Just writing this down has inspired me to work to make changes in my family. I will post again on what I have come up with and if you have any ideas, send them my way!