Give the Gift of Yourself this Christmas Season

by Nancy J. Lewis, MS, PHR, RCC

 

Christmas is a time of love, joy, peace, and happiness. It brings to mind memories of family and friends from past days we have shared time with over eggnog and cookies. This year I challenge you to give the gift of yourself in creative ways. It is important not to stress out because you can’t give the gifts you desire to give. Give the gift of yourself because that’s the gift that means the most. Enjoy the eggnog, cookies, family gatherings, and the love that you feel from loved ones and friends, but don’t get consumed with feeling you have to buy something to make Christmas meaningful. The following tips are things you can do this Christmas season to bring a smile to the faces of family and friends.

1. Volunteer your services to a nursing home or assisted living community in your local area. Find out what you can do for the seniors in those places. You can consider getting together with family and friends and collect toiletries from hotels and give them those in little bags. You may encourage those in your network to collect socks and take them to those facilities. You can go and read to them, sing Christmas carols and gain wisdom from their life experiences. The key thing is to do something for someone else no matter how small it may seem. You are making a difference to someone when you take the focus off of yourself and desire to touch the lives of those around you with heartfelt love.
2. Go make to basics. Decide to bake cookies, cakes, or pastries and put them in nice little gift decorated bags or tins and give them away with a handmade card expressing the love you felt while doing this. Get your family members involved in this and let this be bonding time for you and them. Help them see there are other gifts you can give that also have value.
3. Have a Christmas decorating evening where you invite family and friends to come over and help you put up the tree, hang the garland, and find decorations in the attic. Make a memory of this time and watch the smiles as you converse through the evening of fun and fellowship.
4. Have a Christmas dinner and ask everyone to bring their favorite dish, memory, and photo. Decide to give out awards for the dishes with the best presentation and create different categories for them. You can get as creative as you want to on this.

These are just a few of the ideas you can use. The key factor to remember is give of yourself and when you do watching the smiles, hearing the laughter, and feeling the love that runs from heart to heart is priceless. Have a wonderful Christmas and a New Year filled with peace beyond measure, joy unspeakable, and love that fills your heart.