In honor of the upcoming holidays, I want to share a story I read online last year. It was about a wife you couldn’t figure out what to get her husband for Christmas. They can be so hard to shop for! During their son’s wrestling match, her husband couldn’t stop talking about the poor conditions of the other team’s shoes and uniforms. Their equipment was is such bad repair that there were holes in them and the sizes were all too small. She could tell how terrible he felt about it, and so she decided to take action.
On Christmas morning, her husband found a white envelope with his name on it and a letter with a picture inside. The picture was of the team from the wrestling match with new uniforms and shoes. The letter explained that for his Christmas gift, his wife spent what she normally would have spent on his gifts and bought the team all new equipment. It brought her whole family to tears; of course they were happy tears. And so tradition continued, and it was the family’s favorite gift to open every Christmas morning. Their children would run to their tree every Christmas and look for the white envelope. (Side note, what a valuable lesson for their children and the parents too.)
What they felt went so much farther than the quick joy they got from their material gifts each year. It wasn’t a fleeting emotion, it went beyond that and lasted all year long. It ends the year on such a high note which then gets carried into the New Year. They know they are giving above and beyond what is expected of them, and to think about it, what isn’t even expected of them. Instead of feeling selfish and receive, they feel joy for giving. And what is amazing, it makes them so grateful for what they already have. How many of us always want the next best thing, the newest iPhone, the more expensive handbag, or the luxury car? I’m guilty of this, but now I know when I’m doing this exact thing. I’m able to realize and appreciate everything I have instead of being dragged down by the “keeping up with the Jones’s syndrome”. Not to mention how exhausting it can be to never be satisfied.
So I have decided to join in on the action, and I am telling my husband to give to someone in need what he would usually gift to me. He is going to send our sponsor child in Argentina the amount of money he would spend on a gift for me. The gift will mean so much more to Adiel and his family than it would ever mean to me.
Now I am going to challenge you, sorry if you didn’t see that coming. I am asking you if you can spare one gift, just one gift, and instead give to a charity, a child, or someone else in need. If you need help deciding, just send me an email. We can have a lot of fun picking! I am going to ask you to do two more things, because I want this to be a huge movement, bigger than just you, my amazing readers. Please send this posting to at least 3 people so they will do the same. And since I am a numbers girl, who loves tracking, we need to have a way to see how many people do this. Please like this page so I can keep a running total of how many people we can get to go without so someone else can have a joyous holiday season.
et’s give to those who don’t have as much as us, and rejoice in what we do have!
Happy Gifting!
Jessica Weaver, CFP®, CDFA™, CFS®
Wealth Advisor