A Gift to You

Photo by fazen

No doubt we've all begun our Christmas shopping.

Some were probably done long before the rest of us got started. For those still scouring the sale ads each week and braving the big, bad retail world, you have 21 shopping days left!

Before you make your list and check it twice, might I offer a suggestion to help eliminate some of the shopping stress this year? It's a gift-giving tradition you can institute in your home, sometimes called a Victorian Christmas. Here's how it goes. For each recipient, you'd buy something he needs, something he wants, something to read, and something to wear. I imagine you could even get creative and come up with your own categories.

Either way, you'd potentially be cutting costs, reducing stress, creating variety, instituting generations-long traditions, not to mention helping your family focus less on the materialism that can be distracting this time of year. Merry Christmas to you!

Quite frankly, I can't think of a better gift to give yourself!