Thursday Trim the Trash Time: Gifts and Holidays
Happy Thursday Friends and Welcome to Trim the Trash Time. Anyone who knows me knows I have some pretty strong opinions on many things in life. One of them is stupid made up holidays. My main quarrel with these holidays is that they always seem to have some sort of money component to them. I’m not sure Jesus was thinking about tinsel 2000 years ago. I’m damn sure he wasn’t thinking about shopping till you drop or maxed out credit cards. How about my absolute favorite made up holiday, Valentine’s Day. Somewhere every February there are some rich white people in a boardroom laughing their asses off. Makes you a little sick doesn’t it? Today I am going to go over some reasons why gift buying should never be a priority in your life.
1) Give people the best gift you can, your company
I look back at Christmas’ of the past and remember all the gifts I used to get. I don’t have any of them anymore. What I do have is the people who gave them to me. My main wish is that I have those people for as long as possible. All I want is to see my Grandma, my parents and all my family being happy and healthy. I am certain that is all they want from me too. You want to know the price of that….Free! I buy the train ticket and head back to my hometown and spend the day with all those beautiful people. Granny gets flowers, parents get a gift card for a night out, something they never do, and everyone else gets a hug and a kiss. Good enough for me because to be honest, that is all I want from them. We are all so damn busy so it is understandable that the best gift you can give your family or friends is your time.
2) Somewhere, right now, there is a dolphin choking on a plastic Santa
You ever think how much crap is thrown away every November 1st? All that Halloween crap has to go somewhere. Logically if everyone saved all their decorations from the year before there would be no need to sell any in a few years. Throw in Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Canada Day, Thanksgiving, Easter, Kwanza, Secretaries Day and every other waste of paper holiday and we have probably killed thousands of dolphins. It makes me a little sick to my stomach. Why on earth are we spending money on stuff that is only useful for a week at most? Ah yes, how about the Christmas tree graveyard that develops every January. Buy a fake tree and use it forever if it really matters to have one. Or you can revert back to point number one and just bring yourself to any party. You don’t need mistletoe to go around kissing people, just saying.
3) If your family and friends truly love you, they wouldn’t want you to stress out over gifts
I am all for family meetings regarding gift giving. In these meetings, all the adults sit down and decide that no more gifts will be given. Everyone pitch in a few bucks for the food or better yet everyone brings some food. Don’t rack up your credit card. Don’t deplete your bank account. Don’t stress out over what to get who. How about this one? Spend a couple hours before Christmas dinner handing out food at the local shelter. After that, enjoy some time together enjoying each other’s company with some food and of course booze. Jesus turned water into wine right? Every Christmas doesn’t have to be a month long $2000 stressful clusterfuck. Every January doesn’t have to be a regretful, penny-pinching, debt repayment, nightmare either.
Once again I am not saying that you shouldn’t buy people gifts, even I do. What I am saying is this: truly think about what you buy for people and if it is the best possible gift you can give. Most people who love you don’t care about any of that nonsense. Chances are if they do they don’t really love you like you thought they do. Knowing you are well-fed, safe and healthy should be the ultimate gift. Rompers, gift cards, and plastic pumpkins should never be part of anyone’s budget.
Thanks for reading Friends and tune in tomorrow for my final reflection on this week. Have a Great Day!
“Your children need your presence more than your presents.” – Jesse Jackson
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Joseph James Francis is a Financial Advisor. You can find him on various social media platforms and at www.budgetboss.ca.