It’s that time of the year again: a lot of shopping or sales, more online than offline, givings in kids school and at work place, bells outside local Schnucks, gift cards, Christmas trees and decrorations, happy holidays or merry Christmas, red cups or white cups. I know I know I won’t go there.
Gift giving is always fun, as I get older (hopefully wiser too ๐ I appreciate more giving than receiving. Actually I barely receive anything ๐ That is fine. I have pretty much what I need. I have a Toyota Camry, that’s sufficient. Although I want a BMW. See I am applying my daughter’s school lesson here ๐
One interesting thing I noticed the other day is at my daughter’s school, they are doing a socks drive for the homeless. And they put an art work saying “donate socks for the poor”. I know I know that’s a poor choice of word, the right word should be “less fortunate”. But I will let go this one, kids have good intentions and they are still learning ๐
Another interesting thing is sometimes people strongly hinted for gifts. That’s ok as long as someone does a good job, or I feel not forced to give. I remember one time (not holiday season) a teenager asked for money outside Schnucks, I have one dollar, and she asked for more ๐
I realized tip or gift is a meaningful amount of people’s income in Christmas season more than 10 years ago. A coworker told me how much he gave tips to bartender he usually goes to. A former gymnastics teacher told me about all the gift cards he received and the feeling of being appreciated. That’s the good dynamics I like to see when giving gifts.
Gift cards seems getting popular these days. It does give more flexibility for recipient to avoid gift receipt, hassle of return to store etc. My problem with the gift card is it’s hard to track them, or locate them. Like today, I was going to use my target e-gift card. It took me 10, 15 mins to locate the URL on iPhone. It’s under the menu button of the mobile website. I also have a google docs to put in my unused gift cards. $10 dominos, $15 buffalo chicken wing. A lot of effort. I also flag the email message that contains the card. I wish eventual I can have it in one place. Maybe it’s an iPhone or Apple Watch app idea? Let’s see ๐
Merry Christmas (or happy holidays) everyone!