Stephen Bleile

It turns out hot chocolate mix is a perfectly good alternative to milk (or cream) for taking the edge off your coffee. This blog is brought to you by this very trick.  Thankfully I thought of it before my hands reached the sour cream – which was my first idea.

Now on the topic of Christmas presents maybe it’s time we discussed a few alternatives to the traditional madness that surrounds the topic.

Option 1.  Get married. I am very pleased to report that I haven’t bought a single present this year.  My amazing wife has been doing it throughout the year.  She loves buying people presents but isn’t so keen on the mall so she buys it when she sees it and by the end of November she’s done.  My dad and my father-in-law live by the same credo.  I’m not sure how it works for other married guys though…

Option 2. If you can see through option 1 you realize the real secret is shop early. Marriage should be about life long commitment, not getting your shopping done.  Besides the trick wouldn’t work for my female audience so it obviously shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Option 3.  Buy a goat.

Last year my brother’s family bought me a goat for Christmas.  It was through some charity like world vision or something.  They bought the goat and it was sent to some village where the people take care of it for me, milk it for me, and one day they will even turn it into a dinner that I am welcome to participate in.  (I may miss as flights to their village are a bit dodgy at best.)   You can buy lots of things for your friends that will be sent to people in other parts of the world.  We just bought 300 pounds of rice for my other brother; which will be used for the poor in Vietnam.  (At $45 it was a great buy.) I recommend gibtk.org (I’ve seen their good work first hand in Vietnam.)  And hopethiopia. (I am friends with their director and believe in the integrity of their mission and fiscal policy.)

Option 4.  Cash. It’s the gift certificate that can be used at ANY store.  Since some people think this is boorish you can also do gift certificates.  Gift certificates are particularly good when you don’t really know someone that well.  As such, I’d beware using them for people you really know.  They can come off a bit impersonal.

Option 5. Make something. If you have even the slightest hint of creativity this is a GREAT idea.  Half of a present is how people get to tell OTHER PEOPLE about it. This is the VALUE ADDED part of the gift.  If you can dream up something creative that you can make that is interesting enough that the recipient will tell someone else about it you’ve given a gift that keeps on giving.  Everyone wants a story to share.  You can give it to them.  Last year I hid Tash’s present in a nut which I had split and carefully glued together.  Home made cards are cool.  How about a song or a poem?  My mom is quite a good artist and has drawn pictures for my bros.  All good ideas. All memorable.

Option 6.  Online purchases: EBAY. Avoid the malls and get neat stuff.  Ebay is chock full of neat ideas for Christmas.  If you have someone on your list who is into something you know absolutely nothing about just type it in on ebay… something WILL come up.  Find your price range, bid, win, ship and you’re done. Maybe they already have said thing, but they’ll be impressed by your good efforts.  (I’m currently into squash, fly fishing, ducati, mac, writing if you need any ideas for me.) I’d hurry if I were you – you’ll probably have to pay for premium shipping already if you want it for Christmas.

Option 7. TIME. My friend just told me they don’t “do” presents (except for the kids.) Instead, each person treats the rest of the family to a certain event some time during the year.  This year they went to Jublilations Theater,  Out for Dinner, and one other thing which I can’t remember. If you can hack being around your family this is a great great great option.

Option 8. (Hmm… this is day 10… can we get up to 10 options?)  HOw about this: An honest conversation.  There are a lot of secrets in our family.  At least I think there are.  I wish we could be honest with each other.  Tell each other how we’ve been hurt with a mind to forgive and forget and move on.  You might also want to tell someone you love them.  I think that could be pretty special – even though it can be really hard to do.  (My thoughts on those sacred / scary words here.)

Option 9. This is an extension of Option 8:  a “Things I like About You List.” A few years ago my  brother thought it would be good to share the things he thought different people ought to work on in our family.  I thought might be a bit abrupt and proposed he write a list of things he thought people were doing really well.  Hmm… that’s still quite a good idea.  Compliment sheets for everyone in the family.  Just have everyone sit in a circle. Give them a piece of paper with instructions to write their name on the top.  Get them to pass it to the right and then write a compliment on the paper in front of them for whoever’s page it is.  Pass and write… pass and write. Before long there will be a bunch of nice things said about each person.  I think if you put it together you can claim this as a reasonable present.  OR just do it yourself and send it out if you can’t be there in person.

Option 10. Hmm… maybe someone else has an idea. I’m out.

Funny.  When I couldn’t find cream it seamed a real curse to me.  BUT in the end I got a mocha out of it and a Day 10 blog.  I hope this helps you get through the season and inspires you to look for a few alternatives to make Christmas bearable.

Good luck!

sb