Christmas shopping – I Could Use Some Help

For me, Christmas shopping has always been that task that has been left to the last moments. 

Christmas shopping - I could use some help

Over the years there is probably no other activity I’ve procrastinated over more than Christmas shopping. The biggest reason has always been time. Where do you fit shopping into your schedule? My answer has more than often been, “at the end of it”. 

I’ve had some crazy last minute shopping trips … like the year I spent four hours on Christmas Eve looking for the main gift to give my wife, Lily. 

I travelled to every mall in Edmonton and twice to the West Edmonton Mall (at the time the largest shopping mall in world). I had seen a sweater for Lily but I could not remember where I had seen it. 

By the end, I was pretty sure I had made up that sweater in my head. And the sweater I did get her was a conglomeration of all the sweater ideas I had looked at. 

That day was one of my worst memories. I was stressed!

But now I don’t have time constraints to keep me from shopping early and often.

My problem is nobody is coming up with good ideas for Christmas presents. What I mean by that is, an idea has to pass my approval rating to really be considered as a possible present option. Not every suggestion is worthy of me going to the store. I have to want to give the gift. 

I’m not sure if this is a “me” thing. But unless I’m really feeling it, I can’t lay down the money to purchase it. 

There have been years that family have gotten gifts that they never asked for simply because I didn’t like their suggestions. 

However, I don’t like taking gift giving into my own hands because it’s a lot of work. I have to weave my way through the stores and the other shoppers just hoping something of interest will catch my attention.

That’s a lot of work, especially when you don’t like shopping in the first place.

This year I’m being faced with this kind of scenario because no one is coming up with viable options for me. 

I even put a message up on my sign board for my family to read. It says “Should be shopping for presents, but nobody wants anything.”

Where are the good old days when my son would literally circle every toy in the Sears Christmas wish catalogue? It made things so much easier. 

Now with less that two weeks before Christmas I have to get moving to find just the right gifts to get my family. 

Sure I have the time – I have all afternoon today, in fact – but wandering around a shopping mall is not my idea of fun. 

I want to get gifts that I can walk into a store and grab off the shelf and go directly to the cash register with. 

All I know is I’m going to need a few extra naps after all my shopping trips in the next week or so.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes, like at Christmas, we don’t know what we need, or we think we know what we need but it may not be what we need most. Unlike me trying to figure out Christmas presents for my family, God knows exactly what we need. He sent us the greatest gift of all, His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus is the perfect gift for everyone. We have no greater need than to be made right with God (forgiven) and made part of His family. This year be sure you have God’s gift of Christ for yourself and for others in your life. It’s all there for you by placing your faith in Jesus Christ. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you need most this Christmas? Leave your comments and questions below.

Subscribe to my blog and receive posts like this to your email inbox.

How To Receive Unexpected Gifts

Sometimes you get something unexpected, something you had really wanted but didn’t think you’d get. That happened to me this week.

IMG_0010

One of the signs you’re a pro at the beach is how you get all your paraphernalia to it. We have about a seven minute walk to the lake so we take everything we’re going to need with us in one trip.

In the old days (that would be the days when our children were little), we had lots of stuff to carry.

There are people who park their cars at the beach, and make trips with their coolers, chairs, blankets, umbrellas etc. Then there are those who walk and take very little, like a blanket and a book.

We like to take enough to make us comfortable for a few hours. We’ve tried a few different options over the years, and finally settled on a wagon.

We loaded everything in a big wagon and hauled it down and back each time. It worked really well, except for the person who had to pull it back from the beach (up hill all the way).

However, in the last few years we haven’t really needed the wagon but we have more beach stuff than is easily carried. We needed something in-between.

What we’ve seen work well are those baby trailers you hook up to your bike. If you’re not using them for child transportation, they work great as a wee moving van.

The problem with them is they cost loads of money – enough that it is hard to justify getting one just to take your stuff down to the beach and back.

My brother’s been looking for a used one for a couple of years now. Once he thought he found one at a garage sale but it looked broken so he didn’t bother to get it.

Just minutes later someone else bought it and it actually worked fine. John’s been kicking himself ever since for not investigating it more thoroughly.

But the other week he came across one, and the owner said he could have it – for free! It was just missing one piece, which John ordered online … it was good to go in a week.

And then the other day, John came over to my place with his trailer hooked up to his bike with all his beach stuff in it. It was sitting in our driveway when the guy across the street came over.

He asked if I also wanted a trailer because his son had one they were just going to give away. I jumped at the chance!

It was in great shape, and hooked up to my bike easily. I was now a beach pro! When you ride down to the beach with your little trailer filled with your chairs, your beach umbrella, your drinks, snacks and games, people know you’re experienced . . . that you’ve been beached.

Someday, maybe – many years from now – we may even let a grandchild or two get pulled to the beach in it.

Here’s the thing:  God sometimes surprises us with good gifts we never expected to get. When He does, be quick to recognize the source of the gift, and be thankful.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you received unexpectedly that was from the hand of God? I’d like to hear from you; you can leave a comment below.