With great focus, my 7 year old was quietly writing her letter to Santa. It was delightful. Respectful. Nicely phrased and sweet. She would like a fairy house for outside “but so if a fairy comes in it doesn’t trap them”. There were subtle requests, with remarks such as ‘I also have a lot of shopkins toys. You get to decide if it’s a lot of a bit.” And there were reassurances to Santa that some of the items (‘a box of choclits’) would certainly be shared with her sister and cousin!!
Then across the kitchen table came the question, “Mummy, how do you spell iPhone?”
Well, I shouldn’t have been shocked. I was tempted to reply with the obvious comment that if you aren’t old enough to spell one you surely aren’t old enough to don’t get one! But why crush her dreams? Instead, I told her how to spell it, avoiding the fact that Steve Jobs has changed the rules of spelling with that capital P.
If you are looking for Christmas gifts you can find them here (We have 10% off gift vouchers and two great discount class deals on). You can buy the planting of trees, microfinance for women overseas or livestock for families in poorer countries. (I have a real fondness for goats)
And of course, not all gifts have to be purchased. Give your relationship a boost by gifting something your partner really appreciated. Be guided by the Lessons in love by the book by Gary Chapman, The Five Love Languages. This book outlines how people receive love. And your love language might be rather different to your partner’s. While working as a marriage counsellor for more than 30 years, Gary Chapman identified various love languages. There are five of them: words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch. In other words, your partner might feel and express their love through physical touch (and want to receive it that way too) while you could operate in a more vocal way, and be wondering why your partner never remarks how good you look today yet always wants a cuddle! For your touchy feely partner, they may just not really take all those words of genuine love you speak, because what they are wired to ‘hear’ is touch. So that’s not to say your loved one won’t appreciate a wrapped up Christmas present but it’s nice to factor in what they yearn for on those other levels.
But at the end of the day, it’s back to Apple. I realised Steve Jobs’ other invention, Siri, really holds the answers for us all. My youngest daughter has been having fun asking Siri all manner of things. She asked a taunting question about whether Siri wanted to have her sister. Siri replied, “I already have everything I need”. And it reminded me that I do too. And probably, if you are reading this you do too. Christmas lists aside, if you have your health, people that you love and love you, then all the other stuff doesn’t matter and everything else is a bonus.
Happy Holidays everyone.
– Christina