Mon 14 Dec 2009
Each Monday on the DesignQuotient™ blog, DesignCoach™ Los Angeles Designer James Swan answers readers’ questions. Post your design dilemma today.
DesignCoach™ can help you find Smart-Design-Daily.
This week on the DesignCoach: Keeping Your Holidays Real with The Perfect Gift
Q. Christmas is here and I need a gift idea for my Mother-in-Law. She’s a designer; her home is perfect and filled with every imaginable beautiful thing. She’s the most difficult person on my list to buy for. I need the perfect gift.
A. With all the holiday spirit I can muster let me be the first to tell you; there is no such thing as the perfect gift. Perfection, while something we strive for at times in our lives, is fleeting at best. What is ideal today will be tarnished tomorrow. Such is reality here on earth. Deal with it.
My suggestion to you, Dear Reader (whose heart is clearly in the right place) is to transcend what is expected and give a Gift of Relationship, instead. I’m not anti-gift giving (pick a collection of your Mother-in-Laws and add to it; cashmere anything; a first edition of Edith Wharton’s “The Decoration of Houses”…etc.) but I’m coming to believe that there are more important things we can offer those around us, both at Christmas, and through-out the year, which will strengthen the bond of family or friendship. I find that to be a rather smart gift giving idea.
From our dear friend Deah in Los Angeles comes this list of 8 Priceless Gifts to give this Holiday Season
These are eight important ways we can contribute toward whole and healthy relationships. They cost nothing, yet they may well be the most valuable gifts
we can ever offer another. This simple checklist can help measure how you are nurturing your relationships. The author of these thoughts is unknown but deeply appreciated.
The Gift of Listening
But you must really listen. Don’t interrupt, don’t daydream, and don’t plan your response. Just listen.
The Gift of Affection
Be generous with appropriate hugs, kisses, pats on the back and handholds.
Let these small actions demonstrate the love you have for family and friends.
The Gift of Laughter
Clip cartoons. Share articles and funny stories. Your gift will say,
“I love to laugh with you.”
The Gift of Solitude
There are times when we want nothing better than to be left alone.
Be sensitive to those times and give the gift of solitude to others.
The Gift of a Favor
Every day go out of your way to do something kind.
The Gift of a Written Note
It can be a simple “Thanks for the help” note or a full sonnet.
A brief, handwritten note may be remembered for a lifetime.
The Gift of a Compliment
A simple and sincere, “You look great in red,” “You did a super job,”
or “That was a wonderful meal” can make someone’s day.
The Gift of a Cheerful Disposition
The easiest way to feel good is to extend a kind word to someone.
Always looking for Smart-Design-Daily
