Time = Love

The holiday season always seems to catch most of us by surprise. Judging by the crowded stores, there aren't very many of us that manage to plan ahead when it comes time for gift giving. The most difficult gift, of course, is the one you give your "significant other."

Finding the right gift is a challenging prospect. Whether you realize it or not, that important person in your life has been giving you hints about what they want all year long. Of course, if it is a new relationship or maybe just a few dates old, then it can become even more difficult to find that "perfect" gift.

I think it's hilarious when I hear women complain about the gifts they got from the man in their lives. For one, I think you should feel fortunate when anyone buys you anything for any reason. They didn't have to. Secondly, women are just as bad, if not worse, than men at buying gifts. I can only think of a few times when a women has actually gotten me something that was either extremely thoughtful or something that I really wanted.

The weird thing is that we usually go to the store (at the last minute) and think that people want the things that we want. We tend to buy gifts for people that we would want ourselves. It makes sense logically, because we only have our own perspective to pull from, but it really just shows how narrow-minded we really are and how thoughtless we choose to be.

Most of us give gifts in reverse. We want people to want the gifts we chose for them regardless of what they might really need or want. I'm not saying that everyone is like this all the time, but if you look at the gifts given to you over the course of your life, I think you can see that this is the rule and not an exception.

The epitome of this for me was when my ex-wife went to the store the day of my birthday and came home with gifts that weren't remotely anything I needed or wanted. While I appreciated the fact that she at least bought something, the fact that she waited until the day of my birthday and that the stuff she got me wasn't remotely "me" at all made me seriously question the relationship to its core. She clearly did not know me at all.

The simple reality is that people will appreciate anything you give them as long as you actually put some thought into it. Yes, there are people who don't care about that and just want expensive gifts, but are those the type of people that you really want to be with?

People usually don't care how much a gift costs if it is something that you put time and thought into. Most people understand that in this busy world, your time is more valuable than your money. I, for one, appreciate a gift all the more if it is something that someone spent time making, doing, or planning for me.

If you really care about someone, spend time on their present, not necessarily money. They will appreciate it, and you, that much more.