Record the gifts of Christmas past and present

Keeping track of what you give can help you come up with new ideas

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to keep track of the gifts you give
each year. Not only will this help you avoid unintentional duplicates,

(00:25):
your records will help you make better and faster decisions
about what to get for all of your family and friends.
I have a lot of kids, so Christmas inevitably involves
a lot of gift buying. Each year, I keep track
in a little notebook of what I plan to get

(00:45):
and what I have bought for each of the kids.
I will admit that a big reason I started doing
this was to make sure it was all about equal.
When you have five kids, this is a major consideration.
But since I am already tracking for my kids, I
also keep a list for my husband and other family members,

(01:05):
friends and employees. I have been doing this for a
few years now, and at some point in last year's
shopping I had the happy realization that these records meant
I could look back on past years and see the
gifts of Christmas past. I could compare my ideas for
this year to what I had given in the past,

(01:27):
and remember things that had worked particularly well. It strikes
me that perhaps not everyone does this, and if you don't,
let me suggest that this is the year you start
keeping track of gifts. That way, future you will have
a list of your own gifts of Christmas past. This

(01:48):
list does several good things. First, reviewing it means you
won't inadvertently give a person the same gift two years
in a row. Some gifts are totally fine to read gives.
Go ahead and give your aunt that cheese sampler she
loves for a decade if you'd like, But your aunt
does not need multiple copies of, say, the Robert Carolyndon

(02:11):
Johnson biographies. If you can't remember if you actually followed
through on that idea or not, your list will tell
you. You also won't miss out on following through on a
great idea because you're worried you might have given it
the year before. Did you give your sister in law
that cookbook you thought was perfect for her or did

(02:32):
you just think about it? I don't know, but if
you didn't give it before, you can give it this year.
With a list, you will know for sure. Reviewing what
you gave to one person in a previous year might
also spark your thinking about what to give another person
this year. The yard game that delighted your nephew last

(02:54):
year may be equally appealing to your godson this year.
Or maybe you see that one kid really liked a
toy five years ago and your youngest is now that age.
If you can no longer locate that toy or it's broken,
maybe it's time to buy another one. If you'd like,

(03:16):
you can keep track of the gifts you receive as well.
It can be good to do this to make sure
you properly thank the person, of course, but sometimes people
will ask you what they can give you. If you
really enjoyed a cheese sampler someone else gave you, you
can mention that that was a hit with your family.
I know I can't always remember what would be a

(03:37):
good gift for me in the moment, and maybe you
can't either. A list can help in any case. I
think one of the things that makes holiday gift giving
feel stressful is that we often think we are starting
from zero. Come late November, it's like, oh dear, what
on earth am I going to get everyone? But when

(03:58):
you look at last year list and the list from
the year before that, it will spark ideas and maybe
it can help with the brainstorming. I am a big
fan of anything that makes the holidays less stressful. Now.
Of course, if you don't have a list from last
year and the year before that, I understand that this
tip may be less useful. But as the saying goes,

(04:22):
the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago.
The second best time is now. Start your gifts of
Christmas past and present. List now and you will be
a little more jolly come next November. In the meantime,
this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

(04:44):
the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
me at low Ura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before

(05:08):
Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
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