The spirit of giving

It is no secret that I absolutely love the holidays. I love decorating and baking and carols and holiday movies and specials.

I love shopping too...except when I have a hard time coming up with gift ideas. And that is where I'm at right now. So I am kind of NOT loving shopping at the moment. I kind of feel like this year might be one of those years where I have to drop myself down in the middle of the mall and just wander around and see what strikes my fancy.

It doesn't help that my favorite partner in crime for shopping (me madre) will be gone for a week either! Usually she can help me figure things out a bit. We'll just have to hit it hard when she gets back (along with a TON of baking...).

Thanks to the generosity of some friends, I think I have Nate figured out - I had an epic idea earlier this week - but then the necessary items sold out extremely fast so I had given up on it. But I have friends that were able to purchase said items and they have offered to sell them to me, which is just kind beyond words. Yes this is all rather vague, I just don't want to give anything away if Nate stumbles onto the blog. I don't think he reads much but just in case...

But I buy gifts for more than just my husband so I am stumped on pretty much everyone else on my list. And this week I read a blog post of a friend of mine that has definitely had me thinking as well. The post is here and includes a short video that is quite thought provoking.

It should not be this difficult - so I'm really trying to just kind of look inside my heart a bit more this year and I think that will hopefully lead me to ideas that are nice and meaningful. And I know that my recipients will know that what they are given is given with love and that is the only thing that truly matters. That is the spirit of giving.