One thing Daniel
reminded me that I forgot to mention in one of my letters is the fact that on
Christmas Eve, In Uruguay, the children stay up late to open their gifts on
Christmas Eve and once. The raise starts and it's like a stampede rush to open as
many gifts at once as possible until it’s over and at that point no one knows
who gave what to whom.
Today’s post is
the part two of that letter which explains our gift giving tradition or I
should say our “no gift giving” in the Almeida household. However, having said
that, let me explain how much I love giving presents. I love planning surprises
and putting thought into the little details and making a gift very special.
I have so much
fun anticipating the other person’s excitement and reaction that giving is way
more exciting for me than getting a present. Not that I don’t love getting a gift – I mean come on, who doesn’t?!? But I can honestly say that I
have way more fun with the giving.
What is not fun
for me is holding out from telling Daniel once I have his gift. Like today, I was thinking should I have him open it now? I am the worst when it comes to keeping presents I
got for someone a secret…like the worst!! It has always been a problem
for me when it comes to gift giving. I get so excited about the gift I have for
someone that I literally burst at the seams trying to keep the secret in. I
would never have made it as one of Santa’s elves! Knowing what every good girl
and boy was going to get would be too much to handle! I have been agonizing
about what to give Daniel for Christmas and last week I finally figured it out
and got it all in place but now it is going to KILL ME to not be able to jump
up and down and scream with excitement! I can’t believe I am forced to hide it
for this long.
But don’t just
take my word for the fact that giving is better than receiving – there is an
article posted in Psychology Today that explains how science has even proven
it! The article is titled “Giving really is better than receiving: Does giving
to others (vs. the self) promote happiness?”
“The research shows that people’s sense
of happiness is greater when they spend relatively more on others
than on themselves. One survey found that spending money on others predicted
greater happiness whereas spending money on oneself did not, and this pattern
was found across all income levels. In other words, even those with little
money reported greater happiness when their proportion of spending on others,
relative to the self, was greater.
In a more controlled experiment, Dunn and colleagues gave students
at the University of British Columbia an envelope containing money and told
them that they either (1) had to spend the money on themselves before 5 p.m.
that day or (2) had to spend the money on someone else before 5 p.m. Those who
gifted for others were happier than those who gifted for themselves.
In some cases, there were 5 dollars in the envelope and in other
cases there were 20 dollars. The amount didn’t matter — the results were the
same. Spending on others made people happier than spending on oneself.
Ironically, when asked to predict which outcome would make one happier (i.e.,
spending on oneself or spending on others), another group of students at the
same university thought spending on themselves would make them happier than
spending on others. In short, people’s selfish assumptions were proven wrong
when they actually had the opportunity to give to others than to oneself.”
So there you
have it! It’s a fact! It is better for you personally to give than to receive,
so this holiday season put extra thought into your gifts. Remember that they
don’t have to cost money, in fact the most meaningful gifts typically don’t
cost much at all!
The most
meaningful gifts are the ones that you put thought into making them personal
and meaningful, like a handwritten card, or a digital photo frame with
meaningful photos, or a handmade craft of some kind. Those are the gifts
someone will hang on to long after the expensive gifts have worn out, but if
you do want an EXPENSIVE gift, I will share a little secret from Vale. All you
need to do is call Vale so she can ask Daniel and for sure you’ll get it J
Have a great
week celebrating Halloween. It is the only one time in the year that you can
act and be silly and I love that!
Con amor,
Vero
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