Skip to main content

A Covid Experience Gift

Recently, a member of my mother’s church congregation asked her to share with him the blessings she has seen from the pandemic. Wait–the pandemic is a BAD thing, so how can something GOOD (i.e. BLESSINGS) come from it? My friends, it’s all in how you look at it.

Because many of our usual activities have been either switched to an online format or cancelled entirely, families are having to spend more time together at home. While some are only focused on what they are missing, many have chosen to concentrate on the positive things that have come from less-busy family schedules, and they are grateful for what they are finding.

It’s a time for new traditions, especially with Christmas just two weeks away. There are many things on this world-wide-web of ours, you just have to be slightly proficient at keyboarding to find them. And, if you need some reminders, check out some Holiday Discovery Hunts (all virtual and FUN). How about online Santa Stories every night through Christmas Eve?  Study up on some Christmas traditions around the world. Find out the origin of holiday symbols. Or, perhaps you could even host your own Gingerbread House Challenge (get your friends and neighbors involved!). What a great time to orchestrate some PEAK experiences for your family.

After all, it’s all about making lemonade out of lemons, right?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

One More–Christmas Experiences Part II

Christmas is just a week away. Hopefully you’ve checked everything off your to-do list and can spend some quality time “experiencing” Christmas gifts with your family. Because, after all, your loved ones will be far more touched by how you made them feel than they will be with what you gave them. This week, I want to share with you my sister, Carey’s, family Christmas experience. “One Christmas, when my boys, now 18, 23 and 28, were little, we gave them an experience that is still talked about now. And it’s something so easily replicated that any family can do it, and it’s not too late to do it for Christmas (even ON Christmas) this year. We drove around our neighborhood and looked at all the homes decorated for the holiday. We took note of the addresses as we numbered them. We talked about what made each ornamented yards stand out. And at the end of the night, we voted for our favorite. I had my sons help me make some of our favorite holiday desserts and, in addition to taking p...

The One Nobody Wants to Talk About

A young, twenty-something wife and mother of three in my neighborhood lost her husband unexpectedly a few years ago. He died with no life insurance. It left the family financially devastated . She had to sell her house and move into her parent’s basement. A Go Fund Me account paid for her husband’s funeral. I have another friend who lost her husband to a horrible illness when they were in their early forties. This couple had planned ahead and made sure they had the right amounts of the right kinds of insurance in place, including life insurance on the major breadwinner of the family–my friend’s husband. A year or so after he passed, I asked her how she was doing financially. She said her husband had taken care of her financially in death just as well as he had in life. Life insurance is crucial for a specific portion of your life. Do not overlook this. There is more to losing a family member than the overwhelming grief of the loss itself. No one needs financial hardship heape...

Timing is Everything

I was told that a good time to buy a car is January or February. Why? I would guess it’s because many people are financially destitute right after Christmas (because they have not yet been introduced to my blog!) so car sales are down. I do think there is another reason. I think that most people have yet to file their taxes and receive their tax returns (a.k.a. overpayment that they loaned interest-free to the government ) with which they plan to make a down payment. Now it’s March, and many people have already filed their taxes and received said overpayment that we common-folk refer to as a return, and it’s burning a hole in their pockets. This can be good news for you if you have things you want to sell. Now is the time to capitalize on the extra influx of cash. What do you have around your house that you no longer use that you can sell? Speaking as someone who has done this very thing, I must warn you. Selling stuff you don’t need anymore and collecting the cash can be addicting...