{"id":1133,"date":"2013-12-18T11:55:50","date_gmt":"2013-12-18T17:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/larakrupicka.com\/?p=1133"},"modified":"2013-12-18T12:02:37","modified_gmt":"2013-12-18T18:02:37","slug":"bucket-list-gifts-to-give-those-you-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/larakrupicka.com\/staging\/6885\/2013\/12\/18\/bucket-list-gifts-to-give-those-you-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucket List Gifts to Give Those You Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drop a gold coin in a Salvation Army bucket. Tie a bow around a brand new car to give someone you love. Leave a $100 tip for a restaurant server. Wrap an envelope of airline tickets.\"Car<\/a><\/p>\n

Those make great bucket list ideas, don’t they? I\u2019d love the opportunity to do each one of those someday. There is something about being able to overwhelm others with an amazing gift. Everyone should have the chance to experience that once in their lifetime.<\/p>\n

But in reality those are truly once-in-a-lifetime goals \u2013 if even. Yet we have a desire to deliver above and beyond. And in the life of parents this can translate into trying to outdo ourselves every year in the gifts we give our children. It\u2019s hard not to give into temptation. Trust me, I\u2019m there. Even if it\u2019s not the temptation to outdo a previous year\u2019s gift, there\u2019s still that tendency to shop for \u201cjust one more.\u201d Right?<\/p>\n

So what if this is a leaner year. Or what if you\u2019ve run out of amazing gift ideas? Stop for a minute and recall: what was your best Christmas ever? What made it remarkable?<\/p>\n

Do you recall being surprised by a once-in-a-lifetime gift: the year you got engaged at Christmas, the time your parents sprung a tropical vacation on you & your siblings, the Christmas you received your most hoped-for but least-expected gift (like Ralphie’s Red Ryder BB gun)?<\/p>\n

I imagine other occasions stand out too though. The year you swore you heard Santa\u2019s sleigh outside. The time you ate Christmas dinner at a convenience store because your flight arrived after all the restaurants closed. The Christmas your entire family stayed in pajamas all day hunched in front of the television battling it out on your new ColecoVision game (Mom & Dad included).<\/p>\n

Maybe the strongest sentiments for you surround an overall impression of what Christmas meant: spending the night at Grandma & Grandpa\u2019s house. Roudy carousing with cousins & the antics of aunts & uncles. How your cousin swore your mom couldn\u2019t enter their house any time she wanted (like Santa Claus) and to prove it she snuck in and painted his fingernails a bright red.<\/p>\n

You want to deliver big for your family and loved ones this year? Consider how you can give them those warm feelings of family and security and relaxation. Maybe you\u2019ll want to wrap up a certificate for one whole day of Barbie doll playing together for your daughter. Or the gift of a day in pajamas playing the board games of your son\u2019s choosing. For the artsy child try wrapping a coloring book with a note saying it\u2019s for the two of you to share & color side by side. Give a young relative who lives far away a book along with a CD or MP3 of you reading it aloud to them.<\/p>\n

Instead of pushing the financial envelope, push the limits of your creativity to produce a memorable gift of time and presence.<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s an amazing treat for giver and recipient to lavish extravagant gifts. But sometimes the most appreciated gift is the gift of ourselves. And that\u2019s one we should shoot to give more than once in a lifetime.<\/p>\n

Photo credit:\u00a0Car decorated with white ribbons for a wedding by<\/a> eltpics on Flickr via CC License<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drop a gold coin in a Salvation Army bucket. Tie a bow around a brand new car to give someone you love. Leave a $100 tip for a restaurant server. Wrap an envelope of airline tickets. Those make great bucket list ideas, don’t they? I\u2019d love the opportunity to do each one of those someday….<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,52,38,32,8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1133","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-bucket-lists-2","7":"category-holidays","8":"category-hopes","9":"category-parenting","10":"category-relationships","11":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Lara Krupicka","author_link":"https:\/\/larakrupicka.com\/staging\/6885\/author\/laraadmin\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe5GGb-ih","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/larakrupicka.com\/staging\/6885\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/larakrupicka.com\/staging\/6885\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/larakrupicka.com\/staging\/6885\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larakrupicka.com\/staging\/6885\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larakrupicka.com\/staging\/6885\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/larakrupicka.com\/staging\/6885\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/larakrupicka.com\/staging\/6885\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larakrupicka.com\/staging\/6885\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/larakrupicka.com\/staging\/6885\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}