The hustle and bustle of the Holiday season was interrupted here in LA yesterday morning with the tragic shooting rampage just blocks from my apartment. Perhaps you saw the video on the news. S-C-A-R-Y.
And since a stop at the FedEx office smack dab in the middle of the crime zone was on my list of errands yesterday, had I not taken a wee bit longer than normal to finish my eBay Roundup, I would have actually been on Vine Street when it happened.
Which is why I feel compelled to remind everyone that no matter how many people on your holiday list, no matter how much time you spend searching for the most-perfect gifts, no matter how well you can channel Martha Stewart while wrapping them, at the end of the day, the loved ones in your life will always prefer your PRESENCE to your PRESENTS.
The gift of your PRESENCE will beat out any PRESENT any day of the year.
And there aren’t enough presents in the world that can make up for the lack of presence of someone you love, right?
So why is it that so many of us hold back this perfect present every day?
Why is it that we wouldn’t think of sorting through a stack of our mail at lunch with a friend, yet somehow think it’s okay to go through our email while they read the menu and decide what to order?
Why is it that many of us see family members just once or twice or year and yet find it hard to keep our cell phones in our pockets and resist texting or tweeting for the few hours we’re with them?
It appears that many of us have forgotten what it feels like to be turned ON to life when all of our electronics are turned OFF.
So here’s a radical idea.
What if you celebrated this holiday with no gifts at all EXCEPT your presence.
Instead of spending harried weekends running around town looking for gifts or engaging with web pages, you’d actually have the quality time needed to truly engage with the people you love.
Instead of spending an hour together unwrapping presents and creating a big pile of trash, you could spend a few hours volunteering together as a family and creating a memory that would nourish you for years to come while also helping out your fellow man.
Can you imagine the world we’d live in if we all prioritized PRESENCE over PRESENTS?
But while this thought is lovely, I know it’s probably not realistic. Most of us will still be out hunting for gifts these next few weeks. Hopefully, today’s HI/LO challenge serves as a reminder that beautiful gifts need not cost a fortune.
One of these glitzy vintage wreath pins costs $145, the other over $11,000!
Can you guess the Hi and the Lo?
It’s a Hi/Lo holiday challenge for all you Vintage Crusaders!
Available at Antiques by Bubbleking and Portero.
(HI: Wreath on Right from Portero | LO: Wreath on Left from Antiques by Bubbleking | To receive the VPOD free via email with detailed size and price information, sign up for the growing email mailing list here. Your information will never be sold or shared and you can easily unsubscribe at any time. | Disclosure: Zuburbia is an affiliate of the eBay Partner Network.)
