An alternative to shopping for the holidays

This is not an anti-consumer thing. This is not a pro-environment thing. This is a pro-sincerity thing. I have always felt that gift giving on birthdays and Christmas were dangerously close to being disingenuous. "I love you so much that I bought you this obligatorily piece of manufactured pre-garbage from the mall" has never really struck me as something that we should, as a nation, do to each other.

But the problem is that no one person can opt out of gift giving. With everyone giving gifts, any one person opting out just looks like a jerk. Believe me, I know. But what to do in place of the obligatory mall gift?

Here is my solution: do things for people. Spending your time, and using your (abilities/talents/pickup truck) to help them out. If you have a friend who hates doing windows? Wash his windows for Christmas. If you are big and strong, you could offer to help someone rearrange their living room. If you are the only person in your circle of friends with a car, offer to take someone shopping on some really bad weather days.

Take what you can do, and what your loved ones need, and give them something unique and important: your time. I'm asking people to join me giving sincere gifts that people really want, that will bring us closer together. If I'm on your gift list for the holidays, send me a note with a coupon for a favor and we can help each other out.