Sixty-Something: The Gift of Giving During the Holidays

The saying goes in life there are givers and there are takers. I believe it is a gift to be a giver. The holiday season is the season of giving. Whether it be tips, gifts, bonuses or charity. Giving someone a really wonderful useful gift has always been a joy for me. Some folks dislike Christmas gift giving. There are many opinions on why one should carry on the tradition or ignore it. In the end it is personal.

When I owned my own company, it was tough to determine how much each employee should get for a Christmas bonus. Our worst sales month was always December. Actually,the whole last quarter of the year, was our worst time for cash flow and somehow the toughest month with overhead bills. That added to the stress of somehow giving my workers the right bonus amounts. We used to joke if only Christmas was in the Spring when our sales and profits were strongest the task would be easier.

It’s sad when a company owner has to lower a bonus to a non-sales employee because the company is not having a great year, but the employee has given his all. I used to know how important that bonus would be for all my employees’ holiday season. I must admit it was tough to be fair with employees I didn’t like or I knew didn’t like me.

Who can truly understand how some Wall Street firms give out in some cases millions of dollars in bonuses based on absolutely no real formula other than the mood of the company official at bonus time.

I remember back in college my friend Clark worked for a plywood company in Northern Virginia. One Christmas the owners had a “come to Jesus” moment and gave all the employees, who made back in 1974 around $30,000, huge bonuses.

I know Clark was in shock, it was more than three times what he expected. The sequel is I don’t know what happened the next year, because Clark who never loved the job moved to Colorado and eventually made a small fortune building condos.

Clark went from bartender, to restaurant manager, to construction guy, to managing the construction crews, to starting his own building firm. Then he rode the ski industry building boom to prosperity, all while getting married and raising two daughters. I believe he said it was the huge 1974 bonus that gave him the freedom to pursue his dream.

Finding the right gift is not always that easy. Before Amazon one might have to walk through sports shops, department stores, and toy stores and hunt for the right gifts for family and loved ones. The look on someone’s face when they get a really good gift, meaning one they needed, will use and love the color, size or whatever is to me priceless.

The pleasure for me is seeing it used for many years. I am sure everyone reading this probably has a gift somewhere in their home they have never touched since they got it. It happens.

I think giving cash is wrong. I did this with my own daughters when they came of age, but in the end, it became so impersonal and I stopped. They weren’t and still aren’t thrilled with that decision. They must feel its controlling. I just didn’t feel like dropping money in their accounts a few days before Christmas was what Christmas is all about.

Now, since they live far away, I request they send me a few links of what they want and I pick one. I enjoyed seeing one of the winter coats I purchased for one daughter for Christmas on her when she sent me a photo of her in Japan a year or so later. You never get that feeling giving cash.

Lastly, I enjoy the ceremony of opening gifts on Christmas morning and seeing where I was right and where I was so wrong. That process is just me and wife these days. At this point in our lives, we have almost everything we need. That makes giving the perfect gifts tough. I still like to think I put some thought and love in every choice.