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Blog: Discovering Your Core Values
 How Your Christmas Wish List Can Represent Your Family Values
The kids are fast and furiously writing their Christmas lists - it's a week after Halloween you know. They give me the lists and the first thing I think is, "Wow! My kids are so greedy!" Then I remembered how exciting it was when the Fall Sears catalog came. My siblings and I would glance through it, but only briefly because the fun was right before Thanksgiving when my mom would ask us what we wanted for Christmas.
We'd get out the Sears catalog fight over who got it first, then circle things and cut things out and make lists with items in reference. We'd go through it over and over again. Thinking back, I came from very modest means and knew the presents under the tree were always minimal. I was never disappointed, however, we knew ahead of time and our final list only had the items on it we really wanted. Mostly, though, we got things we needed.
But that Sears catalog let us dream. It allowed us to have unlimited amounts of money. It sent our imaginations running wild. It allowed us to live vicariously through the children in the pictures. The biggest difference between my siblings and I and my children, though, are the expectations. My kids expect things, we could only hope, but were realistic. The letdown wasn't there because the expectations weren't there.
My kids are growing up in a world of abundance. You can get anything in a matter of seconds. Immediate gratification is an epidemic.
I sat them down with their lists and talked about how much fun the things on their lists are or would be and wouldn't it be cool if...? Then we talked about how much fun it was just to make the list and dream. Then we chatted about the real meaning of Christmas to our family. What family values do we want to uphold during the season and how can they be represented on the Wish Lists?
The kids decided to make 2 separate lists; 1 for what they really wanted and 1 for their imaginations. The imagination lists were hung up in their bedrooms for fun and I've already noticed some imaginary play that has developed because of the pictures or words on the lists.
They also decided we should adopt a family that has less than we do, maybe one that has their needs met, but doesn't have the extras for toys or fun things and then they would each choose one item from their Dream List to give to this family, that they would enjoy the satisfaction of giving to others much more than if they received the item themselves.
I'll let you know how it goes!
posted on: 11/17/2007 12:00:00 PM by Tami Gallagher
category: The Mental Side
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Discovering Your Core Values
by Tami Gallagher
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About Tami:
Tami Gallagher is a Professional Organizer who specializes in Family Time Management. Her company does individual family consulting, workshops and presentations, and also provides community resources for families. Ms. Gallagher believes every family matters. She teaches families how to examine their core values and use them as a foundation in organizing their lives. Available on her website is The Family Core Organizer CD. This fun, practical, and easy to use tool is the ultimate planner and information keeper for your family. Everything you need – all in one location!
Tami's Website:
www.organizedtothecore.com
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