For the first time ever, I made a conscious decision not to add to my immediate family’s cathedral of junk. I googled “non-materialistic Christmas gifts.” From consumables to experiences, I brainstormed what was within my budget.
Initially, I planned to buy the ingredients for baked goods I thought they would enjoy preparing and then consuming. Yet, that would only have been a good idea for fewer than half of my family.
A better gift for one of my sisters and her son was indoor skydiving. That idea blossomed into including my other sister and her family.
I knew my parents, The Octogenarians, would only watch the rest of us make fools of ourselves. Instead, I’d treat my parents to a daytrip to visit a dinner theatre. Over the years, Mom had raved about a dinner theatre that was a few hours away, which she’d attended with her Red Hatters group.
Mom hasn’t been since the pandemic. Dad and I have never attended; so, this would be the perfect opportunity for the three of us to do something special.
The best part: as energized as I felt to provide these experience-based gifts, my sisters and mother were very excited to help plan.
Since one of my nieces was in grad school, the best time for us to go indoor skydiving was on Christmas Eve when all of us were at her parents’ house. Although I arrived at their house around 11 PM, I gathered my nieces and nephew around midnight, technically Christmas Eve, to tell them that their other aunt and I were treating them to indoor skydiving. They were surprised and excited.
My brother-in-law, already in bed when I arrived, had been told. Otherwise, he would have cooked the whole day. Not that I’m complaining. Normally that would have been perfect, but I wanted him to experience flying.
As far as the dinner theatre was concerned, after the holidays was a better, calmer time to schedule that experience.
It’s tempting to make this a family tradition, but knowing me, I’ll research another family experience. Next time, I’ll start earlier.