Merry Christmas

It’s been such a nice Christmas this year, and I hope yours was nice as well.

One of the benefits of being a single dad becomes apparent to me during the Christmas season, because my ex-wife and mother to my daughters, well, one of our weaknesses as a couple was that we never could get on the same wavelength when it came to our money. I tried to be the planner but it was impossible with her. I don’t mean it in a mean-spirited way, either. At Christmastime, she just spammed our daughters with presents, and we always ended up reeling from it for a month after. I’d try to lay down a budget, and she’d agree to it to my face, and then she’s just do what she wanted to do anyway, like we’d never talked about it. It sucked, but it’s in the past.

Since becoming a single dad I started being more deliberate about things. Instead of spamming them with gifts, I try to be thoughful and restrained, set a budget and keep it. This year, I ran across this formula for gifting on social media and I really liked it:

Get them something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.

That’s what I did this year, but I added:

and a nice perfume.

I always gift perfumes. It’s my thing.

It ended up working really well, and there’s nothing better than seeing someone light up from a gift you put a lot of thought into.

Then we went to Waffle House for breakfast, and I’m instantly reminded that hash browns at Waffle House are one of the great wonders of the world.

All feels right in the world today.

Merry Christmas.