Gift cards

A lot of online surveys (and a most of the peeps on Kidd's show) are saying gift cards are among the worst gifts we can give this holiday season. I don't get it. I love gift cards! Gift cards are a license to shop. It's shopping without having to pay at the end and I'm always thrilled to get them. The argument against them is that they aren't personal enough and I can see that, but I don't think that's enough to say they're a bad gift. A fruitcake is a bad gift. In fact, I might argue that all things that can be wrapped in cellophane are suspect gifts. Maybe gift cards are not the greatest thing to give to your spouse because they lack a certain sentiment, but they're awesome for the mailman and the newspaper delivery boy and random people like that. And what if you have a Starbucks fan on your list? It's much easier to buy a gift card than stick a grande vanilla latte in a stocking.

I'm getting excited for our trip to Nebraska next week. My mom said Jada is excited for us to get there so she can build a bird house with "Alala." Nobody knows where she developed the bird house interest. She knows Angela likes to build things, but there are no birds in Nebraska this time of year because they've all flown south for the winter, and there aren't a lot of bird house carpenters who are busy this time of year. Perhaps she's thinking ahead to spring and she wants to be prepared. Or perhaps she saw one bird suffering through the cold winter and she wants to give him a home. She's a sweetie like that. She probably just wants to work on an in-depth project with Angela. She wants to make cookies with me. She knows us pretty well. Ciara will be a year old January 11th and she's almost walking. I hope I can soak up every minute of Christmas with them.

We're buying them fun stuff--no gift cards. A gift card might be worse than a lump of coal in a stocking to a kid. Still better than a fruitcake.