It's Not Too Early to Think About Holiday Shopping

I have a friend who always buys her gifts for friends and family when she travels. It’s always fun to get a gift box from her because she includes a business card from wherever she purchases the gift. It is fun to see where she has been and those business cards have come in handy when she sends me something I decide I can’t live without and I need to locate the website address. I have now adopted her tradition of buying gifts when we travel and enclosing a business card.

While Fred and I were in Seattle this summer for a wedding, we spent one afternoon at Pike’s Market and did some early Christmas shopping (really early for us). Fred and I had lots of fun picking up little gifts. It's become so natural that Fred even asks for business cards when he is making a purchase for me. It works something like this - "Fred, while you finish up here, I'm going to go into the next store and start looking for...." instead of saying "no way", he just asks me “how many business cards do you need?” (Yep, he’s a keeper.)

I’ll admit that it’s often difficult not to give the gift immediately after returning home. I’ve decided that it’s something that you really have to put your mind to and it’s easier when I think about how much fun it will be for the recipient to open and see that the gift is from somewhere we’ve traveled. Okay, I’ll admit, some of the gifts don’t make it to the future birthday celebration or holiday, I'm proud to say that many of them do.