MM206 - The Best Xmas Gift for your Family

We all have things. Many of us have more things that we want or need. One of the best things you can give your family is something that cannot be purchased in a store; fond memories.

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♫ Trenches by Pop Evil ♫

*Alex*

Welcome to Morning Mindset. A daily dose of practical wit and wisdom with a professional educator & trainer, Amazon best selling author, United States Marine, Television, and Radio host, Paul G. Markel. Each episode will focus on positive and productive ways to strengthen your mindset and help you improve your relationships, career goals, and overall well-being. Please welcome your host; Paul G. Markel.

*Professor Paul*

Welcome back to the Morning Mindset podcast. I am once again still indeed your host Paul Markel. Thank you very much for joining me. Now during last week's episodes a couple episodes last week. I talked about Christmas and Christmas Memories some of the memories I had from when I was a very young child and some of the memories that I had when I was a young man, just recently married, had a little son and such. Shared those with you and I keep those memories with me share them with my wife and my family and I wanted to talk today about what I believe is probably the best Christmas gift for your family now, I don't know about you. But if you're if you're similar to me or if you're in a similar position.

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Each year, you know you will hear from your family. They will ask you what do you want for Christmas or do you want anything for Christmas? We do this with our kids all the time, right Little Johnny Little Suzy we say what do you want for Christmas Johnny? What you want for Christmas Susie the used to be really simple didn't it used to be simple? We wanted a GI Joe with the Kung Fu Grip or we wanted the Six Million Dollar Man. Steve Austin action figure, right? He wanted that I wanted a football or whatever a football.

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Daisy Red Ryder BB gun 200 shot Range model with a compass in the stock in the thing that tells time it used to be really simple. Didn't it? We were kids. It was simple to just ask for something whatever it was you maybe you wanted ice skates or you know, you name it. But you wanted something simple or something that you'd had your eye on all year, and like I said when I was a kid, there are two times a year that you got toys or presents on your birthday and Christmas and Lord help you if your birthday was close to Christmas.

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Because then you had to wait a whole rest of the year, you know, if you're born in January, you're kind of shortchanged man because people are like man, I just gave you a Christmas gift and it's your birthday. My son. My son has a January birthday and he gets kind of shortchanged the best way to do it is maybe to have like a June birthday. That way you can spread it out. My we don't do that anymore. We indulge our kids today. We spoil our kids we give them presents and toys all the time. But when you get older, you don't really need toys. You don't really need presents.

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You know, when you're an adult if there's something that you feel like you need, that you need to satisfy your life, whether it's a new golf clubs or a new bowling ball or whatever. Whatever it is that you see generally you figure out your budget and you just go get it. You don't wait for Christmas you know when you're an adult especially if you're the dad if you're Santa Claus, you don't wait around for Christmas time to ask for a new whatever because you're the one who's in charge of getting this stuff anyway.

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So, how do we deal with what's the best Christmas gift? What do you want for Christmas Dad? Do you want for Christmas Mom, and most of the time the honest answer is I don't need anything. I don't have to have anything. Now. You always say well, come on dad. I know you don't need anything. But what do you want? I got to give you a present. I got to get you something or you save your wife, you know, she says to you. I don't eat anything this year.

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Don't get me anything. Which really means you need to get me something but you shouldn't have had to ask me that's what that really means or there's some better be something under the tree because of there's not I'm not going to be happy the best Christmas gift that I can remember ever getting and now that I'm older and I can consider it the best Christmas gifts to me are the memories. Of Christmases past. Are the memories of the times that I spent with my family?

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As a child the memories of going over to my grandparent's house and having Christmas dinner and exchanging gifts in the living room, and you know, I got gifts that I that I enjoyed when I was very young right after Star Wars was released. I was a child once the original Star Wars came out. I was in elementary school and I immediately got into the Star Wars action figures, and I started collecting Star Wars action figures and one year for Christmas. When I like I said, I was in elementary school. I remember what year it was. It wasn't even 1988. It was in the 70s, but I got a death star playset.

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That's right, the Death Star playset from my grandma and grandpa for my Star Wars action figures and that was wonderful, but. You know aside from the actual physical things when I think about that now when I go back and think about the Christmases that I've had over my lifetime, I don't think so much about the objects about the things about the toys. I mean you remember things like that because it's nostalgia. But what was more important to me and what has been more important to me, especially as I get older is the memories of the times that I spent with the people in my life where I was and I think about where I was I think about the situation, you know, there were sometimes when I was in the Marine Corps.

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There was a couple of times a day. Could not go home for Christmas and that's one of the big things at least it was when I was in being in the military and you're in the military, especially if you're in the Infantry and you're deployed all the time, it's will you be home for Christmas? You know, we are home for Christmas this year, and if memory serves I was home for one. When I was active duty, I was able to come home for one Christmas and that there were several times that I made it home, you know a week after Christmas or I got to go home before what have you but one year I wasn't able to go home for Christmas because it just wasn't in the cards.

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I had Duty and you know, we were doing we were doing our military stuff. But a good friend of mine only lived his hometown was only a few hours away from where we were stationed, and so we got a couple of days off not really enough time for me to fly home and fly back, you know, it's just by the time you get there you're finishing up in your turn around you're coming home again. So we drove over to his house and I spent Christmas with him and his family and it was wonderful.

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It was wonderful, even though I wasn't able to be with my family. I was able to I was able to share it with him and his family. There were times when I was deployed overseas and I just shared the Christmas holiday with the people in my company my platoon my unit. Then I got married and had kids and so forth and what I'm saying to you is this right now as the Christmas season is approaching. People will say to you. What do you want? Maybe your kids say that? Maybe your spouse says that?

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I would say and if you're the dad if you're Santa Claus, maybe your responsibility is to help all those other people. Make good Christmas Memories. Your job is to create fond Christmas Memories and sometimes the memories don't seem so fond when they're closed up and they become Van Der as you get farther away from them like trudging up and down the side of a mountain to harvest a Christmas tree to harvest your very own Christmas tree. It doesn't seem that fun when you're actually doing it.

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After you're done years later, you can talk about it. So if you're the dad if you're the Santa Claus, if you're in charge of getting gifts for people, I would say one of the best gifts that you can give yourself and your family is to do something that creates fond memories. Things that people will carry with them long after the toys and the Trinkets and the ties and you know, all the crazy stuff that you get and you put on the shelf and then you just like don't even know what happens to it long after all that is faded away. You'll have those memories and that is what I hope that each and every one of you will have this year. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I am your host Paul Markel. I will talk to you again real soon.

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*Alex*

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