Most Wanted Holiday Gifts: Time, Musings & Adventure.

Scrolling through my newsfeed on Facebook... I come across a lot of crap. Crap which I tend to click on and consume. It's usually some piece of content that isn't meant to be informative or helpful. It's mostly just click-bait. Yet, even though I find a lot of it to be crap, I don't block the offending profiles who post the crap.

Because I like consuming crap. Social newsfeed crap is the new reality TV. 

I no longer watch much television. I've replaced it with hours and hours of daily Internet consumption.

I stand by my choice.

Anyway... As I was catching up on my morning efforts to stay on top of news, trends, and baby pictures friends post on Facebook... I came across an article by the one of the worst offenders in click-baiting... Elle Magazine.

Sure, some of their pieces are fun to read. They're mindless, harmless things. Sometime the text supporting the article is a little misleading... But I keep them on my feed because it provides a "muse" of sorts. Today's article was about "9 Expensive Gifts to Ask For" this holiday season.

As I was flipping through the slideshow of treats, I yawned.

Tiffany Jewelry? Hermes blankets and cozy high end clothing?  A date with a really, really ridiculously hot polo player? A hot pink suitcase?

Um. No thank you.

Don't get me wrong. I like nice things. I used to LOVE nice things. I appreciate them. I take care of them. But in the past few years, it's become more about experiences for me.  The gifts I give to myself - and am lucky to receive from others - largely evolve around:

• Time. The most obvious of wonderful gifts. Time is a wonderful gift. I am so busy, I know how valuable time is. And when someone spends it with you, whether in person or even on a Facebook chat... It's a big deal. I myself value my alone time. I need it. I would be depressed if I didn't have daily time to myself. 
• Ideas & Musings. I've said it many times before... "I am not a creative person. I am a curious person, though." If someone or something stokes the fire of inspiration in me, I consider myself blessed.
• Adventure. This is a gift I largely give myself. Usually in the form of travel. The last gift of travel someone else gave me was a trip to Barcelona that my ex-husband and I planned for American Thanksgiving two years ago. But we split about two months before that. And even though the trip had been paid for, neither of us took it. I don't know that I could ever accept a gift of travel from someone else. So it's just now a gift to me... And it's one of my most favorite gifts ever. Obviously. 

With the last item, it's not about it being a luxury trip. Certainly not all of my travel is luxurious. Far from it.  It's about what I'll see and do, and how I'll be able to connect in the space of whichever city I happen to be in at the time. For example, when I went to Sedona this past weekend... It wasn't about hikes into vortexes or experiencing all kinds of spa treatments. I spent a lot of my time in my hotel room, writing and thinking. And it was awesome. 

More awesome than a Tiffany ring.  And even more awesome than a date with a really, really, ridiculously hot polo player.