ArcaMax

– Feeling Scroogey

Dear Scroogey: In many families, there’s a holiday inflection point where the adults look around their crowded houses and say, “Enough.” My family dealt with this for years by drawing names at Thanksgiving. We then transitioned into giving to charities matching the recipient to a suitable cause – only giving material gifts to the children. I’m with your mother regarding letting yourself off the hook entirely, but I also understand that this might not make the giving season satisfying for you.

You’re lucky! You’re an artist. You seem to think that because you gave drawings one time, you can’t do it again. I strongly disagree!

My great-uncle – also an artist – created a unique Christmas card every year, made prints, and signed and personally inscribed them to the recipient. Almost 100 years later, these treasures are collectors items and prized within the family.

You could do something similar – keep the piece small, modest, and unframed – and give one to each family, inscribed for them. The recipient could choose to frame the piece, tape it to the fridge, or stick it in an album. You could give art supplies to the children on your list.

Your annual gift to friends and family could be a treasure that would outlast any fancy gift you could purchase.

Dear Amy: When our daughters were born we opened an account for each of them. We told them it was their college account.

Money gifts from relatives went into this account.

When college approached, we informed them: “Here is your college account. If you have money left in it after college graduation, it’s yours. If you have college loans, they’re yours. It’s up to you.”

Daughter number one spent most of it on college. Great! Daughter number two decided to go to a great public university, graduated with a double BS, and used the excess as a down payment on her first house. So far so good.

...continued