Things change quickly and Christmas season is fast approaching. And there’s only 45 days left for the most wonderful time of the year. For sure your house is already full of Christmas decorations and brightened up with colorful lights spread in every corner of it. And shoppers are very busy in buying gifts at the same time excited for the gifts that they’re going to receive from their friends and love ones. As you think about what gifts you want to give, why not consider giving “GOT” not the Game of Thrones but the “Gift of Time”?

As we move into the Christmas season, we’re moving into one of the busiest seasons of the year so I think the greatest gift that we can give is time (not Alarm Clock, watch but Time!);    Time to yourself, to your love ones and to significant others.

Gift of Time to Myself:

Two years ago, I was hospitalized because of pneumonia. I actually spent my birthday on the hospital bed. This experience taught me to see that life and my health are precious. And realized that although I can plan for tomorrow, we still have no control over what will happen in our lives.

So this Christmas I want to give the gift of time to myself. To live in the moment.  To enjoy this season away from school work, toxic people, and stress. By just paying attention to the things that makes me happy like pizza, music, movies and books

Yes this Christmas I want to treat myself by purchasing a concert ticket (hopefully) my favorite books, albums of my favorite rock bands and artists. Plus, I also want to update my closet and to have new phone and headset. By doing these stuffs, I am savoring the joy of life and making a huge difference in how I feel. To be inspired, satisfied and grateful.

Here’s my wish list for Christmas:

1. #EXOluXioninManila Concert Ticket: I am an EXO fan and I really wanna come to their concert next year. This would be the best and perfect Christmas gift. 

2. Books: Every day by David Levithan, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secret of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz, and Looking for Alaska by John Green.

3. Albums: Future Hearts by All Time Low, Blurryface by Twenty One Pilots, and Wild by Troye Sivan.

 4. Movies: Harry Potter DVDs, Star Wars DVDs, and Hunger Games DVDs.

 5.  Gadgets: New phone (Samsung, or LG), Headset, and Speaker.

6. Clothes and shoes :Jogger pants from Penshoppe, Button down and pants from Oxygen, and sweater from Uniqlo. Nike Air Max or Chuck Taylor II shoes.

Gift of Time to Your Love Ones:

As I get older I find that time I had once for my love ones, seems to diminish. Maybe because I spent my life on school works all day then come home, eat dinner and then either sit in front of the TV or at the computer. It’s like I am living with my family but not actually communicating with them.

Life is short. We should be more concerned about the time we spend with the people we love. I don’t want to regret not spending enough time with the people I loved because I valued school work, and other things that won’t love me back.

So this Christmas aside from giving time to myself, this is also the best moment to give time to my love ones. Not to let time slip away because I am lost in the digital world.

Every year, our family does the Christmas shopping together at SM Supermalls, our favorite. This special season is not complete without this experience; enjoying the Christmas rush and the crammed of people. Then have some dinner, telling stories to make us updated. (Note: keep the phone or gadgets away tho you can take selfies.)

Here’s my wish list for my families:

Families:

1. Board games and cards: Game day with the family would be fun. Enjoy playing board games like Scrabble, millionaire’s game or cards like UNO.

2. Camping Tent: We often do camping; only every all soul’s day and summer’s break. This year I want to have new camping tent that we can use even in our backyard or inside our house. LOL! Ha-ha. Do some star gazing, reading books together and sharing some creepy stories.

3. Mini Projector: We love watching movies, every year we always go to SM to watch entries from MMFF (Metro Manila Film Festival). We prefer the last full show. So I want to buy a mini projector to spend the holiday vacation with my family doing movie marathon.

4. Blank Canvass and Coloring Materials: We love arts, every one of us wants to draw and paint. I remember during rainy days when we can’t play outside we will just stay home and will have an art competition. Then our parents will decide the winner and guess what? No one loss, they declare us all as winners. Well, I can’t blame my parents because we’re all creative and good.

Love ones also include close friends. I want to spend time with them and to catch up. Yes, we can talk on Facebook or twitter but it isn’t the same as actually being with each other.

Here’s my wish list for my friends:

Friends:

1. Friendship Shirt: I want to give them shirt from SM Youth. I want them to feel that they are special to me, coz they are also one of the people who can help me to fight stress and to enjoy my life.

2. Movie Tickets: I and my friends love to watch movies so this Christmas I want to treat them.

Just like Christ with His disciples, it’s important to spend a lot of quality time with the people you love. Family and true friends will always be there to support you so take this special season as an opportunity to show your appreciation to them.

Gift of Time to Significant Others:

 Christmas isn’t just about you and your family. Christmas is about God sending his son to be the Savior of the world, who came to serve, not to be served. So this Christmas, I want to give the gift of time to my significant others like our neighbors and street children.     

My family always spends Christmas in making someone else’s life happy.  My brothers and sisters are active members of church and every Christmas Eve they give some food packs and toys to those people living on streets. While we are having fun there are people who are just sleeping and trying to forget that there’s a special occasion. Then during the Christmas day my family together with our neighbors throw a Christmas party to children and our home is open to anyone who wants to eat or to celebrate with us. We also prepare some gifts to children in our community. I’m the one who always do the gift wrapping so I can say that I’m one of the elves. Haha

Here’s my wish list for my significant others:

1. Christmas Cards: I want to greet them by sending letters or notes. I just want to make them feel love.

2. Toys and reading books: Be a Santa Claus and give this gift to those street children.

3. #SMBearsofJoy: Every Christmas, SM Supermalls is giving us the chance to share our blessings to those children from various orphanages and charitable institutions. We can express our loves through #SMBearsofJoy.  For just Php 200, you get to keep one bear and donate the other to those children. It’s our opportunity to fill their hearts with joy.

Some people just kill time, own it, and waste it. And like all other things, time has limits and we don’t know what our time limit is. So we should spend our time to its highest and best use. And Christmas is the best season to expend it, to reconnect with our love ones and to reward ourselves and most importantly to share the joy to less fortunate people.

And every time I do random acts of kindness, I can’t explain the fulfillment that I get. Because by making others smile, is making me smile as well. So every now and then, I always remember to stop and take a look of just how good I have.

So I encourage you to embrace this idea of giving the gift of time  by joining me and SM Supermalls in spreading the season of giving and joyfulness through the launch of its “Merry SM Christmas 2015” campaign.

 “For more updates about this year’s “Merry SM Christmas” campaign, visit SM’s official Christmas microsite (https://www.smsupermalls.com/merrysmchristmas2015) and follow its official social media accounts at Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/smsupermalls), Twitter (https://twitter.com/smsupermalls), and Instagram (https://instagram.com/smsupermalls/); and get an insider access to all the fun happenings at SM Supermalls nationwide through Viber (http://chats.viber.com/SMsupermalls). Shoppers can actively share their holiday merriments inside the SM Supermalls by posting their photos on social media and adding the hashtag #MerrySMChristmas2015 .”

What an amazing gift to give to myself, to my love ones and to community!