Christmas gifts for men

Family traditions are an important part of who we are. If we have had positive experiences in our families we tend to want to re-create these experiences with our children. If we have had poor experiences we want to establish something else. Usually most of these traditions are associated with holidays. For those people that have had great holidays with their families it is hard for them to understand why holidays can be painful times for others that have not. So much emphasis is put on holiday cheer and good tidings that it is a difficult time of the year for people that are depressed or that do not have families to share the holidays with.

I grew up with great holiday memories; my husband did not. His father was an alcoholic that often drank too much during the family gatherings. He was a mean drunk so my husband’s memories of Christmas’ growing up include fights between his parents and embarrassment over his father’s behavior. All of this came out during the first few years that we were married. I wanted to help my husband develop joyful memories of holidays. I wanted to do this not only with gifts but also through the decorations we did and the foods we made. Christmas gifts for men are always more difficult for me to come up with than for women. With women there are so many accessories that can be purchased that men do not seem to use. I decided that I would call my brother and ask him to go shopping with me so I could have his help in picking out Christmas gifts for men. He has similar interests to my husband and they are the same age.

It was a great day to go shopping. The snow was falling in big lazy flakes and the temperature was not too cold. My brother and I each took half a day off of work so we met for lunch to plan our shopping trip. As we were talking I realized that he had some great ideas for Christmas gifts for men. He said that unlike women, men like getting practical and useful things as gifts. I told him that I wanted to get some stocking stuffers for the stocking I had hung up for my husband by our fireplace. Filled stockings were a favorite part of Christmas giving in our family, but my husband never experienced this. My brother suggested giving gas cards, certificates from the coffee house, and tokens from the newsstand. I had not though of these as Christmas gifts for men, but he said it was great to not have to use cash for these things; they were real treats for him. I enjoyed my day with my brother and I am sure my husband will love the gifts I bought him.