How to Handle the Holidays if You’re Between Jobs?

Let’s say you are a job seeker, between jobs, but that you are no deadbeat gift giver, and won’t let the lack of a job ruin anybody’s expectations of a good gift from you. What to do?

Well you probably have some money, and what’s more, you probably have access to odd-jobs or temporary assignments than can get you in a smidgeon of spending cash. Remember that old saying, “It’s the thought that counts”? Perhaps writing a poem, and really putting your mind and heart into it, and having it framed, could mean more than a mere toaster. Perhaps sewing, writing a song, or committing to teach somebody a skill such as playing the guitar are not only sufficient gifts, but better than exhausting yourself on Black Friday deals, which, according to the Huffington Post, are 90 percent recycled from last year’s sale anyway, sometimes with a mark up!

Sure you could wreck yourself getting a gift, and the story of braving the Black Friday crowds will become part of the gift. That is a useful way to do things. But consider your other options, that you like all people have a series of innate gifts and talents that may relate to work and may not relate to work. But you can use the extra time you have in the evening and on the weekends to make a genuine and worthy gift for each your loved ones. Making a specific gift that expresses how you feel about a person, while building on what he or she already is, would be to make a “spiritual gift,” something far worthier than an mp3 player that will break in a few years. You need not even apologize, “I’m between jobs,” as the gift you created yourself will clearly be superior to the store bought tripe. Being resourceful, after all, is part of what will land you you’re next job.