Make Wonderful, Last-Minute Holiday Gifts Inexpensively to Arrive by December 24

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

Usually, I'm out shopping at 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve. For some reason, I'm better organized than I usually am . . . and finished my shopping a week ago.

But I remember what it feels like to be a procrastinator and wanted to do something special today for those who share my usual shopping habit.

I always remember hand-made gifts much longer than I remember store-bought presents and gift cards. In fact, I usually keep the hand-made gifts in sight for years. And most of these hand-made gifts cost less than 10 percent of what a store-bought gift would have cost.

In most parts of the United States, the Postal Service will deliver a Priority Mail package mailed today by Saturday. If the package doesn't have to go too far, you can also send it tomorrow.

I cannot speak for other countries on delivery deadlines.

Here are ten hand-made gifts that are always welcome and a bonus gift that anyone would like:

1. Art work that you create yourself. Even if you are not an artist, you can probably make a pretty interesting collage using random bits and pieces you have around the house. Use a theme that means something to the person receiving the gift, and you've got a winner!

2. Holiday cakes, breads and cookies. While these won't last long, you can pack them in a box that you decorate that will be worth keeping for the memories it brings. It will seem like you did the right thing by sending these at the last minute!

3. A photo album filled with your favorite images of the recipient. You can bind the pages by putting a ribbon through two holes that you punch in the left side. You can use photos you have around the house and replace your copies when you get around to it next year.

4. A poem about the recipient. If you can write it out using calligraphy, that's even better.

5. A short non-fiction story about what the recipient has meant in your life. This can be as few as 250 words and make quite a deep and lasting impression.

6. A tape or CD of you reminiscing about the favorite things you've done with the recipient. Ten or fifteen minutes worth is plenty.

7. Hand-written pages of your favorite Bible verses or sayings that remind you of the recipient. You can use a quotation guide like Bartlett's to help you. Your local library or bookstore should have copies you can borrow to make this faster.

8. A set of your favorite recipes for foods that the recipient likes.

9. Directions for how to do something that the recipient always finds difficult. This can be programming a VCR or DVD player . . . or simply maintaining a car.

10. A list of things you've seen the recipient do that have made the recipient happy . . . along with humorous suggestions for how to indulge these passions more often.

11. Bonus: A personal promise to deliver something the recipient wants. This might be babysitting, or cleaning out the garage, or going on a vacation to the beach in August. Include a photograph of yourself doing the task, and you'll bring lots of smiles now and in the future.

Could a billionaire do better? Definitely.

Who wouldn't be thrilled by receiving a hand-made gift constructed by a billionaire friend? Of course, there would always be the suspicion that someone else made the "hand-made" gift. I suggest that billionaires arrange for a loved one to video them making the gifts and include a copy of the video along with the gift.

Donald Trump, if you want to send me some home-made cookies you baked, please ice them with your signature and include a video. You can e-mail me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com to get my address. I promise to write about the experience.

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Please let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Here are some upcoming subjects:

Tomorrow, let's look at mansions you can visit for Christmas activities in France and Newport, Rhode Island.

Friday, we'll look at the joys of Christmas caroling.

On Saturday, let's explore how to prepare for the football playoffs for your best experiences ever.

Sunday, I'll examine how to create spiritual new year's resolutions.

At that point, I will be taking a few days off from posting. I will publish a new schedule as soon as I have decided how much time I will have to post in 2006. In the meantime, I encourage you to read old posts that you may not yet have seen.

If you are new to this blog, be sure to check out the updated table of contents entry that I posted on December 21. The table of contents will help you find earlier entries that may be of interest. I'll update this table of contents every week or so for your convenience.

August 31 was the most frequently read blog entry to date. Be sure to check it out!

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many tens of thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it. E-mailing your favorite post to them is a great idea.

Check out the latest index at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005/12/latest-table-of-contents-to-this-blogs_21.html to pick out your choice.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because someone invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

Remember to also visit

Live Spiritually Better than a Billionaire at http://livespirituallybetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Be More Successful than a Billionaire at http://bemoresuccessfulthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Create Your Own 2,000 Percent Solutions at
http://2000percentsolutions.blogspot.com/,

Create a Billion Dollar Business at http://billiondollarbusiness.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Mansions Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoymansionsbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/,

Enjoy Football Better than a Billionaire at http://enjoyfootballbetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/ and

Be a World Hero Better than a Billionaire at http://beaworldherobetterthanabillionaire.blogspot.com/.

I offer individual on-line tutorials and in-person seminars on living better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day, creating 2,000 percent solutions (20 times the results with the same effort), developing more profitable business models and designing strategies that work regardless of the business environment. For information, contact me at ultimatecompetitiveadvantage@yahoo.com.

I am available to you as a speaker on these subjects. You can find my background at http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/2005_08_30_livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars_archive.html/.

May God bless you. Merry Christmas!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell