Mom-agination: 5 No-Cost Ways to Show Your Family You Love Them

At this time of year you are probably busy shopping and planning your gift-giving for your family, searching stores and online shops for the perfect, unique gifts to express to your family how much they mean to you. Our families know that we love them – not by the amount or largesse of the gifts we purchase for them – but by the little things we say and do for them all year long. If you are overwhelmed with holiday shopping or looking for a way to get your feelings noticed on a limited budget this holiday season, here are 5 no-cost ways to show your family you love them:

• Do something unexpected to make a family members life just a tiny bit easier – The other day my husband, without my asking, went out in the evening and filled my car up with gas so I wouldn’t be rushed in the morning. He’s a keeper!

• Leave a note somewhere unexpected – I stuck a post-it note to the bathroom mirror in my kids’ bathroom that said “Lookin’ Good today, kids!”. They came running out, laughing. It transformed their day.

• Say Thank You for something a family member does for you that mostly is taken for granted – My six-year-old daughter said to me while I was folding laundry “Thank you for washing my underpants, mom”. Now that makes it all worth it!

• Say something nice for no reason at all – My eight-year-old son was staring at me with a peculiar expression while I was just sitting and reading. I asked him what he was thinking about. He said “You are a fun Mom.” This is pretty much the highest compliment a Mom can get!

• Let a family member ‘overhear’ you compliment him to someone else – While talking to my mother on the phone, my son overheard me go on and on about how well he is doing in school and how proud I am of him (you know, all the things we can say to our children’s grandparents because they never tire of stories about their grandchildren and their accomplishments). My son later repeated what he had heard to my husband with a giant smile of pride on his face.

Showing your family you love them doesn’t have to be expensive or time-consuming. You know them best and know what little things make them happy. So take a couple minutes today and do something to show your family you love them!