One Christmas , my teenage daughter was only asking for things that were hundreds or even thousands of dollars the best laptop , a horse , etc . . I was a single dad and her mom had remarried into money . I told her to make a realistic list or she would get nothing . She refused saying Well , that ' s what I want . So , a week before Christmas , I take her to a donation center and we adopt a family to buy gifts for . The family ' s list is made up with things like socks , sheets , blankets and food for a Christmas dinner . I told her that the money I would have spent on her is what she will use to get gifts for the family . We bought the gifts and delivered them to the family . I now get very realistic Christmas lists from her . But now , the first thing on her list every year is to adopt another family .