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Image description: a pawn chess piece with the crown stands between two lineups of white and black pawns. Image has the number 10 is a crown and the hashtag #ChronicChristmas

This is my daily Advent calendar of gift ideas for people with chronic illness, running from December 1-25. Some entries will contain affiliate links.

Who among us haven’t wished for the assumed ease of the lives of royalty, either the hereditary kind or Hollywood-made? Just imagine living in luxury and having staff catering to your every whim.

I’ll pause here for you to have a lovely little daydream.

All right, now that we are all back in reality, let’s move on.

One of the hardest parts of living with a chronic illness is keeping up with the chores of life. It’s why my house is almost always messy — because tidying up and dealing with the decisions related to paperwork are exhausting and often beyond my daily energy level. Dinner? Often something processed or a variety of toast or soup.

It’s why we apologize more than the average person when welcoming you into our homes. It’s also a significant factor in why we might be late in returning phone calls, emails, making appointments, and occasionally meeting deadlines.

So why not give your friend or family member with chronic illness who with these challenges some time off and the opportunity to feel like royalty?

Well, without the requirement to wear nice clothes, put on makeup, and greet thousands of people. Because that sounds exhausting.

The Royalty Gift could be a certificate for a visit by a maid service, freezer meals created by a personal chef, or a personal or virtual assistant to help with those tasks that inevitably end up on the Later List would be profoundly welcomed.

These can be on the more expensive side of gift giving, but no one is expecting that you’ll give the recipient a permanent staff. One or two visits will be more than enough to make this person you care about feel very special. And of course, crowdsourcing among family and friends is always a good idea.