Did you know there are towns in China that become hellscapes every fall to churn out products for American Christmas? I read a frightening article about it. Imagine forests choked by smoke churned out to create plastic trees with an estimated use span of one month. Imagine beating the planet to death with a cudgel wrapped in tinsel.
I look around my house, and you know what I don’t need more of? Stuff.
All my life, my family has purchased as many and as expensive gifts for Christmas as they could afford. Even when we were poor. We habitually zeroed out our accounts for December, and borrowed. We pushed each other to greater excess, because This was How You Show Affection. How would every family know they are loved if they didn’t get a gift?
It’s pathological.
Every plastic wreath sucks a little more life away from the planet, and yet garages and attics are stuffed full of unwanted, outdated decorations. Christmas is a huge section of most yard sales, and none of that stuff tends to get bought. We’re busy buying new decorations, because this year our theme is ‘purple’ or simply because it’s an easy gift to buy for the person who has everything.
And we have to buy gifts! Or we are bad friends/co-workers/relatives!
I feel like we’re going to be buried with a stake of holly through our hearts.
I’ve had enough. No more. I don’t want more stuff. I don’t need more stuff. My house is full of stuff. Wouldn’t it be more thoughtful, more loving, to spend time with people? To relax, sip some cocoa in front of a fire, maybe? Go down to the shore and admire the ice formations along the lake? Do you wanna build a snowman?
I remember once, when I was a kid shopping with my dad, he gasped, “Look!” and pulled a huge stuffed animal off a top shelf. “It’s ‘sorry I ignored you all year’ bear!” Now, it’s easy for a poor guy to get snobby about rich parents trading stuff for attention, but he wasn’t wrong. Maybe the first step is not using stuff as apology. Or as a stand-in. I am not going to buy any “Sorry I ignored you all year” bears.
Gift-giving can be selfish. Showing off, demanding attention as the gift-giver. Bragging about your ability to spend. Ask yourself, WHY am I doing this? Is this really what the other person wants? Surveys show that most people consider the most thoughtful gift cash. So much for all my years tying myself in knots to find the “thing they would love but would never buy for themselves.” Who taught me to strive for that garbage? I have a sick feeling it was advertising copy editors.
If you love me, let’s spend some time this holiday season, rather than some cash, and help me spread my War on Christmas As-We-Have-Made-It to create a more sustainable Christmas-As-It-Should-Be.
