It’s the time of year when we pull out our snowman shaped cookie cutters and we blow the dust off of the box of tree decorations. We search through our recipe boxes to find the ingredients for those disgusting, yet delicious, squares full of coloured marshmallows. We dream of days off from work and spending time with our families.
(Sound effect: A record coming to an abrupt stop.)
Okay, let’s face the reality of Christmas. It’s the time of year when most people are thinking about buying gifts and spending ridiculous amounts of money on…….
CRAP.
That’s right. Crap. There is so much of it in the stores today, available at a low cost, which is totally and utterly useless. Unfortunately, the low cost to you means that there are high costs somewhere else; costs to our environment and to the lives of the people who are manufacturing this stuff (see Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff – link below).
Most people are feeling pretty stressed out right about now, with Christmas just a week around the corner. And the root of their stress seems to be this notion that they have to buy the biggest, the best, the most expensive, the most popular CRAP for their children, spouses, parents, friends, etc. What happened to Christmas being about giving selflessly to others, doing good deeds, spending time with family? Where along the way did we lose sight of these ideals? When did Christmas become such a blatant excuse for over-consumption (and I’m not talking about eating too much chocolate, for that I am definitely guilty).
This time of year I really enjoy going into Thunder Bay’s largest grocery store – The Superstore. I feel removed from all of this holiday stress and so I enjoy walking around watching people hurry to and fro, listening to people argue about which egg nog they should buy or how that old biddy just cut the line and just generally being miserable. It is rather entertaining for the voyeur side of my personality. But it also makes me sad. It makes me sad that so many people have been suckered into the idea that Christmas is about giving gifts that give instant gratification, and will probably just end up in the landfill next fall.
Skip all the stress this year and do something good for your pocketbook, the environment, the world’s poor and yourself.
Don’t buy crap.
Make something homemade; your family can’t throw that away without feeling some intense guilt.
Give edible gifts; who doesn’t want pretzels with Hershey kisses melted on them and an M&M placed on top? It’s like a little gift in your mouth.
Give a donation to your favourite charity with the money you would have spent on a gift. I recommend a Gift of Hope from the World Food Program. (http://gifts.wfp.org/)
My coworker reminded me last week that Christmas is all about peace and love. I would love to be able to witness a world of people who extend that thinking into the 365 days of the year, not just the 2 weeks at Christmas. But, for now, that will have to do. Let’s start changing the way people think about Christmas.
Peace and Love,
Emily
(I guess all of my relatives who read this know what they’re getting for Christmas this year!)
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I am so much with you on the crap in the stores and when I walk through the mall I feel completely impervious to all attempts to get me to buy it. But I also feel that way about the excess junk food and xmas baking. All stuff that we don't need, shouldn't eat and is presented in abundance. Xmas would be so good if it was just the love and peace stuff, families and friends together and the sharing of peasant food. Having said that, I did xmas baking for the first time in a decade!! We are all fallible.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are awesome. I will make a donation to the World Food Program. I just read through this blog and you are spot on. I've seen way too many Non-Profits in DC make a killing and very little of it goes to whatever cause it is they are supporting. It's sickening. Many have the right attitude but the wrong approach. I wish you both the best of luck and just subscribed to your blog to keep up. My buddy started a charity in Haiti. www.VoiceOfHaiti.org He s been over a bunch and they have done great things. $6 pays for about 100 people to be de-wormed. As he puts it, life is better when you don't shit worms. Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteMountain Chicken