The Things That Matter

I started writing this on Black Friday, when it seemed particularly appropriate. But I didn’t get around to finishing or posting because I GOT ENGAGED!!! Whoooooo! I couldn’t ask for a more supportive and understanding man. “Green issues” aren’t as much his thing, but he tries very hard because he knows that it matters to me and understands my motivations. More than anything, it matters to us as we start to talk about the future. I want our kids to always have fresh air to breathe and clean water to drink. Such small things, but right now it seems like they’re not a given. And maybe it will take changes at a higher level than my small lifestyle changes, but I would like to be able to say that I tried.

While trying to keep up with buying glass over plastic, avoiding excessive packaging, composting food waste, bringing my own containers and all the other daily things, I’m working on tackling a weakness of mine - shopping. I enjoy a bit of retail therapy as much as the next person. Somehow, though, it seems easier to resist around the holidays. Watching how crazy it all gets makes shopping seem less appealing. Think about the stores around Christmas, and how packed they are. Doesn’t everyone always look super stressed? And you’ve got people climbing over each other to get good deals on Black Friday. All the stores are vying for our attention and pushing insane ads like “wouldn’t so-and-so love a new car for Christmas?”.

I’m not trying to say that the spirit of giving isn’t great! I just mean that “Christmas shopping” has become this chore and if it’s a chore…does it even make sense? People shouldn’t feel required to fill quotas every year at the holidays. I’ve spoken with a few people at work who described the long list of people they “had to buy for” and they didn’t seem excited at all for the holiday season.

My **fiancé** and I decided to set a price cap for our Christmas this year. We will give each other a few meaningful gifts, eat good food, spend time with friends and family, and take advantage of the free time to relax and enjoy ourselves. I’m looking forward to quiet movie days, walks around the neighbourhood to look at the Christmas lights and baking big batches of cookies. I also love to watch someone open a gift that I picked out specially for them. But I haven’t bought piles of gifts for lists of people, and I don’t expect or hope to see a pile waiting for me.

I’ll go more into ways to reduce waste during the holidays in another post (I’m working on my cloth gift bags now!) but I wanted to share my thoughts on the things that I do love about Christmas, and how important the holidays are to me as a way to share time with the people in my life.