Buy Nothng Day Thoughts (reposted from Dec 2008)

As I sat down to write my post about Black Friday, I remembered that I had written one in the past. And it exactly summarized what I was about to say. So, instead of reinventing the wheel, I’m simply reposting my Buy Nothing Day Thoughts post from 3 Dec 2008:

On so-called Black Friday, I celebrate a tradition of Buying Nothing. I don’t know when this holiday started, nor when I started. Rob said that I have done it as long as he can remember, but I’m not sure.

In fact, I don’t really like the absoluteness of the day, nor the need to feel like I have to justify buying that milk, etc. If a nice market was where I was and I found something beautiful, would I pass it up for the principle? No. The point to me is that I will not be out there at 5am on Black Friday in the shopping frenzy to buy Christmas gifts. I will not get caught up in the consumerism. I live by the spirit of the movement, not the letter of it.

But, can I take it a step further? I’ve always fantasized about it. I’ve read the books (The Simple Living Guide, Voluntary Simplicity, Unplug the Christmas Machine, etc.), watched the movies (Affluenza), attended meetings (simplictiy circles, Unplug the Christmas Machine classes), this list goes on. I still haven’t found the right balance for myself, but like with most hings, I don’t think I ever will. The fulcrum is always shifting, and with it my ideas and practices must also shift.

I think in general, we have Unplugged the Christmas machine fairly well here.

Yes, we decorate. The girls love getting out decorations (no matter the holiday) and putting them up. It is a celebration of the year as it goes by. We enjoy drinking a little eggnog and putting the decorations on the tree. and we enjoy seeing other decorations. In fact, we are going to take the train up to NYC to see the decorations there. Because it is exciting, beautiful, and wonderful!

Do I buy Christmas gifts? Yes, I do. But I’ve mostly stopped buying gifts “because I’m supposed to.” Years back, I found that I enjoy looking through my best photos from the year past and turning them into simple notecards. I make a little pack of these to send to each of the “removed” relatives (uncles, aunts, etc.). It’s fun and peaceful for me to do the projects — it is something I really look forward to doing each year.

Then I only plan to find gifts for my parents, sister, Rob and the girls. I try to make them useful and meaningful, but don’t always hit the mark. I’m looking for ways to expand the idea above so that gifts are fun. I’d like to try doing some “pairs” – a donation to a charity (Heifer International comes to mind, but there are oh so many more out there) along with a token gift that matches the donation.

Yes, we are busier than usual around December — there are more parties, more celebrations and more things. But I try to remember that once it is not fun, we need to stop. When it becomes a race to get things done instead of to enjoy the moment, then it isn’t worth it anymore.

In general, not “Christmas consumerism”, I still have a lot of thinking to do. There are some extremes out there (100 things, buy nothing for a year, etc.). I’m not interested in that. I don’t equate extreme with balanced! But I would like to keep pursuing these ideas. I really dislike when I spend time taking care of things (picking up, repairing, purging the house) instead of spending time being.