Commercialism has ruined Christmas.

No really...it has.
Not in the sense that it begins right after Thanksgiving, or that Santa is plastered over everything, or…well…any other crazy number of things.

It’s just…all of this stuff, these things we own.
Think about it for a second…the sheer volume of electronic gadgets, cooking tools, plates, utensils, tv’s, cars, clothes, books, toys, thingamabobs…
Ninety nine percent of the population is jaded toward ownership. How can we not be given the way that we are trained to consume from the time we are born?

So you get a new shirt, and it’s cool and all…but you’ve got 15 very similar to it sitting in the closet. So…eh…thanks?

I worked so hard this year to cultivate enthusiasm both as a giver, and receiver of things.
It also dawned on me that part of the reason I’ve been such a Grinch for the past few years is that I haven’t been able to give the kind of gifts that I really wanted to.
Not that I was able to do that this year either…but I put some serious thought into it and came up with some goodies. I’m happy with my choices and how they all turned out.
Yay!

Seriously though…my original point…
Imagine that it’s December 25th, 1860, and you just got a new pair of boots for Christmas.
You aren’t going to bitch about the color or style, you aren’t going to complain that it isn’t the kind of leather you wanted…
No, because you only own one damned pair of boots and those are starting to fall apart. You only have 2 sets of clothes…maybe 3…and your bedroom contains half a dozen books (if you’re lucky enough to know how to read) as well as a hobby horse and a cork gun made of wood.
So those boots are almost a miracle.
Can you imagine how your face would light up? How crazy happy you would be running downstairs and seeing the 2 or 3 gifts with your name on them under the tree?

I wish we could have that back. A statement which probably makes me about 100 years old. But it’s so true in my heart.

I want that simpler happier life when gifts were truly gifts and nothing was ever returned.


-a simple man