More is a concept very familiar to most Americans, even when we’re not consciously thinking about it. Let’s face it; we are a society of excess. As we move into the Holiday Season, I am acutely aware of this concept. As a food blogger, the most obvious source of excess is overeating. But we also tend to over-spend. We are more of everything. We start seeing Christmas displays before Thanksgiving. We start Black Friday on Wednesday; and I’m sure there are many more examples of this that escape my mind at the moment.
Several years ago, we stopped giving gifts at Christmastime. I know this in itself seems extreme. But my husband finds the commercialism surrounding Christmas particularly distasteful. The first year we limited each person (including the grandparents) to 3 gifts each with a spending limit of $50. The next year we drew names and the year after that, we stopped gift-giving altogether. I’m not gonna lie, it was hard at first. I loved shopping at Christmas…and I don’t mean online shopping. I mean going to the crowded malls, hearing the Christmas music, fighting the crowds and scouring the aisles and shelves for the perfect gift. It was like a game for me. And I love a challenge. The problem is that it never, or at least rarely, turned out like I thought it would. The receiver was never quite as joyful as I thought they’d be. The high of spending quickly wore off and I was left just as headachey and shaky as if I’d eaten a bunch of Christmas cookies.
Since we’ve stopped giving gifts, Christmas is nothing but joy for me. The first giftless year, my daughters and I had a spa day on Dec. 28th at the Pinehurst resort.. That gave us something to look forward to. My younger daughter and I still go to NYC around Christmas most years, and that gives me the adrenaline surge I crave. Lord knows there are crowds, and cold weather, enormous Christmas trees and beautiful window displays there.
But MORE is about more. I hate the current meme that says, ‘Be sure to dial your scales back 15 lbs.’ I think we should live our best lives EVERY day. Who wants to wake up on Jan. 1 and think about all the weight you’ve got to shed and all the bills you’ve got to pay?
I realize that this post is eerily similar to my last one, Banish Holiday Stress, but it’s a testament to how strongly I feel about this subject. Shunning excess during the Holiday Season has been a journey for us, but I am so glad we did it. In fact, I think my husband is a genius! Do you know that when our kids were little, he declared that Santa would bring no gift valued more than any gift that was from Mom and Dad? Years later I see what a gift that simple act was to our children. They are productive, hard-working people who don’t expect things to be given to them. They were never the kids whose first question when mom and dad returned from a trip was, ‘What’d you bring me?’
I am proud of the existence that we’ve built but it continues to be a journey. The journey to fight cultural norms, to enjoy experiences instead of things, to desire relationships rather then a larger paycheck, and to be grateful for every breath, sunrise, laugh line and good night’s sleep.
I hope y’all have a FABULOUS Thanksgiving! I hope to be posting some cool pics of our celebration on Social. Gobble! Gobble!