When they said the only things you can count on in life are death and taxes, they were wrong. You can also count on Christmas, and all that comes with it....the good, the bad, and the Walmartization of it all....
I'm always so conflicted this time of year:
I love seeing my family and yet I never get to see everyone so I get upset
I want to see my friends who head home and yet that requires me to head home which often requires extra time and money I just don't have
I want to stay in shape yet always over-eat and under-workout
I want to stick to a budget and yet always end up with an Amex bill the size of my head
I want to not be a mindless consumer and yet I find myself buying things for people just for the sake of "buying things for people"(...and buying things for me! That I don't need any more than they do!)
....the list goes on.
And yet I don't want to Scrooge my way through the next 6 weeks either....I have great friends and a great family and a lot of wonderful people around me and I need to remind myself - as I cruise through the grocery store stocking up on appetizers for my holiday house guests and the Middle-Class Guilt sets in - that taking advantage of this time of year to enjoy those people is NOT a bad thing. I am not a bad person for wanting to enjoy the extra vacation days that come this time of year by sleeping in (for once!). I am not a lazy person if I want to skip a run here and there b/c I had a few extra glasses of wine at a party. I am not living an unexamined life if I actually enjoy getting someone a gift I KNOW they will LOVE.
However there is a way I can do all of this more responsibly, economically, ethically, and consciously. I think that's what I am getting at. I want to find a way to enjoy the positives that come with the holidays (I get to see my Mom! I get to be in Florida in December! All those so-wrong-they're-right Lifetime movies!) without blindly and thoughtlessly following habits and traditional behavior just because that's they way I've always done things. Can't I shop at vintage or thrift stores? Can't I wrap gifts in reusable bags or boxes? Can't I give people something they could use and enjoy instead of "stuff for stuffs sake" (books are a great gift, as are tickets to events, or something someone has been wanting for their apartment that actually has a purpose instead of just being for "decoration"??) Can't I stick to a budget and know that I don't need to buy my way into the hearts of the people I love? Can't I skip the turkey but happily enjoy ALL of the other food on the table? Can't I hit the grocery store and buy a normal amount of food and not all of the extra "what we may possibly want to have at some point because its the time of year for this"?
And can't I feel good about making small changes in the right direction - instead of feeling guilty that I am not doing "enough" and giving up completely on the whole idea by diving head-first into the sale rack of some store on Black Friday, throwing elbows just to purchase my 500th pair of jeans...? Can't I?
