sorting through xmess culture and creating new traditions
I am totally not feeling the christmas spirit this year. It feels so foreign to me, all the santa stuff and the consumerist rush to buy buy buy for people. I keep getting e-flyers from Ikea and Amazon and Canadian Tire and I find it all a little gross, the sales and the stuff.
I guess I'm going through a transition period this year where I'm trying to figure out what parts of the season I like and what parts I can totally do without.
So far:
Like: making things, giving (time, food, money, gifts), friends and family, food!, honouring the earth in its slumber, honouring the return of the sun
Dislike: vapid consumerism, santa, obligation, religion that isn't mine, ridiculously tacky decorations that bespeak of the waste and lack of foresight so common in our culture
It's important to me to try to figure out where I stand with all of this so that I know what sorts of values to exemplify for and instill in my son.
I'm also annoyed that the big celebrations happen at the very beginning of winter so that the next three months become this hideous tax we pay to enjoy spring and summer again. The 'giving season' is dead and there are few celebrations when they're needed most.
I guess I'm going through a transition period this year where I'm trying to figure out what parts of the season I like and what parts I can totally do without.
So far:
Like: making things, giving (time, food, money, gifts), friends and family, food!, honouring the earth in its slumber, honouring the return of the sun
Dislike: vapid consumerism, santa, obligation, religion that isn't mine, ridiculously tacky decorations that bespeak of the waste and lack of foresight so common in our culture
It's important to me to try to figure out where I stand with all of this so that I know what sorts of values to exemplify for and instill in my son.
I'm also annoyed that the big celebrations happen at the very beginning of winter so that the next three months become this hideous tax we pay to enjoy spring and summer again. The 'giving season' is dead and there are few celebrations when they're needed most.