Giftmas

[talon]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/12/10/facebook.buy.nothing/index.html?hpt=Sbin

I am not a Christian, so I don't participate in Giftmas.

I therefore also don't participate in this "buy nothing" trend, because it's a reaction to Giftmas - and I don't do Giftmas, either pro- or con-.

I make or buy and give gifts whenever I feel like it. Life is too short to wait for a once a year gift-giving frenzy. I choose to give gifts whenever I happen upon something I know a friend or loved one will like. If I'm going to wait for a special occasion to give a gift, I will do so when it is personally meaningful: birthdays, coming-of-age, Firsts, weddings, funerals, graduations, new homes, new jobs, or other rites of passage. Otherwise, my gift-giving is a random thing.

And so are the gifts I give.

If I find a pretty rock, I know a dozen people who would appreciate it. If I come across bones, antlers, quills, or feathers, I can either gift them on as is or turn them into pretty gifts to pass along. Or if I find something in a store when I'm browsing, I might buy it and gift it almost immediately.

I do kind of regret the Giftmas Frenzy that packs stores with harassed, frantic people too involved in themselves to notice just how inconsiderate and rude they are because that means there's at least 6 weeks out of the year that I can't shop, or must shop at weird hours.

From Thanksgiving to New year's, I don't enter a mall. I barely enter any other stores.

I don't give gifts on or for Christmas, although I may give gifts to people for whom I have acquired gifts that I haven't seen earlier to pass along their gift(s). Those friends of mine who are Christian and expect to receive gifts on or for Giftmas, generally get cookies or dollar store greeting cards. I can get 24 generic winter holiday cards for $1.00 at a dollar store. I don't mail those. Only my Christian friends that I see in person get them, so $10.00 generally buys all the cards I need each year. That seems to satisfy them. I thought of them on their holiday.

The reason for the season is axial tilt. There doesn't need to be a reason to celebrate. But like Bacchanalia, Christmas has gotten out of hand.

I wonder if, two thousand years from now, people will wonder at the excesses and the indulgences our society engages in for Christmas as we wonder at the excesses of the Bacchanalias of two thousand years ago?