My roommate/daughter brought home a blow-up, LED-lit snowman, having already wrestled the Christmas decorations from the various places where she had stored them. She told her daughter that they were going to decorate, and Myah got excited, not understanding the magnitude of the occasion. As for me, I was already in “Bah, humbug” mode.
When Lisa, my eldest child, came to live with me and her younger sister, brother, and her stepmother, she was startled to see how much stuff her siblings got on December 25th. She watched them tear into wrapped packages, glance at the contents, and throw them over their shoulders, freeing their little hands for the next gift grope. After a time, Lisa turned to me: “Dad…” she said, in wonder, for her Christmas mornings had never found her tree buried in packages. She got the few things she had indicated that she wanted and some other things that her parents wanted for her, and she was happy. But that was the 1970s, and this is now.
I was once a part of the retail environment, and the publication that sponsors my blather needs the support of consumers. I worked in the advertising departments of retail businesses for a couple of decades. I crafted ads designed to inspire consumers to spend money on the company’s products before the year ended. The term “Black Friday” was not then a popular phrase. But the companies still wanted your “ducats,” a desire that continues today.
I like “shopping small,” buying unique items from small — mostly local — businesses. My expenditures this season will be modest, and where possible, not from Sam (Walton) and Jeff (Bezos), though my roommate/granddaughter often calls me to her TV, insisting that I look at some ad for a toy that she wants. (Yes: her TV.) I have told her that I would not be buying her any toys and that she should ask a bearded fat man wearing a red suit. My point that she has every toy imaginable is lost on her 3.6-year-old sensibilities; she still wants more. Restraint is not a toddler tradition, but then, she is no longer toddling, so there’s that.
The tree is up and decorated in the Woods household, although Myah forgot that she helped her mom place some of the decorations; I allowed her to place a couple of things on the tree to take away the sting. The giant LED-lit blow-up snowman is now positioned conspicuously against the wall of the front porch; strings of outdoor lights are soon to come. For the Halloween season, I drew large pictures of Charlie Brown, Linus and Lucy celebrating the arrival of the Great Pumpkin; my daughter is now doing some low-key lobbying for a Charlie Brown Christmas tableau. Foam board is not recyclable, I think, and try to convince myself that the effort to build the Charlie, Linus, Lucy, and Snoopy yard ornaments would be ecologically destructive when really, I just don’t want to do it. Shame on me, right?
But it’s beginning, and my neighbor has already left a holiday card for the Woods family. I do like to send cards, and I made a list from last year, which I am checking, twice, to return the grant of joy. I want to pass on the pleasure I get from those who write to me, and I often get my own cards from “Shop Small” occasions, which feature local artists and their crafts. And shopping small does not mean small in quantity; drop that Sam and Jeff money on your locals and littles. They deserve your ducats.
It’s beginning, people.
cjon3acd@att.net