Jingle bells batman smells – aaargh, bloody kids setting the wrong tune for Christmas. But honestly, even if you are one of those people who never know what day of the week it is – I am confident that retail businesses must have brought the memo to you: It’s “just about” (well at least on a consumerism time scale) Christmas!
Without meaning to show off, I have to tell you that this year I am more prepared than I have ever been before! Go me! Many months ago, even before the Warehouse had Santa sitting on it’s shelves (which let’s face it is only a short time of the year) I bought presents. There was a sale somewhere and feeling a bit clever I decided to invest in stuff that I thought would put a smile on my little people’s faces.
Well… I actually don’t feel like showing off anymore – why did I buy all that stuff? While I am fascinated about my constant evolution as a person and the consequence of losing my want to own meaningless stuff, I am also disappointed. Upset with the fact that in their short lives I have not managed to raise my children to be less materialistic then they are. I know that most of us parents struggle to find the balance between rewarding children and spoiling them (parenting really is a struggle to balance pretty much everything). I just also know that I can do better. The Christmas wish list of my nearly five year old is growing daily (his little sister seems to have settled for a unicorn “horsie”) and I know already now that the excitement about whatever he unwraps on Christmas morning will last as long as my washing machines fast cycle. About 35 minutes. Then we’ll be back to writing new wish lists and begging mum to play with them (because all of their toys are only to be looked at and possessed, mum is expected to spend every minute being the main source of entertainment). They will also go back to (and this is what fills my heart with happiness), “making mud” to drive through on their steep drives (bikes), building huts with our furniture and blankets and making cars from old cardboard boxes. That’s how it should be – so why do I (or we) raise our kids into materialistic people? Also, and this bugs me just about as much as the personalities I am shaping by teaching consumerism to my kids – we should buy less to be good to the environment. I believe we actually did two trips to the dump this year (!!!) just to get rid of stuff we not only don’t need but stuff that I believe has been manufactured to break within the blink of an eye so it can be replaced with new… let’s just call it junk! To think that when I landed on this beautiful island I only had a potato peeler, a grater and of course a corkscrew (wine is important – I just didn’t get the memo that NZ is all about screw tops). And now I have so much stuff that one yearly trip to the dump is not enough… Did you know that out of all the plastic ever made in the world – none of it has broken down? It is still here as plastic! (Some of it recycled but still plastic!)
So while I can’t “unbuy” the things I have got in my gift stash, I can make sure that I spread the love and give things to the families who can’t afford to spoil their children because that is what Christmas is about, right? I’m also going to have my kids help me sort through their toys and teach them that giving to others makes their hearts happy.
Oh but just if anyone does want to get ME something for Christmas I really would love a quality takeaway coffee mug, you know to avoid making more rubbish…