Our ‘Buy Nothing Christmas’

While many Christians still celebrate Christmas as the birthday of Jesus, the rest of the world has been sucked into the consumerist holiday that infects our lives like a plague, starting on November 1st. The holiday season has been poisoned by mass consumption and greed. While millions of people suffer, barely able to eat, local children are throwing temper tantrums because they didn’t get the latest *INSERT TOY OF THE YEAR HERE* in their stocking.

The anti-corporate, anti-consumerist magazine AdBusters is asking people to support a ‘Buy Nothing Christmas‘. My fiance and I have decided that we are on board. Those nieces, nephews and cousins who would normally receive a gift for Christmas will be donating to charity this year. That’s right, the money that was going to go to a greedy gift of consumption will instead go to support somebody who really needs it.

So instead of fighting lines and crowds for overpriced merchandise that will lose it’s luster in a matter of weeks (If that!), we will bask in the warm fuzziness that will inhabit our being. Knowing that we are not only making a difference in somebodies life, but teaching some youngsters that possessions are overrated.. well, it just feels good.

Sure, there may be some upset from the children because they didn’t get more ‘Stuff’, and I say GOOD! It’s time we start introducing a minimalist lifestyle to our children now, before they consume the planet into nothingness (If we don’t do it first, that is!).