Christmas is Over, Hurray

Christmas, That special time of year when everybody spends more than they have to buy people things they don't need. Don't get me wrong I like the holiday. When else do you have an excuse to put a fresh cut tree in your house and smell fresh pine for weeks on end. It gives you a great excuse to play with all the toys in the store but in the end most of the time it still seems like you end up spending too much money on things people don't need. My mother kept calling this year asking what we wanted for Christmas and I gave her my standard answer of "I already have a storage room full of shit I can't fit in my house how could I possibly need anything more". Finally I said computer parts and she sent cash because she has no clue what parts to buy, which is fine, and greatly appreciated, but in the end the computer I have works fine and I really didn't need anything to make me happy. We use Christmas to buy people things to make sure they will Keep loving us and isn't that sad. I would just like to say here and now that even though I like presents as much as the next guy I really don't need anything and I wish people would just spend the money on themselves or their immediate family rather than go into debt buying things I don't need.

Even with the kids we spend too much on things they don't need causing them to believe from birth that they are entitled to greater and greater amount of goodies every year. What a crock and it is so self defeating because those kids grow up and try to do the same thing for their children and it doesn't take too long before you have multiple generations all filing bankruptcy because they bought too many things they can't sell for 1.00 at yard sales 6 months later when they are tired of it.

Okay I admit it I am guilty of doing the same mainly because I feel guilty if I don't buy lots of things people don't need. I have toned down considerably and the husband and I fill our stockings with mundane everyday items that we need. (This is a depressing practice (picking out your own Christmas stuff defeats the purpose of presents but it does cut down on the yard sale items.) I don't put things on credit, limit spending on my children to 100.00 each and 10 - 20 each for anyone else I buy for. And the list I buy for has shrunk considerably in the past few years.

When I have the pottery studio up and working I just make things for people which I personally find much more satisfying overall. I am not particularly religious but I think we have lost all concept of what this holiday is supposed to be. I would be perfectly happy with good food, good friends and my family. What more does a person really need in life.

When we get really old or the husbands all die, Dona, Mishy and I have decided that we are going to go around town dressed in our fancy old fashioned cloaks, With ratted out hair filled with feathers and shells and leave presents at houses we know really need them. When we are done we will toddle our witchy old bodies home and drink mulled cider spiced with rum and remember the joys of Christmas past.

Then we would truly be Christmas spirits

PS . Best Christmas this year was a box of refrigerator poetry words. Very cool, available at barns and Noble and yes my hubby dearest bought them after I specifically requested it. Now he can know which personality I am using by reading the days poem on the fridge. That way he will know when to hide :0)