Thoughts for the coming year after christmas but before its resolution time

I have always thought that the great drive to make a resolution, fix yourself, make the world a better place, was due to the whole symbolism of new beginnings with the new year.  I was sure that is all it was.

This year, I think I'm working on a "reduce, reuse, recycle" plan, that involves only getting and giving gifts that are experiential--you know, consumable (not like consumerism, but like "I can eat it, make something with it, go somewhere I haven't been for a while--or ever, or share time with someone I haven't seen in a while)

I think maybe we are all just consumering ourselves out.  That is like--"I haven't eaten chocolate since I was a freshman at college and there was nothing over a long weekend with the dorm cafeteria closed except my roommates chocolate stash.  Every time I look at it now, I'm nauseated."

Don't get me wrong.  I love getting gifts and giving gifts.  But there is a part of the Christmas season giving that has nothing to do with what anyone wants or what anyone wants to give.  It is more of a panic, an anxious feeling of "oh no, i didn't give everyone enough, I didn't spend enough, I am a failure and my shortcomings can't be fixed"

I looked back at Christmases past, for those trees I remember exploding with gifts, of smiling faces, of great memories and warm feelings, and what I see in photos is not so shiny.  Parents looked tired, kids over-stimulated, trees covered in tinsel and cheap ornaments.  Apparently the memory and the hope for next year being better always kept us trying again.

My daughter, who is cheap, but also right, was aghast that she watched every child she knew receive over $500.00 dollars worth of items, many of them that will be taken to the trash or goodwill next year so that new gifts will not overwhelm the storage of the house.  Many of those gifts will not be touched for months as the amount of free time that children have to play with toys is limited.  Clothes and shoes that are both durable and fun will be better used, but for children that received to many to wear more than once before they outgrow them, also very crazy.

I partly blame the media, the advertisings never show crappy plastic toys sitting there doing nothing.  They are animated, and have glowingly happy children playing with them or receiving them with such utter joy in their faces that the toy must be magic.  There are no disclaimers attached to the toy packages or advertisings warning, "this toy was made by small children in a poor country, and there might be missing parts"  no where does it mention that the company made a 1000% profit off the toy or that is contains $0.50 cents in materials and under a dollar in labor, or that the cost of shipping one package to the store, as one of a gazillion items, is also less than a dollar.  They certainly don't want you to know that the people at the top of the toy company made more money than god this season.  And last but not least, they don't mention that the amazing toy either does none of the things the animated version does or that the cheap materials gives it a usable life of 3 hours.

There were some positives this year, more toys that you did something with, made something with, or maybe that is just part of gift-buyers hunting harder for something that made sense.

And I'm guilty.  I now have enough baking supplies to give cookies to every person in my town.

I'm fat.
Everyone is watching their calorie intake and trying to exercise more.
Cookies are not good for you.

What are we all missing?  What are we all trying to accomplish? 

Next year, I'm giving hugs.