{"id":2527,"date":"2012-12-15T07:00:38","date_gmt":"2012-12-15T12:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/?p=2527"},"modified":"2014-09-29T12:30:43","modified_gmt":"2014-09-29T16:30:43","slug":"36543-bah-humbug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/36543-bah-humbug\/","title":{"rendered":"365+#43: Bah Humbug"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

This is nothing.<\/p><\/div>\n

(Make sure you read my PS at the end.)<\/em> It\u2019s the Christmas shopping season. Today I went into a store. Maybe it\u2019s been too long. I was astounded by the prices for stuff I considered junk \u2013 clothes that didn\u2019t look flattering or stylish, toys that were mostly modeled after cartoon characters or required batteries and played inane songs, electronics that would take way too much time to figure out the best deal. The problem is that I really want to buy a Christmas gift for each member of our immediate family, but I also don\u2019t want to waste money on stuff that doesn\u2019t deserve it. (Unfortunately, I don\u2019t really enjoy cooking so that kind of gift won\u2019t work.)<\/p>\n

Several years ago our family did what we called a \u201cNothing New Christmas<\/a>.\u201d We agreed not to buy anything new for each other but rather to make things, buy stuff used, or provide a service. I was impressed with each person\u2019s creativity and it was fun \u2013 for one year. We decided not to repeat it the next year, but now I\u2019m afraid I\u2019m feeling quite bah humbugish. Maybe it\u2019s the Christmas over-hype. Maybe I\u2019m tired of Christmas starting earlier. (It feels like it\u2019s been going for almost as long as the recent election cycle.) I miss the quiet, waiting in the dark; the feeling of longing that goes with Advent. Maybe I\u2019m just getting old. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

Bottom line? I didn\u2019t buy anything. Giving stuff away has made me more cognizant of what is really worth buying and having. It\u2019s nice to have a few nice things, but having a lot of stuff no longer appeals to me. Perhaps if I still had young children at home it would be different. They need clothes as they grow and I don\u2019t begrudge kids some toys and entertainment beyond banging on pots and making a fort in the woods or the living room. Still, the over consumerism of our society is starting to wear me down. Can\u2019t we just get together, enjoy each other with some food, play a game, and sing. It used to be so much simpler.<\/p>\n

Maybe I\u2019m just in a bad mood. Maybe it will pass. Maybe some chocolate would help.<\/p>\n

PS: After reading this post over, I started to realize that it was a downer and I needed to exercise my “Gratitude Offensive.” When I get into a funk or start complaining or being unduly\u00a0judgmental\u00a0I’ve been trying to train myself to STOP and notice all the good things that are happening in my life (or at least realize that it could be a lot worse.) So, I did a quick mental review of things I am grateful for today:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. At least I recognized that I slipped into being judgmental, had the good sense to try to turn it around.<\/li>\n
  2. There’s a whole lot of people who are prompted at Christmas time to see how they can give to others. There are also people who still love me despite my complaining,<\/li>\n
  3. I’m not sick plus we have health insurance.<\/li>\n
  4. I have good friends \u00a0– one of whom invited us over for dinner tonight.<\/li>\n
  5. I didn’t miss my plane the other day – even though the timing was tight.<\/li>\n
  6. I still have some chocolate mousse in the fridge.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    (Make sure you read my PS at the end.) It\u2019s the Christmas shopping season. Today I went into a store. Maybe it\u2019s been too long. I was astounded by the prices for stuff I considered junk \u2013 clothes that didn\u2019t look flattering or stylish, toys that were mostly modeled after cartoon characters or required batteries […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,40],"tags":[25,17],"class_list":["post-2527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beyond-stuff","category-extra-fun","tag-christmas","tag-musings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2527"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3577,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527\/revisions\/3577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}