NaBloPoMo - post in your blog every day for the whole month
NaNoWriMo - write a 50K word novel in one month
NaKniSweMo - knit a sweater in one month
I suppose I am participating (or very nearly participating) in NaBloPoMo, but I don't have enough time to take on novel writing or sweater knitting too, which is unfortunate because I have a pile of yarn that is just WAITING to be knit into a sweater. However, I have another and perhaps more important mission for November, and I implore you all to participate.
Over the weekend, I stopped in a Barnes & Noble to kill an hour, and lo and behold, not only is the Christmas merchandise already out all over the store, THEY ARE ALREADY PLAYING CHRISTMAS MUSIC. If there is one thing in this world that I hate, it's Christmas music (of course, I also hate poverty, hunger, climate change, lack of public transportation... okay maybe there are a few things).
Last year, I managed to make it through the entire month of December without entering a single store -- no Starbucks, no shopping malls, not even the grocery store! I was so proud of myself. This year it seems I will have to up the ante, since consumerist America is bringing Christmas a month early.
Here's my challenge: don't go to any store for the rest of 2007. I realize that in the case of grocery stores, this becomes a bit more difficult -- I expect I'll make a run or two to the Trader Joe's over the course of the next two months, but my goal is to avoid Christmas music completely. It's not as difficult as it seems. This is partly inspired by a story I heard on NPR about a family who decided to buy no new things for an entire year. No clothes, no technology, nothing. They made an exception for food and allowed themselves to eat out, but all of the "stuff" they purchased had to be used. This is similar to AdBuster's Buy Nothing Day and Buy Nothing Christmas, but perhaps a bit more drastic.
What about Christmas shopping? That's simple -- don't. I've instructed my family not to buy me any gifts other than those they have already purchased, and have suggested that instead of buying things, we all make gifts for each other. I'll be knitting lovely things for those closest to me (with yarn I already have, so as to avoid buying any new yarn), but for non-knitters (and even people who feel themselves to un-creative to make something), it's not a terribly difficult feat. Some ideas:
- Create a mix CD of songs your loved ones might enjoy, and make some custom cover art for it.
- Go through old (or new) photos, and frame a matched set with those picture frames you've had sitting in a drawer for years -- or make a frame.
- Bake something, or make candy, and wrap it up. Last year I made peanut brittle and it was AMAZING (better still: this is an activity you can do together with the recipient)!
Screw capitalism, forget consumerism. Avoid stores for two months. See if you can do it.
4 comments:
Found you on NaBloPoMo...love this post! We are doing something like this right now. Back in September we vowed to make it through the holiday season without steppin foot into new merch. retail store. Thrift/craigslist/estate sales/bartering only. Just like the family in the NPR story we made a small list of exceptions. Groceries(we get all of our produce from a local CSA and farmers market though) Yarn, Fabric, medications, cat liter, and recycled paper products. So far it's been nothing but a great experience. Our quality of life has improved...not declined as some folks may expect.
Found you on NABLOMO- I think it's a great idea to skip the whole retail madness and try for the more creative homemade or thrift options.
I, too, found you on NABLOPOMO. I like the idea of making Christmas gifts. I don't do as much of this as I used to because I don't do as much of anything as I used to. It is so much more fun to give something that you've made with love. I'm glad to see there's a move on to give hand-made gifts. I do love Christmas music and sometimes listen to it at other times of the year. But I think retailers are really rushing the season. I went looking for some simple Thanksgiving/fall-themed decorations yesterday only to find they've all been cleared from the stores to make room for Christmas. It's too soon.
Great post! I was at a conference in Toronto on the weekend and the big department store (the Bay)next to the conference hotel had already done up it's Christmas windows. The xmas music was blaring, too.
I took pics - not because I loved it but because of my 'bah humbug reaction' - I also took pics of the text below each window, which, while written in a folksy style, were all about conveying the message, "better get shopping now!"
Ugh.
On another note, thanks for turning me on to NaKniSweMo. It might be fun to try next year (why are all these things happening on the same month?). I wonder if the little newborn baby kimono I am knitting would count. ;-)
Say Something New: