Scott Bush

‘Tis the season, right? What does that mean to you? To me it means it’s the season to care for one another, help those less fortunate than ourselves (even more than the other 10 months of the year), and spend time celebrating the beauty of the wintertime, and share the company of friends and family. Cliché? Maybe. But not if you mean it and put it into practice.

This year we’re opting out of commercial Christmas. A catchy turn-of-phrase that describes the way we’re putting our idea of “’tis the season” into practice. Rather than take part in the shopping madness (like santa’s little elves at left) and buying many “things” for people because it’s just what we’ve always done, we took a different approach: making a gift for each person on our list.

Sure, there’s things you can buy that are meaningful: donations in their names to charities; practical gifts like gas cards or household goods; and experiences like gift cards to day spas or peticures. We’ve done that for the past few years (and will again in the future, I’m sure) but this year we’re taking a stand against rampant consumerism.

It’s interesting how difficult it is remain true to this principle. We talk about how we feel like we’re not getting enough stuff for our family and friends. It’s not that a hand-made gift doesn’t take effort and some money. But after years of buying a “big present” for everyone, along with lots of “stocking stuffers,” it’s hard to feel that the item we thought about, bought materials/ingredients for, worked for days to complete, and wrapped is enough. Kinda proves the point about our consumer culture running rampant.

So, take a look at your habits this year (or next, as it is only a week or so until Christmas and much of the shopping is already done) and see whether the person you’re buying for really needs it. We certainly don’t expect much and have encouraged our family not to “go nuts” on us; we’d appreciate any small gift or card and be content that it was given as acknowledgment of love and friendship. Unless you’re buying us iPhones; we really want those ;-)

Crystal wrote about this topic on our blog, www.CrystalAndScott.com. Check it out, if you’re not a member of a retail marketing federation or something who believes this sort of thinking is the end of world.