Christmas, Stuff, and Money

The point: frugality isn't a virtue, especially when you're hitting your family over the head with it. Repetitious, I know.

Are you upset by the amount of stuff that your family is going to give your kids this Christmas and resent them for their materialistic, showy ways, and their utter disregard for you frugal minimalism?

Have you gently brought up your desire for smaller Christmases or birthdays with less emphasis on stuff and they haven’t listened? Are you already pre-annoyed with them before you even see what too big, too noisy, too plastic, or too flimsy junk they fill your house up with this time?

I have some advice for you (whether you want it or not, because that’s just the way we roll around here):

Stop it.

Yeah, you. The person with the good intentions and with the correct emphasis on people and experiences instead of things. The one with the knowledge born of scientific observations in the field that the kids are going to get gift fatigue after present five and either have to be prompted (repeatedly) to move on to the next present or start ripping paper indiscriminately and moving on to the next one without even looking at whatever the previous box contained.

I’m talking to the grudging receivers here, not the enthusiastic if misguided givers:

Stop it.

What you’re trying to do for your kids, for your house, your planet, your sanity, and even for the wallets of the gift givers is admirable, but if your example and (possibly) polite request aren’t enough to change the behaviour of the people who love you and/or love your kids, and you continue to make it an ongoing issue, you’re the problem.

You’re making stuff (less of) and money (saved) more important than people. Merry Christmas.

This originally appeared on Spring the blog. You can read it and many other great posts here.