Voting Out Cyber Monday

On New Year’s Day 2019 I vowed not to buy myself anything except consumables for a year. It was easy. I did not buy any clothes, or books, or shoes, or pocket books, nothing. What I had already was good enough. New Year’s Day 2020 I did not make the same vow. I needed some underwear and a new nightgown, but not a whole lot more. Then Covid hit and here we are staying home, seeing no one. So what did I need this year, NOTHING.

Watching the news tonight all they can talk about is cyber Monday, the biggest shopping day of the year. Too late for me, I have already organized most of my Christmas, small that it is. I am trying to encourage my family to not get me anything. What I proved last year is that I really don’t need anything. How many shirts or sweaters does a person need? When you just stay at home it doesn’t matter if you wear the same three things.

The one thing I got this year is my garden. Even though I built it almost all by myself I did spend a good amount on the materials. Now I have something big to show for the year of Covid. I expect this garden to last as long as I am in this house. If we live here another thirty years that garden will be a good investment, at least in keeping me healthy working outside.

Christmas is for children, but even they should not get too much. Give them the one big thing they really want. Don’t load them up on a lot of junk that gets cast aside by four in the afternoon on December 25. That saying, “The one with the most toys when they dies win,” is the worst saying ever coined. It came out of the over indulgent 1980’s. Please let’s not go back there.

If we learned nothing more from the year of Covid let it be that we returned to a simpler time. Save your money. Don’t over extend at Christmas. You will remember your credit card debt long after the people will recall what “things” you gave them. As I always tell Carter when she asks me what I want for Christmas, “Just give me a heartfelt letter you wrote by hand.”

There is no reason that in this year when so many are suffering from the loss of jobs, businesses, loved ones or their health that we make this cyber Monday the biggest shopping day in history. If you do feel like you want to give your loved ones a personal gift give them something you already own that they adore. Think how much more meaning it will have if you give them your Grandmother’s portrait, or your mother’s ring. Don’t wait to leave things in your will to people, give your prized processions while you can see the joy it will bring now. You can give without shopping.