consumerism

I don't really get Black Friday. I don't get waiting on line for hours in the cold and dark. I don't get this national obsession with getting the best deal, the biggest electronics, the most cheaply-made gifts. My family is trying to keep Christmas small this year. What I mean is that we're trying to keep it filled with love instead of filled with things. Oh, there will be presents of course! There is a baby involved now in our holiday gatherings, so of course there will be presents! But my gifts this year will be simple gifts. A handcrafted wood playset. A knitted cowl. A jar of infused honey. Local handcut, paper-wrapped soaps. Things to please the senses: the tactile pleasures of wood and warm wools, the rich, satisfying tastes and scents of honeys and herbs and oils. I won't be specifically supporting Handmade Monday (11/25) because I try to buy handmade on a regular basis already anyway. But I encourage YOU to support it because it's a lovely thing in the face of our overly-consumerist, factory-made, underpaid gift-giving culture.

There's so much talent out there, so many people making beautiful, durable, practical, fantastical, truly artisan things, and it's so worth being a part of and a supporter of that movement.