Bring on the mistletoe - hold the rampant consumerism

Snapped by Joel Hyppönen

Did you hear it? What was that noise?

It was the holiday season starting gun. Aaaand we’re off! The annual cycle of purchase-consume-imbibe-party-overcommit-‘til-you-drop (or have bronchitis) has begun.

I know I sound a little like Scrooge but I swear I’m celebratory by nature. Anyone who knows me well-ish can attest: I am not afraid of a good time. I just want to hack the holidaze so we can all actually enjoy ourselves without the metaphorical or literal hangover.

Comic George Carlin’s old school yet prescient bit about “stuff” is certainly germane, with a seasonal twist. Buying a bunch of stuff for people because you want to show how much you like them and now they have more stuff that they have to store, look after, move around with them. And they buy you stuff that you probably don’t want or need because they want to show you how much they like you. Do we really even need more?  

Bring on the mistletoe -- hold the rampant consumerism. Let’s enjoy but be smart about it. This Holiday season I’m going to blend restraint (not my strongest suit, admittedly) with a commitment to quality. Less Amazon, more makers. Give good stuff that was thoughtfully created by humans, things that have a sense of “hand” to them, whether it’s a bottle of Cabernet by a lady winemaker or a short stack of AllSwell notebooks with a great pen.

When in doubt, I make a donation to a charity with a great track record of keeping their overhead low. Some of my favorites include: A Walk On Water, Stoked Mentoring, Keep A Breast Foundation, Waves for Water, and Edible Schoolyard.

But whatever you give, I hope you’ll also give yourself the gift of time to slow your roll enough to enjoy the season. You, a notebook, a pen, and a glass of Cab sounds like a good start.  

In Swellness,
Laura

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