As Christmas grows closer, with its inevitable cargo of stuff to be handed out and received, I find that I am fed up to my back teeth with our consumer society.
Why is it that we are so acquisitive ? Why the need to acquire more and more, better and better stuff ? Except its not really better and seems to wear out even faster than the 'stuff' it replaces. Why doesn't anything you buy last more than a few years anymore ? Why have we purchased not one, but 3 printers this year, plus a fax / copier / printer and a scanner / printer ? (Admission I am married to a techno-junkie). Why do I need to replace my microwave which is just 4 years old ? Why is it so hard and so expensive to get anything fixed ?
I look around my place and I'm feeling swamped and instead of thinking Christmas (and more stuff), I'm thinking 12th night and a giant clear out. At the same time, however, I cringe at the thought of adding to the landfill. I've always tried to conserve things. I mend my clothes and treat them carefully - I'm still wearing things I bought 20 and even 30 years ago. I delight in using my great grandmother's baking scale which uses weights and balances. I have baking pans I got 36 years ago when I married that are still good - though the newer ones are fit for the dump.
So come January 6th, I will try to recyle / donate / find a home for the 'stuff' that has to go. Those shelves full of DVDs we don't watch, the books I know I won't read again, the shoes and bags I've hung on to, even though I can't wear those shoes anymore. I am going to go through every single closer, shelf, container and hidey hole and for Christmas I just want a pair of beige cord pants to replace the ones that the roses ripped to shreds. I turned the old pair into shorts.