Different Christmas

It kind of happened slowly. At first, the plastic bothered me...everything wrapped in plastic, made out of plastic, and disposable ..well, it hit me that I was caught in a sea of plastic molecules that never went anywhere. What was happening to Mother Earth with the deluge of oil sludge and our inflated desire for plastic? Clothing from oil does not biodegrade, just stays for eons in the molecular form it was created to be. Seas of plastic bags floated in the shores and in the oceans and I continued to accept more plastic bags every time I shopped. Then Christmas came and the madness grew. Plastic strings of lights consuming energy for who knows what, games and toys that are thrown out with in a year, new cars discarded, computers and electronics, gifts that no one needs; the madness had to stop and it was up to me to stop it.

So that year, I declared the Christmas was no longer coming in the fashion pushed upon society. The mindless consumerism, aisles of trinkets, ornaments, plastic trees, and lights were no longer on the list in my house. I sold all the artificial Christmas decorations I owned, which was very considerable since owning a flower shop. The adult children were astounded. Bereft of the way Christmas was, they had no conception of how it could be.

We got a little Charlie Brown tree and only hung ornaments that were hand made without plastic. Lights were forbidden inside or out. Instead, everyone was encouraged to practise turning off any lights, including electronics, when they were not in the room where they were needed. Pure beeswax candles were employed for atmosphere. Gifts were wrapped in the comics section of the newspaper, or with kraft paper from paper bags. Plastic ribbon was replaced by string. Cards were recycled or home made. Nothing made in a foreign country was permitted. Gifts were to be inexpensive and preferably home made or hand made, purchased from craft fairs or self made, or recycled. Creativity was prized.

How will you spend your dollars this Christmas? Will you string plastic lights and consume endless energy unnecessarily? Will you succumb to the marketing directed consumerism and buy expensive gifts made in foreign countries? Will you wear plastic clothing full of glitter and glitz that never biodegrades in the landfills that we continue to fill at unprecedented rates? Not me. This year, once and again, a little Charlie Brown tree decorated with lovely hand made ornaments and without lights, will grace the family room, the room warmed by the glow of a fire and candlelight, and the peace and joy of the season celebrated with simplicity. Blessings to you and yours, however you choose to celebrate this year.

I see no one has responded to this. I am wondering why? I find for myself a large part of the reason I come to WCPS is not for chickens (sorry to reveal this bit of truth) but for feedback and interaction with a group of people whom I like very much, even though I don't know them personally.

So I am bothered when I see a post unresponded to.

Fat Ewe, this is a TOUGH topic. Christmas is a personal struggle for me for many reasons. It is the season my family wishes I"d take up drinking so they could stand me. It brings out the worst in me, the miserable, the bitter, the grumpy, the non-co-operative.

I am highly suspicious of people who enjoy Christmas. I think there is something wrong with them. I ask myself, do I enjoy endless hours of frantic housecleaning, housecleaning that is simultaneoulsy undone by the other people who live here and don't care about a clean house? So it's like cleaning a house twice. CLean it and then work to keep it clean behind people who are mindless slobs. I do not enjoy this. I resent this. I think about buying a tazer.

Do I enjoy planning a menu that is based mostly on what OTHER people like? I am not a short order cook. I do not like cooking. I do not like the mental burden of planning a menu, orchestrating thaw times, can I make the dessert a day ahead? Where will I have room for all this stuff in the fridge? One year I put my Christmas baking in a gallon bucket and the one moment I set it on the floor to do something else, the dog ate it all. One Christmas days before I was to have a houseful of people, I was laying on the bathroom floor sick as a dog with some stomach event. The other two within hours were also bathroom bound with extreme pain, weakness, chills and other unpleasant bathroom events. We were all very, very sick. And I dragged myself off the bathroom floor and in as bad a shape as everyone else, tended them. Still weak and shaking the next day I pondered aloud cancelling Christmas. They moaned, they whined, awww that would be horrible. So while they recovered on the sofa under a quilt, sipping soda, watching a video, I staggered around getting everything done that you have to to have a houseful of people in for Christmas dinner. I thought about buying dynamite.

I think Christmas kills women. Or more succinctly, I wish it would kill me. I think the pressure and expectation and demands and WORK that are thrust upon a woman at Chrsitmas is a monsterous abuse. Now if you live in one of those egalitarian homes where everyone shares equally in the burden of this odious season, bully for you. But some of us DO NOT! Some of us have families who sit, like lumps, and expect Christmas to fall all sparkly and wonderful upon their heads, like heavenly happy dust. Meanwhile there is a homicidal maniac loose in the kitchen. I think about hiring a hit man.

Fat ewe, I HATE HATE HATE Christmas. It makes me spagg. (an unattractive combination of choking, gagging and spewing, all at once= spagg)

While we're at it...Christmas cards. Let me see, what shall I write in this one to cousin Martha? "Dear Martha, how are you, you lazy cow? Is there a shortage of envelopes or phone lines where you live? Despite my attempts to contact you and keep some thread of relationship going, you have been too damn busy and important to make an effort or return the favour. So do I really think there is any value in your presence in my life? Obviously not! You are a self involved moron and I wanted to send you this one last Christmas card to wish you a Merry Christmas and good riddance."

Fat Ewe, I have NO TOLERANCE for the falseness implied in many cards. I don't want to think of people once a year. There is no honour in that. I am a communicator and stay in touch, to varying degrees, with the people who matter to me. I find an obligatory once a year casual card, as if it implies concern or caring, to be a gross insult. A crust tossed to the dog under the table. If I CARE about people, they hear from me randomly throughout the year. SOmetimes the nicety of a card is not a nicety at all but a highlight of what a slacker you are throughout the year about keeping in touch. A bad friend.

My personal favorites are the Christmas letters. Impersonal and bloated. "Merry Christmas everyone! What a blessed year we have! I am making a crap load of money but living in a country taxed at a much lower rate, ain't Gordon good to me and my family? We can afford all sorts of personal splurges and indulgences that you over-taxed Canadians have to work 3 times as hard to afford. Aside from our astonishing wealth which we totally deserve, our children are utterly perfect in everyway, shining examples of success and the kind of kids who have no personality aside from pleasing their parents and making us look good. We sold our middle class home and have moved into a snotty neighbourhood so our kids didn't have to go to school in ethnically diverse surroundings, so note the address change on the bottom of this fine, linen, watermarked paper. May Gordon bring such riches to you all, well not really, because then our sense of superiority would be stripped away, and what's the fun in that?"

SPARE ME! I do not write Christmas letters, nor do I include the family photo of us smiling falsely into the camera. Let me tell you, around here at Christmas, no one is smiling! This would be my letter, if I wrote one " Dear person whom I don't really care about. OUr life is crap. Hubby has not had a raise in 8 years and we are slowly slipping below the poverty line. The horses are wormy. THe chickens were eaten by bears and coyotes and racoons. BUt we shot some racoons and they aren't so bad on the barby, so that's not so bad. There is a weird wet spot on the septic field and the chimney has shifted 6 inches to the left, but we'll begin home improvements in the spring, if we have the money. Our daughter is working at a local mill and we are so proud that her urine sample passed with flying colours! All that rehab finally paid off. She is learning to read and can sound out words, but still dresses like a slut. At least we aren't grandparents yet, yuk, yuk. I am recovering well from that unfortunate firewood incident and as soon as the wound has healed, I will be fitted with an eye patch. Had to learn how to type all over again with only one good eyeball, this letter is taking longer this year. If any of you meet GOrdon this Christmas, ask him what the hell he is thinking about what goes on over at my house!"

Fat Ewe...for me this is so beyond ditching ornaments or insisting on local or handmade gifts. It's about a whole flood of misery that leaves me obliterated and flattened. It's about people saying MErry Christmas to each other in the street, but the rest of they year will not extend the most basic courtesy to one another! If ours was a society of standards and a high ideals, Chrsitmas could be a celebration of everything that is good. BUt it feels to me like a celebration of everyting that we've let go of, and it demoralizes me into a stupified state of immobility. I HATE IT!

(heaving sigh and wilting to the floor)

Maybe my post will get some conversation, and confession going. IT's not popular to hate Christmas. It's not cool to admit the whole thing sucks and is false and leaves you exhausted, poor and unfulfilled. I am sure I will hear from people telling me ways to enjoy the season. I don't want to enjoy the season unless the season is attached to a real change that doesn't come once a year, but exists the other 364 days as well. I try to live my convictions. I try to show up where I am needed and send word to people when thoughts of them enter my heart. I do not put this off until Christmas, and I have no forgiveness for the people who do, who think that once a year card and visit atones them for neglecting their humanity and relationships the rest of the year. WRONG. Nice try, but wrong.

Fat Ewe, I sense a struggle. I think what seems to be about gifts and plastic, is about so much more. Something so much bigger. A craving for someting authentic and lasting and grounded in a life, and not a once a year event. I don't know how to get there, don't know what to change, don't know why I want to lay on a train track each Christmas. I am condemned for my feelings, judged harshly. Well, you gotta give me credit for honesty and Fat Ewe, I give you credit for taking that risky dip into this most fragile (yet ugly) topic.

I am going to go bang my head on a fence post now. Maybe hit my finger with a hammer. Anything to take my mind off what's coming.

Now Uno, tell us how you really feel?

Apoligies as I could not resist as all I could picture was a flaming tree going down in tinsel and flames.

Fat Ewe, given your opinion on the oil & gas industries, I'm at a loss as to why you would CHOOSE to move to a place where nearly 100% of the economy is based on oil and gas. You're either in an oil industry, you're serving the oil industry, or you're serving the people who serve the oil industry ... and that pretty much sums up Elk Point.

So, given that you're one of the people who serves the people who serve the oil industry, it may be prudent to keep your anti-oil thoughts to yourself, before you tank your fledgling business.

Just some advice.

Just reread your post. The part you said about people in the street saying Merry Christmas to each other who during the rest of the year don't even extend common courtisy reminded of a reason I don't get really into this topic.

More than a few years ago on another poultry forum where many familiar faces here do post, the topic of Christmas came up. Back then there was a regular who was known for their rather off handed caustic opinions [reason they eventually were booted off.] Anyroads, I decided to post and said that I really don't celebrate Christmas just on one day of the year as I try to treat each and every day as if it is Christmas. I do try and treat people the way I would like to be treated, with politeness and a smile and not being sour. This has to do with how I was raised which was to mistrust everyone as having a motive. I swore to myself once I understood that they way I was being raised was not right, that I would learn to be different [my other siblings did as well.]

This poster immediately fired back that I had to be nothing more than a hypocrite because you can't say you don't celebrate Christmas and then say you treat everyday like it.

I'm at the stage in my life that when it comes to Christmas, I take it in as a day of peace for me and my husband. I admit, I do LOVE the glitter and gold, silver and the lights because I LOVE SHINY THINGS and I have aspects up in my house year round. However, I have gone some Christmas' that I have not even bother to put up a tree as I didn't feel it.

I don't celebrate Christmas for religious reasons as it's not my thing. I do laugh that in this wonderful society we have in Canada were we are supposed to tolerate all religions and beliefs, we have become so PC that we MUST use Seasons Greetings or Happy Holidays or Festivus, BUT we are ready to linch mob anyone who uses MERRY CHRISTMAS lest we are shoving GOD up their nose.

There are no oddles of presents. There is no big meal rush as I pre cook everything the day before so it can just be assembled as leftovers. There is no running around for us. I do send out Christmas cards more to say we are still alive and hope you are to. I know I will send out more than I get back, but I do it for me and not for them. The only rub I have is having to push back terrible memories of one Christmas that ruined my life like someone picking up a mirror and shattering it as I have to deal with the parent who caused it, but then again...I have to deal with that damn milestone around my neck every day of the year, so what's Christmas?

Darn it UNO....see what you made me do. I am doing what I said I was trying not to do and ruin the holiday for others.

Anyway...believe it or not, I do have a holiday I do give thanks for and that is Thanksgiving. That day is OUR Christmas where we toast the year and take in what was good and not so good.

Now don't get me started on NEW YEARS which is a holiday I do without.

authenticfarm wrote:Fat Ewe, given your opinion on the oil & gas industries, I'm at a loss as to why you would CHOOSE to move to a place where nearly 100% of the economy is based on oil and gas. You're either in an oil industry, you're serving the oil industry, or you're serving the people who serve the oil industry ... and that pretty much sums up Elk Point.

So, given that you're one of the people who serves the people who serve the oil industry, it may be prudent to keep your anti-oil thoughts to yourself, before you tank your fledgling business.

Just some advice.

Why should she? Just because she lives in oil patch country doesn't mean she can't voice her opinion.

Or did you forget this is Canada and not Enbridge?

Let it out, Toybarons, let it out!

How are Christmas and oil connected? I am confused. Grumpy and confused.

toybarons wrote:Why should she? Just because she lives in oil patch country doesn't mean she can't voice her opinion.

Or did you forget this is Canada and not Enbridge?

Just some friendly advice, if she wants her b&b to succeed, she may not want to alienate her client base.

authenticfarm wrote:

toybarons wrote:Why should she? Just because she lives in oil patch country doesn't mean she can't voice her opinion.

Or did you forget this is Canada and not Enbridge?

Just some friendly advice, if she wants her b&b to succeed, she may not want to alienate her client base.

Doesn't sound like friendly advice when you tell someone to keep their opinions to themselves or risk tanking their business. Espeically as the comments are concerning Christmas and not the politics of oil.

toybarons wrote:Doesn't sound like friendly advice when you tell someone to keep their opinions to themselves or risk tanking their business. Espeically as the comments are concerning Christmas and not the politics of oil.

Her first paragraph read like the politics of oil. I said it MAY BE prudent, not that she SHOULD. What she chooses to do is up to her.

Common sense is that you don't bite the hand that feeds you, especially not in writing on a public forum.

Fat Ewe, I sense a struggle. I think what seems to be about gifts and plastic, is about so much more. Something so much bigger. A craving for someting authentic and lasting and grounded in a life, and not a once a year event. I don't know how to get there, don't know what to change, don't know why I want to lay on a train track each Christmas. I am condemned for my feelings, judged harshly. Well, you gotta give me credit for honesty and Fat Ewe, I give you credit for taking that risky dip into this most fragile (yet ugly) topic. said Uno.

It was a struggle Uno. I was a high end interior designer and had owned a flower shop..two industries where people are driven by consumerism, me included. One day I was called to a client's home to review the interior, an interior which I had just done 5 years previously. Basically, the house was gutted, a new kitchen, new flooring, new bathrooms, and all new furniture were introduced in the colours and fashions of the moment. Then, the lady of the house wanted dark wood floors because the light was no longer "in". She had been to a few of the new show homes, one of which was my design, and loved the look . I went away from her mansion on the mountain thinking something was so wrong. I was good as a designer. I got to spend people's money and was well paid to do it, as well as tell them what to do. But, something inside clicked and I closed the business doors. It was heavy on my mind for some time, the wastefulness of consumerism, and I was struggling. That was the Christmas that I sold my designer tree, the wreaths, the roses, the trinkets and lights and quit. I could no longer allow myself to be part of that world, though I struggled for a while longer to rid myself of the need for designer clothes, hundreds of pairs of shoes, jewelry untold and makeup enough to start my own store.

I opened a green lifestyle store instead. I loved interior design, so I brought in flooring, carpets, paint and fabrics, all organic, which at the end of their lifecycles, were biodegraded to the elements of nature. The stores all around us were embellished with decorations that meant nothing to anyone, made in foreign countries by hands who were barely paid for their assembly line jobs. I found some felted wool ornaments and toys made in Mongolia by a cooperative to support the herdsmen and brought them into the store. My tree was decorated with them and had no lights. And at my home, Christmas was different that year. I wanted to quit doing the dinner too. For many years, I was expected to produce a Christmas eve supper and then a full dinner on Christmas day.

I dragged myself around and did the dinner and the supper. After all, how could I disappoint everyone who looked forward to the event the whole year long? I was still teaching music to small children in public school and had 3 Christmas concerts to do as well as run the store and care for my mother. Finally, in March of 2010, my mother was admitted to a full care facility because she required twenty four hour nursing and I was unable to provide it for her and have any life of my own. As it was, I went to her at lunch time, and supper and bed time and if any of you have cared for the elderly, you would have some idea of what that is like.

So, I left them all behind. Those who expected Christmas dinner, those who took year after year and did not reciprocate, the consumerism, the falsity...I left it in White Rock. The next Christmas, 2011, I went back home to White Rock after living in a motorhome in Alberta for a few months, alone. Then my house sold and I moved here, to Elk Point. The kids all came here last Christmas and I had developed a few friends, so I did the cooking thing again. The kids went out to the bush to get a tree and we put some ornaments on it and an old string of lights I had, but this year...well, it will be different.

I am far from the driven by fashion and design person I once was. I might get a little 2 foot tree from the bush and light a candle this year. I am not religious. I am grateful and thankful and for once, I am quite at peace (except for those darn turkeys). I think I have about ten years on Uno, not quite sure what Toybaron's age is, but my children are 28,29 and 30. Two have significant others, though there are no grandchildren. I am quite sure none are coming for Christmas this year and I will try to get a few days in November to visit my mother, family and friends before the holidays. Then I can do nothing on Christmas, with no expectations, no wrappings, no trappings, nada. I can actually relax and give thanks to the Creator for this world, the wonder of all life and the peace that comes with age and time. And that will be a happy holiday!

authenticfarm wrote:

toybarons wrote:Doesn't sound like friendly advice when you tell someone to keep their opinions to themselves or risk tanking their business. Espeically as the comments are concerning Christmas and not the politics of oil.

Her first paragraph read like the politics of oil. I said it MAY BE prudent, not that she SHOULD. What she chooses to do is up to her.

Common sense is that you don't bite the hand that feeds you, especially not in writing on a public forum.

Baloney! Plain and simple. Baloney! Even if she is against oil, she has a right to say so. You can say you didn't like her remarks and I would defend your right to say so. However, when you start throwing around that someone should keep their opinions to themselves, that smacks in the face of Canada, and as an Albertian, I will call you out on that. No one tells an Albertian to keep our opinions to ourselves. Fat Ewe is one of us now and I'm sticking up for my fellow to express herself without fear of someone telling her not to, as you did.

I for one am done on this side topic as I do not wish not to anger the mods.

uno wrote:Let it out, Toybarons, let it out!

How are Christmas and oil connected? I am confused. Grumpy and confused.

Uno, you are wise. Letting it out does feel good. I usually try not to.

Plastic is a product of oil. Fat Ewe was mentioning the plastics that go with Christmas. WHen you think of it, a lot of stuff associated these days with Christmas would not be possible without oil, for better or for worse.

Fat Ewe, thanks for sharing that wonderful story about yourself. From reading it I can appreciate your previous posts as I see where you are coming from better now. Especially in regards to the animals. Sort of like Green Acres

I wouldn't stand for what most call Christmas. The hustle and bustle. Both me and my husband are not into that and not because we don't like the commercialism. When I was a kid, I could remember my dad getting up around 4 in the morning Christmas day and cooking till 3 in the afternoon. People would be coming in and out. My brothers with their wifes. Relatives you would only see on the holidays. All these people and noise. Exciting from a kid's P.O.V. but my Dad would get grumpy cause his sons would eventually have to go cause they had their wive's folks dinner to go to, and the relatives would swan off when they finished. I can remember how they would talk about putting in so much work and the meal would be gone and then the people.

I just never wanted that. My husband comes from a big family and had his own reasons for wanting something more intimate, just between us. Somes years I go over board and have several trees up and you would think I was decorating for the bash of the year. Other years when I don't feel it, I won't put up a twig. Every year though, we do give the best gifts, each other to one another. We were married on the 21st which is a far better reason to 'Tis The Season

toybarons wrote:
Baloney! Plain and simple. Baloney! Even if she is against oil, she has a right to say so. You can say you didn't like her remarks and I would defend your right to say so. However, when you start throwing around that someone should keep their opinions to themselves, that smacks in the face of Canada, and as an Albertian, I will call you out on that. No one tells an Albertian to keep our opinions to ourselves. Fat Ewe is one of us now and I'm sticking up for my fellow to express herself without fear of someone telling her not to, as you did.

I didn't deny her right to say so; I simply advised it may be better for her business if she were to keep her anti-oil opinions to herself - or expressed verbally to her friends - and NOT IN WRITING ON A PUBLIC FORUM. I'm not the only person on here from Elk Point and area, and not everyone is going to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Personally, I don't care what she thinks - she's entitled to her own opinions and beliefs. Everyone is. Is the oil industry perfect? Absolutely not. Yet, last time I checked, no one is driving a horse and buggy to town and giving up modern conveniences. We're all viewing this forum on devices made out of plastic, wearing polyester blend clothing and mixing up our muffins in a plastic bowl. Let's not be hypocrites.

Her opinion of a byproduct of the oil industry, while living in the heart of oil country, and making her living from people who make their living in the oil industry, is a little like setting up a coffee cart outside of a police station and then declaring publicly that she doesn't believe in the justice system. Or a dentist declaring they don't want to accept insurance payments. A feed store saying they despise acreage dwellers. How long do you think those people would be in business for?

Fat Ewe, when I was reading your post, about the woman who decorated because her house wasn't 'in' anymore, ...I felt that glavanizing clench in my gut that you might have felt. That moment when something in your head goes sproing and you know, with absolute and utter certainty, that you are done. Done.

I have had those moments. To me it feels like someone has injected ice water into my veins. An ice cold finality and rock solid resolution washes over me. It is a body seizing finality. It is very, very, very hard to face that wall and claw your way over it because the forces in our life do not want us to be done. They want us to performas we always have, so that they may continue to be the way they always have. It is an extremely wrenching thing to say to the people you love, sorry, I"m getting off the ride now, I am sorry if that makes you angry but tough noogies, go ahead and be angry because as much as I love you, I'm out of here!

This is what came to mind when TripleJ (I think it was tripleJ) posted about Christmas pulling her in 100 directions. You have to reach the place when you say I'm sorry if my convictions and changes anger you, but I'm mkaing them anyway.

And this isn't like you are going to someone else's house and telling them what they have to do to please you or meet your standards of Christmas. This is not a change that stops anyone else from celebrating as they see fit. This sis just drawing your own line and saying what you will or won't be partaking of. A very personal choice. IT might screw up someone's plans if the ywere going to drop in for an 8 course meal they did not pay for, cook, serve and won't clean up behind. But to those people, go ahead and disappoint them!

ANd if I may take a moment to be perfectly honest and candid and speak the truth, if I could step out of my life for 2 months and into some other place, oh my Gordon, what I wouldn't give. I long for some quiet to find out who I am when the demands and expectations of everyone else, heard and unheard, are not part of my daily life. For people seeking a deliberate life, Christmas can be the most out of control season of them all.

Toybarons, I think I know how the cook in your family felt!
Despite my over the top Humbug self though, Christmas has not been all bad, although the whole season makes me miserable. One year we had many of our neighours in as it seemed many of them were not going to or having family. What a diverse and nutty bunch of people! That Christmas was a zoo and a hoot and we laughed ourselves silly. My mom lit one of the guests on fire. Thankfully he was put out before any real damage occured, this is what happens when someone tries to flambe the Chrsitmas pudding with moonshine made from birch sap and distilled to 200 proof. Kaboom! (I think it's called ethanol at that point) My point is that that was a gathering of people who showed up with earnest joy and goodwill. None of them felt they had a right or entitlement to be there, they were all glad to have somewhere to go and it stands out as the craziest, whackiest, happiest Christmas we have had in years.

If anyone knows of any gypsies looking for more vagabond members, call me. I'm in!

Wow I hate christmas also.
Used to love it but over the
last few years I feel much
as UNO said.
And UNO thank you for making
me laugh tonight I was a little down.

Toy Barons, thank you for your support and Authentic Farm, thank you for your good intentions of protecting my business. Both are appreciated, for if the world was perfect and all was without grievance, then how would we find catalyst to grow? Both sides are needed for human nature to move forward.

Off the topic though..
The bed and breakfast has a totally organic focus. The carpets are 100% pure wool, the draperies 100% pure silk. The mattress in the master suite is made from rubber from a tree, the candles from beeswax and most of the linens are organic cotton. The furniture is antique, built long before plastics were invented. There have been many guests, some in the oil industry, others studying the flora and fauna of the area and others just traveling through. Comments are extremely positive and the occupancy continues to grow. It seems that in this area where the oil and gas industry dominates, there is room for a different way. I do not use disposal paper towels, have almost no plastic kitchen or other supplies, and utilize as few plastic bags or storage boxes made from plastic as possible. I fail to see how this would negatively affect the business. In fact, those in the oil industry who have been guests are impressed and some, even inspired. Will it change their lives? I cannot say, but I love the quote by Margaret Mead:
Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.”
And although I have a gas truck for the farm, my smart car is diesel and while on the coast, biodiesel was a common, readily available fuel, fuel not made from oil. I still have the smart car and drive it around all the time. Here I am forced to use diesel. My house is heated primarily with wood. Most of my clothes are made from natural fibers that are not blended with synthetics and the shoes are leather.There is still room for improvement. I do not dislike people in the oil business. Some of my extended family run some of those oil companies.

What I greatly dislike is the plastic side of Christmas, literally and figuratively. I was in a store today. They were unpacking boxes, box after box, of needless, useless, plastic items for Christmas, from throw away toys, to sparkly decorations that mean nothing to anyone, least of all to those who produced them at great cost to their health and the health of their countires. How did cosumerism get to mean that?

I totally agree with Fat Ewe and Uno. I too hate Plastic Christmas. It is so beyond commercialized, keeping up or passing the Jones. People have totally forgotten the Christ in Christmas. Canada has been buried in PC. There is no kindness left, the "new" meaning of Christmas is BUY BUY BUY. The pollution is staggering Not to mention the debt.

I decided that society in general is greedy, self absorbed, self centered, rude with a huge sense of entitlement. Rushing around not looking, glued to their Cell phone/ Black berry thingies.

Has anyone said good morning or hi to everyone they pass? I've made a point of it lately , most people totally ignore me, others look at me like I'm an alien, or highly suspicious. But most senior citizens smile and say good morning or hi how are you. Where is the common decency, consideration, kindness gone. People totally ignore the seniors struggling. I miss the days of gentlemen opening doors, and people helping each other out.

I don't buy anything that isn't cotton, or natural fiber, unless it slips by on me. I don't buy anything made in China or off shore. If they kill their own babies with melamine in their formula, what are they feeding the rest of us?

I hate plastic

I miss the kindness and warmth of an Old Fashioned Christmas, when family and friends got together and enjoyed each others company, and the delicious real food they prepared with LOVE

I would say Christmas became commerical when someone discovered money could be made from it.

I would say what helps push those feelings are how media portrays the season. Magazines all full of homes perfectly decked out and tables with spreads of food. Hollywood with the no matter how terrible things are with our lives movies all having that wonderful ending making everything alright just in time for Christmas. I think many want to believe this as a truth and they can have it too.

Plastic just happens to be the material in which cheap thing can be made to give consumers a means to fulfill this illusion. Right or wrong, it is still the consumer who drives it and if they wanted to, could turn it off by simply getting in touch with what Christmas really means.

Maybe the secret is turning it all off for a year to really get in touch of what, if anything, Christmas really means.

Ironic how we all hate plastic but what are we using to read and post these messages Just saying

off topic but it was mentioned earlier, and has been mentioned often.... as you know I raise Shelties along with the turkeys ... and if I ever sold a sheltie that caused a person such heartache and grief, and fear, and dismay I would gladly reimburse and take the dog back... So I am going to offer you this... If you can get all of the turkeys back to me, I will buy them from you....... I am sorry that you have grown to hate them with such passion as I have never found one reason to hate my birds... but I do understand that your not happy with the experience or maybe you enjoyed raising them but not keeping them as adults.... so if your not planning on processing these guys if we can somehow find transportation, I will take them all back and that part of your life can go back to the harmonic way you wish..... ...

update... I just read that they have a date on the 16th...... I wont need to take them back and I know you will enjoy them ..... I guess this was a real experience for you....... do enjoy !!

I hate plastic and try to reuse items
to make them usefull but not all items.
One of my biggest hates is the fact that
here in Prince George there is no recycle
depot for platic!!! Just milk jugs wow.
Yet in communities 1/2 the size of PG
each about 1 hrs away they have full
recycling. I have contacted the regional
district and just get the run around.
I store all my plastic in garbage bags
and this year I paid a recycle company
to pick it up. So next week I am going
to start again to get someone to listen.
I will call the city then the Reginal Dist
and the our local MLA. Hopefully someone
will listen. It just sickens me the amount
of plastic we put in landfills to sit there
for hundreds of years. Every time you to
to the grocery store something else is
now packaged in plasic instead of cardboard
or glass.
As for Christmas many years ago I made various
cloth santa sacks to put gifts in instead of
wrapping paper. I just thought wrapping paper
was a waste of money just to be tossed out.

My computer is a new imac, glass front and metal case and much recycled material or recyclable material in the computer itself. The "mouse" is a metal trackpad so even though we use computers to communicate, there are better options in that industry as well.
Karona, I commend your dedication to recycling. I try not to buy things in plastic and if given an option to pay more or buy plastic I buy the glass container. Here they do not recycle glass though. Even without recycling glass, it does eventually biodegrade.

Everyone, please don't HATE Christmas. It is a good holiday too. The thread was not to vent about your family or the feelings of being taken advantage of as much as it was to hopefully ask you how you will consider celebrating this year...driven by the consumer directive or back to nature? Let's pick the vibration up and try to make it positive instead of negative. Many people love Christmas, wait all year for it, and cannot get enough of the season. And many people love the lights, bustle, decorations, and baking, looking forward to that too. How is it for you?

And to those who are Christians, Christ is the reason for Christmas and indeed their reason to be joyous with or without plastic decorations and lights.

This subject hits home! At the moment I am going through many changes! This forum has awoken me! I was up until about nine months ago, I was one of those mindless morons you always speak of Uno I lived in the city and I was empty inside.... lost. I was constantly out shopping buying useless JUNK, that was indeed thrown away shortly after purchase. Not at the time realizing why and what I was doing, or the true impact on the world my awful choices were making! Sure, I recycled, shut off the lights and tried to keep our water consumption down... the usuals. TFE I like your quote about a small group changing the world as WCPS is a small group and you all have changed my world! It is sad how unintentionally ignorant people can be.

Since moving to an acreage and joining this forum I have been in a slow transition. From A - Z! Learning about GMO's, consumer shopping and how it affects.... well many things if you are shopping for the lowest prices and not caring where or how your products are made, shipped ect. And the list goes on and on with too much to mention as I read every single post here

Now after nine months I feel ALIVE!!! I feel like I can really make a bigger difference through my choices and the knowledge I continue to gain. Most important is the ability to teach my children, as well as friends and family these things. Even when I made my plan to move out of town I really had no idea what I was getting in to. I thought it would be a few animals and a few chores... boy was I wrong! Meeting all of you(well sort of LOL) has completely changed my thinking and my goals! Sorry a bit off topic but felt the need to share

As for Christmas I totally love it but hate all the mumbo jumbo mixed into it. People being in debt for months trying to make one day so picture perfect I can not give up my Christmas lights as Toybarons said I too love the sparkly things! I am however in the process of using solar panels and wind energy to provide the power I need for all of our out door lights! The kids will be making crafts from recycled materials as gifts and we have cut our gift budget down this year. And any new decorations in our home will be hand made as well. My kids are quite materialistic so I am trying to show them it feels just as good to give a gift as to receive one, they are taking money that I would have used to buy each of them a gift and they are going to buy a gift and donate it to charity!! We will also be giving away more home baked goodies... not wrapped in plastic

I prepare an enormous dinner every year and love it! Some of the family arrives first thing in the morning and help out a bit, we play cards, board games and just try to keep it a relaxing atmosphere. Uno I agree the clean up really stinks. I am one of the ones that may only have contact with some family members through a Christmas card once a year but dang it I am busy! My kids consume my life and my family understands they are busy too. They are always close in my heart. A card at Christmas is just a way to set aside the time to say Hello, I could do that any time but it works for me.

Part of me feels despite everything said here we lose Christmas because we grew up! No matter what I do, change, or how stress free I make the day nothing will compare to how I remember Christmas as a child, all the goodies, caroling around town, being part in a church play, watching all the great movies! We still do all of these things and I find great pleasure seeing how much the little ones enjoy themselves but for me it is just not the same. I am sure media has a lot to do with the insanity of the season but I wonder if some people go all out to try and bring these feelings back?

TFE I have thought you are so very interesting since I read your introduction, all the different fields of work you have been in... WOW! Such a diverse life, I admire that! Your B & B sounds lovely and I really like what you are doing there. Hubby and I have not had a day without kids in over two years if we ever get away we may head out your way for a little R & R at your B & B

Sorry for the long post, guess I needed to chat today