I posted last week that we were going to be on the CBC National news. We got bumped from the program that evening and we were not sure if we were going to be on it at all. It was kind of embarrassing because we told a bunch of people that we were going to be on - then we weren’t. Oh well!
I got some emails this morning saying that people saw us on the CBC news last night. We looked online and we found our cute little story on cbc.ca. It is really cool that we got to be on TV throughout Canada. If you saw it let us know, if not I have posted the video here (still working on it - I have a link to CBC site).
It is really encouraging to hear the stories of people who have been inspired by what we did and now are trying to make small changes in their own lives. I guess that was part of the purpose behind why did, what we did this past year. The encourage others to reconsider how their consumption affects their lives and the lives of the people around them.
We made it through Christmas in our year without shopping. Christmas was the one holiday that I was worried about because it is the most obviously consumer based holiday (next to groundhogs day). The music, art, and spirit of Christmas are all bound up in the trappings of gifts and shopping. No more ranting on that.
It was the first Christmas in a long time that Malora and I did not get the “Christmas blues”. The feeling of disappointment that Christmas is over and that it didn’t live up to the hype. It is so nice to bind Christmas up in Christ instead of what presents we can give and get. When you focus on the true meaning of Christmas instead of the consumeristic meaning of Christmas - there is absolute meaning to the holiday.
We have less then a week left in our compact life and I can feel the temptation coming back to shop. I sort of wish we could continue this little experiencement on for the years to come, but I think we need to take a sabbath from our sabbath. Malora and I will both share some closing thoughts in the days a head. But for now I have a qoute from a really good book I am reading by Shane Claiborne called Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers:
The moment that we are no longer tempted by the “pots of meat” the empire offers, we should be concerned - for if we can’t feel the temptation , we have probably already given in to it (pg. 45)
We are supposed to be on the CBC National news tonight at 10pm. It is exciting to share our story with all of Canada. I will try to upload the video after it airs.
I have been a busy little elf trying to get Christmas gifts ready for one and all. Well, not really all. A few. I wanted to show my new Christmas card I created that I am really quite pleased with. I was able to reuse brown paper bags from some mushrooms and from Planet Organic (I forgot my cloth bags the other day). And I re purposed some magnetic poetry that I haven’t been using for a while. Here is the end result:
I used some fun green thread the fasten the brown paper to the card. It was super easy and I think they are cute.
Here is Noah’s Sock monkey thus far. I still haven’t committed on the cape.
Also, I found this wonderful idea on the Wee Wonderfuls blog. It is a cute little bookmark which I think everyone can use. So, here is my simplified version of her fabulous idea:
So there you have it. A few super simple little gifts for Christmas. I have a few others, but a certain someone may be lurking on here and find out what he is getting before the designated time;)
We were featured on CityTV’s Breakfast Television. The host, Dave Kelly, interviewed us about our past year and our eating habits while driving. He was a really funny, nice guy and I think we will definitely tune into BTV more often (once we get rabbit ears that are not broken). It was a lot of fun being on the show and I am glad we can share the video online.
Noah stole the show - as usual. Especially the outro with him waving! Click on the picture to go to the video or click here
We are coming to the end of our experiencement of not shopping for one year. Only three more weeks to go but we still have the largest brick wall ahead of us: Christmas.
Ask any kid and they will tell you that the true meaning of Christmas is getting presents. Sure, when asked in Sunday school they might say Jesus, but we all remember being kids wondering, hoping, and dreaming about what we would get for Christmas. Even as adults we still make the focus of Christmas about what presents we are going to get for our kids. Even though the wise men had a good idea in bringing presents for the new born King, I think we have really messed things up with our focus on what we can get and give.
Luckily there are some people who are trying to bring the real meaning of Christmas back. Bringing back charity, hope, kindess, justice, love, compassion, and Christ into this ridiculously crazy holiday season.
The Advent Conspiracy is group who is trying to encourage people to spend less on presents and more on those in need. By reducing the amount of presents that we give we are able to support the efforts of those working with people in need. Building water wells in Africa, homes for homeless families in Mexico, and reaching out to those around us in need. Started by a community of churches in Portland including Imago Dei, the Advent Conspiracy is striving to reduce suffering by reducing our consumption this Christmas.
Buy Nothing Day is an international day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. It was started by some Vancouver artists and Adbusters magazine. It is usually celebrated on the day after American Thanksgiving or Black Friday. Their goal is to encourage people to find any alternative to shopping on that day.
This video is from the Philadelphia BND celebration. The guy dressed up like a clown on stilts is one of my heros, Shane Claiborne. He started the Simple Way a community of people dedicated to living and loving like Christ. He is crazy and awesome and I love him. When he was in college he called Mother Terresa and asked if he could come to Calcutta to help for a summer and she said yes so he came. Check out his books (link).
Buy Nothing Christmas
Buy Nothing Christmas is like Buy Nothing Day except it is for Christmas time. This website was started by a bunch of Mennonites from Winnepeg. I like the picture - I liked it so much I made it my facebook profile (that is true like).
There are a lot of other people out there who are trying to make a difference in this world by changing the way that they shop. I have found that if we can refocus ourselves, especially at Christmas, from thinking about our own needs and start thinking about the needs of others we can make a tremendous impact.
It is going to take a community of people willing to go against the grain and try something new and different this Christmas.
Do you know any other stories of people or groups who are providing an alternative to the rampant consumerism that generally resounds during Christmas? Share them in the comments section.
