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Figuring Out My Own Head
Nov. 17th, 2013 08:47 amI have been interested in early Christmas prep this year, embracing the too-early displays and looking for Christmassy things online. This is EXTREMELY uncharacteristic of me, but don't look too closely at sources of happiness, y'know? It is far too easy for me to talk myself into a depressive crash, and considering I'm already juggling furlough ripples, and time change (with accompanying loss of sunlight), and the vast gulf of difference between how I wanted my house to be at the end of the year vs what it is... well, it would be an act of profound stupidity to look too hard at a source of pleasure, no matter how uncharacteristic!
But I figured it out yesterday, in a sort of epiphany-by-accident. *Most* of us are dealing with overcluttered houses and tight money -- my parents *and* one of my friends have said "I don't want to give you another *thing* for the clutter." -- and I'm cool with that. I don't want another *thing* for the clutter either!
So we're all on the same page and I don't feel an obligation to go out and buy little things-for-the-sake-of-things, and that's a surprisingly big relief.
The big realization, though, is that the creative part of me -- the one that hasn't been exercised in random craft classes throughout the year per usual -- has mentally accepted the challenge of a consumables/readables/wearables/services only gift list and making presents pretty with handcrafts rather than bought frills with a joyous shout of "GAME ON!"
(I am, you see, a big proponent of present toppers. I think they look beautiful. They are also, 9 times out of 10, one more "thing" to wrangle - to purchase, to match to people, to store, to rescue from the pile of wrappings for re-use. But homemade paper ornaments or clippings from holly and pine are disposable; cinnamon sticks or candy canes are consumable.)
It's not a limitation this year, it's a challenge. And that makes all the mental difference.
ETA: My Dad has dubbed it "the -ables" - nothing that isn't wearable, readable, usable, or consumable.
But I figured it out yesterday, in a sort of epiphany-by-accident. *Most* of us are dealing with overcluttered houses and tight money -- my parents *and* one of my friends have said "I don't want to give you another *thing* for the clutter." -- and I'm cool with that. I don't want another *thing* for the clutter either!
So we're all on the same page and I don't feel an obligation to go out and buy little things-for-the-sake-of-things, and that's a surprisingly big relief.
The big realization, though, is that the creative part of me -- the one that hasn't been exercised in random craft classes throughout the year per usual -- has mentally accepted the challenge of a consumables/readables/wearables/services only gift list and making presents pretty with handcrafts rather than bought frills with a joyous shout of "GAME ON!"
(I am, you see, a big proponent of present toppers. I think they look beautiful. They are also, 9 times out of 10, one more "thing" to wrangle - to purchase, to match to people, to store, to rescue from the pile of wrappings for re-use. But homemade paper ornaments or clippings from holly and pine are disposable; cinnamon sticks or candy canes are consumable.)
It's not a limitation this year, it's a challenge. And that makes all the mental difference.
ETA: My Dad has dubbed it "the -ables" - nothing that isn't wearable, readable, usable, or consumable.
