GRINCH + SCROOGE + CRATCHIT + MARLEY

It's Advent, and this first week is Hope. I feel like I'm hung up on hope without really being able to sort it all out in my head.

The Christmas tree went up several weeks ago so my granddaughter could help with the decorating. I just finished the rest of it today. Well, except that I forgot about changing over the shower curtain, so I guess I'm not 100% there just yet. 

But, I'm close. I'm at 99%.

As I've downsized my living space, I've downsized everything else. The tree has shrunk, ornaments have been discarded, strings of lights have been tossed (okay, so I had to order new outdoor lights, but that's because I wore the old ones out), holiday towels have been repurposed or donated, and I have stopped buying holiday candles except for Advent ones, but, to be honest, I am reusing last year's Advent candles but in reverse order.

I don't like when Thanksgiving is so late in the month, though. It throws off Christmas prep by a week. Add into that the fact that it is pitch dark, and I mean nighttime blackout, but 4:30 in the afternoon, and all sense of motivation is out the window. 

At my age, I don't want things. And, the more that I don't want things, the less motivated I am to give things. I want experiences. You want to give me something? Take me out for a cup of tea. Meet me for lunch. Join me at the beach. Dare to get on an airplane with me. Let's take a walk. Let's take a drive.

I still want the experience, and it's not about the expense. It's about the stuff. The accumulation of it, the passing it around. The preciousness of it all. The guilt of receiving something that I really don't want or the giving of something the other person greets with "Oh, you didn't need to" when what they really mean is, "Now, what the heck am I supposed to do with this?"

We finally agreed to stop Secret Santa when we realized as adults that we are basically passing around the same $25 gift card from person to person like some demented Yankee Swap. 

Yeah, I'm all about celebrating. But, please. I hope that we stop with the stuff for the simple sake of stuff. Just think: In the time it takes someone to find me a gift, wrap it up, and deliver it, we could've had a nice meal together or gone to a coffee shop or sat in our beach chairs or walked along a stream or gone to a museum or taken a train ride to nowhere just for fun.

Grinch? Maybe. I'll own it. 

Have I finished my shopping? No, but I've started it, along with the realization that it's just stuff. As I sip my cooled tea and surf the internet for just the perfect gift, I think that I could be sharing a hot mug with a friend or relative instead. We could be putting that time, effort, and expense into filling our gas tanks and meeting somewhere when we actually live hours apart. 

Color me green this holiday season, but don't forget the candy cane stripes. I'm Scrooge and Cratchit with a bit of Jacob Marley thrown in for good measure. Happy First Day of Advent -- I hope to see you all over the holidays and beyond so we can chat about . . . stuff.