Simplicity and St-Nick

As you may know, I decided this year to forego most of the traditional gift-giving and give money to charities. People getting gifts from me would receive a card that describes what the money I would have spent on their gift was used for instead. For instance, 35$ given to Word Vision Canada (I know, I know, all manner of religious overtones here, but bear with me) gets a family in Somalia 2 full grown hens and a rooster. Some gifts, such as school supplies for Nairobi, multiply tenfold since you basically pay for the shipping of something that companies have donated. So one day, full of these plans, I go downstairs to my Mum's to tell her the news. "Mum," I say "this year I have decided to share with those less fortunate and help people de-clutter their lives at the same time by giving the joy of giving! Isn't that great?" Well, apparently not so much. My mum gave me the sort of look that let me know that I was playing fast and loose with tradition and that she wasn't having any of it. "What, no presents?" she asked " none at all?" she turned suddenly into a five year old "But I sort of like jewelry..." she trailed off wistfully. My dad's reaction was better. "I love this out of the box thinking!" He wrote in an email, happily using his new jargon "The rooster for Namibia just bought me!" Admittedly, his mastery of the jargon was still in its initial stages, but he was sold on my idea. In the end, though, I am having to go half and half, giving away some of the money and buying people presents to mollify them somewhat. I don't know yet where I stand on all of this. My mum gets ridiculous about Christmas which invariably turns into an overconsumption orgy with all of us opening presents at once since there are so many of them that we cannot keep up. Our opened gifts drown in piles of wrapping paper, ribbons and shrink wrap as we struggle to come up with appropriate exclamations of gladness and surprise, differing from gift to gift. Last year, I was so disoriented that I honestly felt like giving myself a time-out from the madness. Basically, when it comes right down to it, I just like the food (yummy Polish yumness), the fact that we are together and going to bed with a box of chocolates and a book from my Chapters Indigo wish list). Oh, and new pajamas.

This year, I've gone with Alternative Gifts International as well as World Vision Canada (in spite of its Christian roots).