Do you buy Buy Nothing Day?

Chill, people.

(art from The Toymaker, my favorite site
for paper toys and cards by Marilyn Scott Waters)

Happy Thanksgiving. I have mixed feelings about this holiday but then I have mixed feelings about most things, including tomorrow's annual Buy Nothing Day.*

I'm all for calming down and buying less during the holidays. I also find absurd one day's tableau of gratitude followed by a Pavlovian, acquisitive rush the next. Which is it? Are we thankful and content or not? My cognitive dissonance aside, the timing and the target audience seem slightly off for Buy Nothing Day. Hermits like me stay home no matter what, while folks jonesing for bargains aren't going to call off the hunt just because Adbusters says so.

To effect real change we need to alter the story we tell ourselves about the winter holidays. Those of us with enough stuff could just gratefully accept that fact even after the official day of thanks is past. Then we could reframe Christmastime to focus on gift-giving to people who actually need something--obstetrical care, maybe, or a safe place to spend the night.

Do you keep it simple or let it rip at the holidays? What's it about for you and your family?



*That's here in the States. Everywhere else, Buy Nothing Day is Saturday.