I had an amazingly challenging and for the most part, fruitless holiday season this past month. Each year, I desperately yearn for something along the lines of what I think I remember of the holidays from my childhood. At least, what I remember of the good, happy times. This year, what with the economy in the gutter, though you wouldn't know it with all the late, bustling shoppers at Target... I had hoped for a holiday full of meaning. What we couldn't afford in material gifts, we could make up for with sentiment and a deeper understanding of the season. We actually talked about doing away with gifts altogether to keep focused on what December was really about. Then I started weighing the impending tantrums of our pubescent boys, and we thought better of that brilliant idea. Sure, when your kids are 2, you can change all sorts of rules. But not when they are full of lists of potentially bank account busting, electrified ear bursting gifts of all shapes and sizes. You'd have thought they saw us win the lottery with all their planning and scheming of how to get this gift or that gift in this color or that. Kids. We absolutely love them. But they don't come cheap!
I began to do some research in living more simply. I don't mean not showering or washing my clothes, though come to think of it, that would make my day more simple. I mean challenging myself to make better decisions for the long run. Do I really need a grocery bill that's through the roof? Do I need to turn the heat up high enough to wear light clothing indoors rather than put on a silky sweater? And best of all, can I make small choices now that will enable us to work less in the near future, before our boys decide we're too archaic to spend time with? I really want to do so much with my time, before I'm too old to do it. Before I'm too stuck in my grind to want to do it. And I don't want to be stuck in a job just to pay off some humongous purchase 30 years down the road. I'm all for living - can I interest anyone else to come along for the ride?
Join me as I rumble down this new road. So many of you have gone before me and some know no other way of life than being frugal and careful, and beyond that, there are people out there who wonder what's wrong with me that I want something other than what WalMart has to offer. I hope to learn from you all, yet be a voice of fresh new understanding about making life matter.
