Happy Things-Giving

December 2022 Newsletter

Happy Things-Giving

As we cleared the dishes after our Thanksgiving feast last month, we turned to Christmas. The dishwasher exhaled a cloud of steam into the kitchen as its door opened to reveal spotless dishes, nary a dribble of turkey gravy remaining from our Thanksgiving meal. The churn of events that accompanied the holiday season filled the house with conversations about travel plans and gift ideas. Things-giving, a jarring turn from gratitude for my experiences to getting material objects.

I placed the Thanksgiving dishes, used only once a year, back into their cupboards, as things-giving transformed into holiday gift-giving. Catalogs and holiday offers began to flood into my mailboxes, some digital and some stuffed into that worn box outside my door, teetering at the edge of my driveway. 

The inundation is relentless and beguiles us into believing that we need one more thing, either for ourselves or for those around us. Sooo many things.