After just touring my parents basement with Greg and seeing all the stuff (much of it pertaining to us kids) has accumulated over the years, I am compelled to say more about Christmas. We are struggling to keep our lives simple, our house clean, and our lifestyle environmentally-friendly. Especially now that Ian has joined us, we are becoming very vigilent about buying or accumulating anything that will take up space in the house. As we go through our stuff and try to pare down, we have realized that we get many things as gifts. Certainly we get many needed and much appreciated gifts (like all the baby necessities we received at our baby showers), but there are also some things we've gotten over the years that we don't have space for. I have found that this is a theme with an increasing number of our friends, as well. So we respectfully ask that you only give us things that we really need this year, or things that are not things (for example, we always appreciate cash :)). In return, we will also try to carefully consider the gifts we give this year and not contribute to cluttering up anyone else's house.
Some things we need:
- A moderate number of good quality toys for Ian -- the classics would be great, since they typically can be used in lots of creative ways and won't be grown out of quickly: blocks, balls, instruments, art supplies, trucks, etc. Stuffed animals are another classic, but Ian now has a full complement of those, and we just discovered more in my parents' basement from my childhood, so other things would be best.
- A moderate number of clothes for Ian.
- For the family members who like to give gift certificates, we are heavy users of amazon.com, so that would be a much appreciated choice. PetSmart and Home Depot/Lowes are also excellent.
Some things we don't need:
- Books, DVDs, and CDs - these are things that we've got a lot of and are trying to reduce.
- Games - we have a nice selection of games and don't have much time to use them.
- Clothes - this is a year in which both Doug and I have ever-shifting clothing sizes, so it would be tough to find appropriate things.
- Kitchen related items - also an area where we've got too much and are trying to purge.
Now I'm done with my simplicity rant.
3 comments:
This is awesome. I wish more people had the guts to do this-- be honest about what they do and don't want as gifts. My ex found it completely socially unacceptable and so bludgeoned me out of doing it. But I think it's great. Honesty= good and environmentally friendly= good in my book. I've been picking up size 2T clothes with dogs, in keeping with my trend.
hmmmm
Yes, Hermit Thrush, I'm sure your ex is right that some people will probably find this completely socially unacceptable, so I apologize to those people. But since so many people I know feel the same way this year, being constantly in a battle against having too much stuff, I decided that being socially unacceptable would be appropriate . . . if that's possible.
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