It's been a while...

I've been busy. Sick kid, sick mama, traveling, sick kid, and now the holidays are upon me. Oh how the holidays are upon me! My family has had a rule for 12 years that we make all of our holiday gifts, so I have crafty fever and not enough time in the day (especially since SOMEONE refuses to nap, or go to bed before midnight!) to get it all done. I've got a stack of things to make, and a few little things I want to buy... but do I? I've spent a lot of time this year thinking about how and where I spend my money. I have tried not to buy anything I don't need, and think long and hard about how and where the things I do buy are made or processed.
And now, the season of shopping is upon us. I love christmas and solstice and this season of giving and loving. But I'm not a huge fan of the consumerism that is attached to it. I love that my family has a rule of making gifts, although we still need to think about where the base supplies come from. We told everyone in our family that if they were buying Ruby a gift, we preferred no plastic and not made in china (and a few other requests) and that please, please, please, not to buy her more than 3 gifts. Heck, Baby Jesus only got three things, and it's his birthday right? (well it is for those who celebrate a christian holiday!) We are trying not to raise Ruby as a mass consumer, so we choose to buy locally made, organic, and used whenever possible. Still it's so hard, when I see toys, or clothes or what have you that would make her smile and giggle or just look adorable. It's hard not to BUY BUY BUY. I have to force myself to stop and think, really think about where it came from, it's impact on the world and the people who made it, where it's going to end up.

What about you?