Comments (13)

By Mom Unplugged, November 16, 2007 1:55 pm

No, not a list for Santa, not a gift list, or even a “to-do” list. If you really want to unplug your holidays then why not start by making a list of what your particular holiday means to you, or at least what you would like it to mean.

Only once you figure out what you want your holiday to be, can you then take steps to make that vision a reality.

For example, Christmas to some people has a deeply religious meaning. To others it is a time to gather with family. For others, it may be a time to think more about helping people and making our world a better place. Perhaps your “ideal Christmas” is a combination of several of these themes.

I can pretty much guarantee that no one is going to put on their list:

• “Christmas is a time to spend a lot of money at Walmart buying gifts of cheap plastic toys and nose hair trimmers.”

• “What I like most about Christmas is running around like a crazy person trying to create the perfectly decorated house like in Better Homes and Gardens December issue.”

• “My favorite Christmas pastime is spending hours writing hundreds Christmas cards to send to every friend, family member and business acquaintance I have ever known in my life, all while worrying that I might forget someone who will send ME a card and thus make me feel bad for not having sent them one.”

So, write your holiday list and see if your usual holiday matches what you want to be celebrating. If not, then perhaps it is time to make a few changes.

Read all the Christmas/Holidays Unplugged posts by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of morguefile.com and photographer ronnieb.

Comments (7)

By Mom Unplugged, November 12, 2007 10:08 pm

Last week I announced a new series of posts entitled “Christmas Unplugged.” Actually any major holiday can be inserted in place of “Christmas,” but I think it will be easier for me to just focus on one holiday and allow you to generalize.

For several years now, I have really been trying to figure out how to simplify Christmas. Christmas just seems so over-the-top sometimes. Even without TV I am irked by the commercialism and the messages of spending money as the only path to “The Perfect Christmas.” I don’t like all the massive exchanges of gifts that often are unwanted or unneeded.

Before children, I could ignore my discomfort. After all, it is just one day a year. But ever since I have had children, I have felt the need to focus my thoughts much more on how and why we celebrate Christmas.

I think I will write more on this topic next time for it is the starting point of any transformation of Holiday traditions. Today, I want to begin this series by introducing a very interesting book that has helped me think more about my “issues” with Christmas and what to do about them.

When I first announced my Christmas Unplugged series last week, several of you commented that I should read Unplug the Christmas Machine. Well, I already had (or nearly had, I think I still had one or two chapters to go), in fact it was one of my inspirations for writing this series.

I accidentally found Unplug the Christmas Machine: A Complete Guide to Putting Love and Joy Back into the Season on Amazon a while ago. I wish I could remember how. I put it in my “Wish List” for future reference and finally bought it back at the end of September, as my thoughts turned to yet another round of holiday confusion.

I have really enjoyed this book, and have found it very useful for helping to sort out my thoughts. I guess I am not alone in feeling empty and miffed at the holidays.

Unplug the Christmas Machine covers all the bases. Whether you are an exhausted overachiever, a guilty underachiever, have annual family conflicts to deal with, hate the commercialism, want more spirituality in your Christmas, male, female, with children, childless, etc. etc. etc. I think you will find some helpful thoughts and ideas in this book.

I always like reading chapter titles when I consider a book, so if you like that too, then here they are:

Intro: The Christmas Pledge
1) “A Christmas Carol” Revisited
2) Women: The Christmas Magicians
3) Men: The Christmas Stagehands
4) The Four Things Children Really Want for Christmas
5) The Homecoming
6) Inside the Christmas Machine
7) The Gift of Joy
8) A Simple Christmas
9) Christmas Revival
Appendix: Resources for a Simple Christmas

Each chapter ends with exercises for helping you determine your feelings about the particular subject of the chapter. There is also always a question and answer section that often contains concrete ideas and helpful resources.

The Appendix is a book unto itself and is packed full of ideas and resources that the authors have found useful for helping to simplify Christmas. The subjects covered are:

-Decorations, broken down by category (Greens, Tree, Candles, etc.)

-Music

-Christmas Cards

-Entertaining

-Food (includes recipes)

-Gifts, includes great “alternative gift ideas” and “easy homemade gifts” (as far as I’m concerned, this book is worth buying just for this “Gifts” section alone!)

-Alternative Christmas Activities for Churches

-Making a Christmas Budget

If you feel really energized by the message of this book, you can help enlighten others by buying a Leader’s Guide ($20) and hosting your own “Unplug the Christmas Machine” workshop.

I could go on and on about all the useful, concrete information and encouragement that is in this book. But the main point of my post has to be that if you have any doubts at all about Christmas, try reading Unplug the Christmas Machine: A Complete Guide to Putting Love and Joy Back into the Season to see if you find some inspiration.

You could get it from the library or go all out and buy it. I decided just to buy it and am glad I did, since I view it as a reference book to be pulled off the shelf whenever I need a bit of encouragement or a useful idea.

One thought on buying it: new at Amazon it is currently $10.36 (paperback). I purchased a “Like New” copy from an “Amazon Seller” for about $5.00 (including shipping) and honestly I couldn’t tell that it was not a brand new book! So if you want to buy it, shop around.

Comments (5)

By Mom Unplugged, October 29, 2007 9:54 pm

One of the things that bothers me about shopping for toys is that “need to have” feeling. It seems that there are two ends of the “need to have” spectrum.

One end is the commercial, media and advertising-driven branding that occurs, where children “need to have” the latest Tickle Me Elmo, or Bratz doll. As an unplugged household, my children are not subjected to the same barrage of ads so this is not such a problem. They do pick up some information on the playground at school (even at their small Montessori school). They know who Sponge Bob and the Disney Princesses are, but they really don’t know much about all the character toys out there.

Even if we venture to the toy aisle of Walmart or Kmart (unfortunately our only two local “toy store” options), they are interested in looking, and sometimes express interest, but don’t “need to have” those popular toys. They love inspecting toy catalogs that come in the mail and often see something in there that they “need,” especially my son (age 5) and especially if it involves a weapon (I feel another post coming on about that subject!). But they are blissfully unaware of what is truly popular.

The other end of the spectrum of “toy need” is that of the “natural” toys, Waldorf-inspired toys, or Montessori-inspired toys. I believe that this “need” is driven more by parents than children. Many parents, myself included, want to supply their child with good quality, non-toxic (hopefully), long-lasting, educational toys. We “unplugged parents” don’t believe in the huge wave of new electronic toys marketed as being educational. We believe in simple, classic toys without noises or flashing lights. Toys such as blocks, playsilks, simple wooden vehicles or dolls for example, are what we choose to buy for our children.

As a member of this second group, I love all those “Unplugged Toy Stores” that I link to in my left sidebar. The truth is however, that these toys are expensive for what they are, and the toys are often imported from Europe (which of course leaves a larger carbon footprint). Amanda of The Rowdy Pea recently wrote a wonderful post with some suggestions for making many of these toys yourself.

- Fun! (“Unplugged Project” anyone?)
- Inexpensive, or even free in some cases.
- And quality you can trust because you made it yourself!

I guess I’ll still seek out those websites, and buy those toys, but if I can make it easily myself, then I should really try to do that and feel a lot better about the whole “unplugged toy” shopping process! Thanks Amanda!

A few interesting toymaking links:

MotheringDotCommune-Toys and Dolls Page (discussion forum of Mothering.com) - interesting posts and suggestions for making your own Waldorf dolls and toys.

PlaystandPlans.com - plans for making your own playstands - $17.99 (but honestly, as Amanda points out, playstands seem pretty simple and a semi-decent handy-person should probably be able to figure it out.

(*Great blog!*) Echoes of a Dream - Basic instructions for making a Waldorf doll, her hanging fairies are lovely too!

Waldorf Doll photo from Wikimedia Commons, photographer Sebastian Sprenger, click here for full license information.

Comments (1)

By Mom Unplugged, October 26, 2007 9:34 pm

Here are some more TV-free activity ideas for grownups that were left in the comments of yesterday’s post, TV-Free Activities for Grownups. I repeat them here for all to read and consider:

* From Amanda (The Rowdy Pea) -

- Spend quality/quantity time with partner.

- Podcasts.

- Sewing.

* From Becky (Boys Rule My Life) -

- Play trains (she thinks they need to branch out though!)

* From Wishy (Wishy the Writer) -

- “If you can’t think of at least ONE more activity, you’ve been married TOO long! tee hee!”

* From Woodmouse (Woodmouse Loves Crafts) -

- Volunteer more.

* Andamom (Andamom.com) -

-Visit a museum.

-Go on a hike through a National Park (and get your Passport Book stamped).

-Check out a new gallery.

-Go swimming.

-Go on a boat ride.

-Take a dance or cooking class.

-Practice yoga.

-Unclutter your home, car, and office.

-Photograph your family, community, or another location.

-Paint a picture or your home.

-Take up knitting or crochet.

-Fix things in your home or your clothes that are ripped.

-Take a long drive.

-Join a team (softball, soccer, etc.).

-Take up pottery, glassmaking, or jewelry making.

-Go fruit picking.

-Try a new restaurant.

-Get checked up by the doctor or dentist.

-Go on a hunt for ruins, artifacts, and other old things…

Thanks for all the additional “Unplugged Ideas!”

Thanks to morguefile.com and photographer Dawn M. Turner (“xandert”) for this photo! (Her website: The Turner Zoo).

Comments (10)

By Mom Unplugged, October 25, 2007 2:07 pm

I spend a lot of time on this blog writing about TV and kids: What is TV’s effect on children? What are TV-free kids like? Without the “Babysitting Box,” how does one ever cook a meal?

But what about adults? For grown-ups who are in the habit of unwinding at the end of a hard day by channel surfing, or watching a favorite show, the prospect of a long and empty evening without the TV might be somewhat daunting to say the least.

If you are considering eliminating your TV, or at least reducing its use and are worried about how to fill your evenings, then here are some ideas:

- Read a book. (When is the last time you read a book? A recent, well-publicized poll found that 1 in 4 Americans read no book at all last year. If we take the glass half-full point of view, I suppose this statistic means that 75% did read at least one book last year. That has to mean something I guess.)

- Take a relaxing bath.

- Play a board game.

- Do a jigsaw puzzle.

- Take up a new hobby.

- Subscribe to a new magazine…and actually READ it!

- Write a blog.

- Write a novel!

- Write old-fashioned snail-mail letters to friends with whom you are losing, or have lost touch.

- Cook or bake.

- Organize that enormous box of photos that has been sitting there staring at you for years.

- Volunteer.

- Scrapbook.

- Sell all your old stuff on Ebay and make a little money (in addition to all the money you are saving by not having cable anymore!)

- Go for a walk, hike or bike ride.

- Take a class at your local community college.

- Work on a political campaign, or for a cause you believe in.

- Learn a foreign language with some books and tapes.

- Listen to NPR, or a podcast.

- Listen to music.

- Listen to a book on tape.

- Read aloud to your spouse or kids.

- Plant (or plan) a garden.

- Sit and chat.

- Play (or learn to play) a musical instrument.

- Obedience train your dog, or teach him tricks.

- Linger over dinner or dessert.

- Have more dinner parties with friends.

- Start a bookclub.

- Sit on your front porch and chat with the neighbors or simply watch the world go by.

- Plan a vacation.

- Stargaze.

- Call a friend.

- Do a crossword, or a Sudoku puzzle.

- Do the Unplugged Project with us!

Any other ideas?

Thanks to morguefile.com and photographer Jane M. Sawyer for the photo.