I hope to share my thoughts on this soon, but for now know that you’ve inspired me greatly to follow suit. Many, many thanks.

The traceability idea sounds good, but does it get expensive as well as difficult? I wouldn’t call it foolish, though, difficult and expensive or not. It’s better than going to Wally World and buying the same generic thing for half the people you get gifts for (not that I’ve ever done it).

It is amazing what Christmas has become. I’ve been frustrated about it for a few years. But, when Lowes put out Christmas stuff in August this year, I’ve officially become angry and disgusted.

I applaud the attempt, and hope it works well. Courtney has been making some gifts for us to give. We may look into this idea. And, I’ll always think of you as an ass and a snob……jk

jason. can’t wait.

alan. great thoughts. when i’m at the mall on halloween night and they already have there 100 foot christmas tree up with lights . . . something is wrong.

honestly, it does get expensive to do the alternative. whether it’s buying local or buying organic/free range. but i think it only seems expensive to us because we’ve grown so used to getting everything so cheap. but when you realize things are cheap because of sweat shop labor or big tax breaks for big businesses, it begins to make more and more sense to explore the alternatives. even if it costs you a few dollars more.

but i don’t think it necessarily has to be expensive. if anything, i think it forces us to be more resourceful and creativity with what we have and our budgets. it sort of reminds me of the way things used to be that when you killed an animal every part would be used for something. we’re so used to consumption in the West that we’ve specialized everything because we have discretionary money that allows us that freedom. i’m not saying it’s a bad thing in and of itself. but it hardly seems like “the most” jesus-like thing to do. not that buying local is “the most”. it just seems like a better alternative than sending my money off to corporate headquarters of lowes or walmart or gap or pottery barn.

but what do i know? i haven’t even really tried or practiced it yet! like i said . . . i’m a bit of a hypocrite.

btw . . . isn’t it funny how far both of us have changed (i think for the better) since we left our stomping grounds of spanish fort?

hmm. don’t see how anything you have written about or do makes you a hippie, and anarchist or a communist.

and since when are those derogatory? i thought calling someone an ass, or d***, or b****, or a f**** tard was derogatory.

i thought those other things were just ideologies.

maybe it is just that way in the south. if so maybe we should have let you leave the union.

Wait a minute. . . whats wrong with the term ‘hippie’?

I think it is great that you are doing this, but how does it flesh out for people who will buy you gifts? Will asking others to do the same for you? It’s easy to give made stuff, but how about only requesting it?

that’s something i though about nick. but i think this year we’re just going with the giving. i feel odd enough about it as it is. i don’t want to mandate what other people choose to gift me. i don’t want to spit on their generosity in whatever form or shape it takes. but that’s something we’ll probably practice next year. i thought about not asking for any gifts this year . . . which i would love to do. because i don’t really need anything. i do have a few wants. but i would love to just have people give me money that i can give away after christmas at my discretion. but after much thought, that’s a bit pretentious and rude for me to ask other people to give me a gift of their generosity so i can give it to someone else.

its such a sticky subject and i just don’t want to be offensive. the whole pete rollins and the gift giving thing. i’d rather just receive it in the same spirit that it’s giving. in that way i feel less like legislating or mandating someone else’s generosity.

but you raise a good point. one that i have given thought to and will consider in the future. baby steps is what i say.

mike. i agree. i’m not sure how it makes me that. its kind of funny. i think it shows how far capitalism has come and morphed that when you want to buy from small, local, independent artists as opposed to buying stuff at the mall, you get labeled “odd”. when in reality that’s the way capitalism was built. small shops, small artisans, trading back and forth. most people dont’ realize capitalism was dreamed up for the small and local government and not the big and national government. it gets harder to sustain and place checks and balances on it that way. of course globalization and the industrial age don’t help.

Nicholas: Good point with the receiving of gifts; that is truly the hard part of this plan.

Josh: Thanks for your thoughts on Christmas. I mentioned the Advent Conspiracy project to my co-workers at church yesterday to see if we could somehow implement it. Hopefully sometime soon I’ll be posting my own thoughts on Christmas/Consumerfreakoutfest.

thanks jake. i’d be really interested to check out some other people’s thoughts on this. so let me know when you post it.

wait. i’m an idiot. there is this new technology called an RSS reader that i’ve been using for 2 years now. i have a novel idea . . . i can just read your blog and check for updates that way.

i’m an idiot.

ay main! whur yuh git one dem arr-ess-ess readurs yous yappin bout?

bubba

Buy Nothing Day in downtown Seattle last year was awesome! i stumbled upon a protest and ended up seeing a camo suited Santa “driving” a chain gang dressed in convict orange outfits. The “sleigh” was a shopping basket with a live “consumer” trapped inside of it.

I laughed really hard at the stares from shoppers as they passed by with their various wares from consuming weighing them down.

i have yet to actually read this post but i am personally going to partake in http://www.adventconspiracy.org/ which is the same kind of idea i think you and anna are gonna try … maybe i should read your post before trying to make a constructive comment

btw, if you want to buy cards the website is up and running http://www.cardsforkiva.com -

Josh,
Great stuff here, your making some amazing strides. And your doing it well.
We’ve sort of settled for donations on behalf of family and silly things we make by hand. I like what your doing with the traceability and everything.

As for the receiving end, I’ve struggled with that for a while too. If you ever figure out a way to gently steer people toward honoring your values let me know.

Peace,
ariah

I find a lot of value in the ideas and encouragement of people who are seeking out a better way … so keep it up. I don’t know about convincing those who aren’t ready to hear it — I suppose we just keep doing what seems right until they are ready.

[...] was Josh Brown’s “A Heretic’s Guide To Christmas” that got the ball rolling for me. Unlike so many of us who talk about how we don’t [...]

[...] A Heretic’s Guide to Christmas [...]

[...] hindsight, choosing to buy nothing like I did, had less to do with my critique of consumption and more to do with the privilege that has been [...]

[...] sooner but it’s been a busy few weeks. But we wanted to share a bit of our reflections from Our Heretic’s Guide To Christmas, where we decided to incorporate a level of traceability into the gifts we bought for our family [...]