I was well on
my way to becoming an Organic Mom after years
as an ordinary Organic Person. I celebrated
my health with good food grown without the
use of chemicals, pesticides, hormone intervention
and genetic mutation. After years as a partial
vegetarian, I went full-time, very happily.
So, this happy, content, healthy Organic
Person started having children, healthy,
happy... you get the picture. However, I
still live in America, the land of the material,
land of capitalism, land of CHRISTMAS. I
wondered what I would do about my mixed feelings
concerning Christmas at the onset. Too many
questions loomed regarding Santa Clause,
stockings by the non-existent fire-place,
family members that don't respect your wishes
for minimal gifts or no-gifts, and what types
of gifts to give in the first place. Having
grown up in a family where we were given
necessities, food and very few "gift" items,
I do want to give something neat, unique,
playful. Yet, at the same time I don't want
to cow-tow to our society's obsessive need
to give big or useless gifts just because
it's CHRISTMAS.
So, as an Organic Mom/Organic Person and
member of the human race, my husband and
I made some rules for our first Christmas
with our new baby. We decided that we would
have a "family present", a gift
the whole family would use that is unique,
playful or even a mini-vacation after Christmas
(as a farming family, vacations are few and
far between). On top of that gift, we would
give small gifts to our children, hopefully
something educational and playful at the
same time. The Santa Clause issue and a few
other issues we tackle as they arrive. It's
a hard line to tow with that mythical Santa
Clause character who has been popularized
and over done thanks to our media and retail
industries. And, I for one did not like that
moment when I realized that he didn't exist.
I felt duped and became jaded toward the
honesty of my parents. So, we are downplaying
Santa Clause for now. Hard to do given the
numerous Santas that populate the stores
and television this time of year, but we
are at least trying. We just say "that's
an actor" and when discussing the real
thing, treat him as a myth and discuss all
the other "Christmas" myths worldwide.
They are stories, and since we are a literature
and book based family, this attitude fits
in nicely.
Speaking of books, another almost non-American
thing we do is not watch television (put
your eyes back in their sockets). We do watch
PBS and educational videos, animal videos
and children's educational videos, and that's
that. We weren't TV watchers prior to having
children, so that didn't change. We don't
want to expose them to murder, violence and
the endless barrage of ads. There is no need.
We focus our attention on music, books and
together time. We home school so this is
an integral part of our early education for
the children.
Our main focus with all that we do is the
health of our mind, body and spirit. The
Holiday Season isn't exempt from that philosophy.
I have spent entire Christmas days alone,
meditating. Other Christmas days in the past
I have gone on vacations and of course done
the big family to-do. As I grew older, I
came to realize that the Christmas I desired
had to be one I designed. No one else would
do it for me. That's one of the hard decisions
we face when making changes in our life toward
organic and good health, we have to do the
educating and implementation ourselves. Luckily,
there are many resources and people like
myself out there to help you on your way!
Now that you've read all this jazz, you
may be asking "how do I change, even
a little, to have a more Organic Christmas?" My
advice to you is in small steps. If you have
been a prisoner to our system for a while,
rehabilitation takes time. Your children
may not want to change. Odds are, over time,
they will like your decisions and respect
your more for wanting to spend time with
them instead of just giving them gifts and
going off to do your own thing. Autonomy
is one thing, neglect is another. So, maybe
for this year, give gifts of togetherness.
Ask for homemade gifts instead of store-bought,
take time to cook with your children, teach
them about what's in our food. Those are
good first steps. If your children are young
enough, remember, most like the box the gift
came in rather than the gift, so paring down
won't be a problem.
One word of caution for those on the brink
of a more Organic Christmas: your other family
members may not like the changes you are
making. This happened to me with my family
back in the 90's when I asked my sisters
to not send me Christmas presents. I knew
at the time the gift giving in my family
was a bit out of hand and I couldn't afford
to give the same way they did and knew they
didn't like my more down-to-earth gifts like
homemade soap (one summer I found numerous
bars of my beautiful soap, still wrapped,
under a corner cupboard in my sister's house-
I was devastated). I think my request permanently
damaged my relationship with my sisters,
but that's the price I chose to pay. I decided
a long time ago to surround myself with loving
people with integrity, enough said.
We don't have to buy in (literally) to our
societies unwritten CHRISTMAS rules, we can
write our own and create a unique family
experience. We can take the path less traveled
and have a good time in those unexplored
fields and forests. Good luck with your journey
wherever you are and whoever you are. Happy
Organic Christmas.
For more information about being an
Organic Parent, contact Organic Mom, Caroline
Foote at cfmaple@localnet.com. |
