The Spirit Of The Holidays
Erica and I have always enjoyed this time of year. It is undoubtedly our favorite time of year. The feelings that arise in us from the repeating of our traditions created as children by our parents and also all the ones we have created for our little family makes this time of year warm and fuzzy. When we set out on our journey we wanted to make sure to stayed true to our mission to become more thoughtful in our consumption of things and what it is truly like to be "minimalistic". We have slowly over the last six months found ourselves consuming less things and replacing those things with the consumption of activities and experiences. How do you unwrap an experience on Christmas morning? This is a problem we hope to find a solution for this Christmas. Will it have the same effect to create the rush of happiness and enthusiasm that the toys bring to the kids? Probably not! Why? The kids have become accustomed now to doing everything "experience driven" and have in our eyes become desensitized to the prospect of going on our next adventure. Now when we present our day adventure to them they whine and complain that they never get enough time at home in the rv. We were watching a commercial the other day, I believe for an Amazon product that was selling experiences and the kids have ironically already been to two of the three dreamy places that was listed. It made me think about how hyper consumptive we still remain and if this is truly what we should be after. We have contrasted the first five months of our journey filled with thousands of dollars of activities and places experienced with our last month that has been filled with very few new activites (a lot less money consumed). We have instead found ourselves spending quality time with loved ones just relaxing and relating to them in new ways. This month we also have spent a full week alone as a family of four in rural South Carolina doing free stuff like playing card games and listening to christmas music as we drive to a local hiking trail. We are getting better at understanding how to function full time together as a family. I never would have thought of this being one of the greatest lessons that I would have to learn on this adventure. When our daily life was constantly filled with activities, work, school, extracurricular activities, and the pursuit of things, we never had to recognize the level of insanity that it brings with it. We are now finding out that this journey is more than just a trip to see places and things new and unchartered, it is our chance to find new meanings for our family, what is a healthy attachment and desire for things, and most importantly what direction do we want to continue to take in the new year. I know we will never be able to go back to how we once were and have I have faith that we will end up in a much happier place than where we started. The holidays continue to bring our family incredible joy and happiness. Boyd said that he likes our little tree that has only a handful of ornaments more than any of our large trees from the past and his spirit fills me with hope that they appreciate what we are doing as a family and that as long as we continue to keep our love strong and our commitment to each other, this Christmas will be our best Christmas this far!
Peace and Love