Someone, who was trying to be helpful, just told me there are only 7 weeks left to 2021.

My heart stopped for a second.

Seems like everything is catching me off-guard this year.

It made me think about Christmas, coming upon us in under six weeks – and how to make it meaningful and how to make up for the lack of visiting and the pivots and cancellations of the year and how to compensate for what my kid has had to forego- playdates and time away and visits from grandparents – which makes me think, I better buy him a lot of stuff.

Screech. I put the mental handbrake on.

Those aren’t really my values. Consume my way out of this situation. Overcompensate with shiny things.

I mean, Little Women has been my favourite movie forever. Everyone knows that the Christmas that didn’t feel like Christmas because there weren’t any presents, because a war was on, and that ended up with the meal even being given away, was the best Christmas ever. I believe this. In my heart. But I still feel a flare-up of anxiety, about enough-ness…

Will keep working on this.

Also, I just read the headline that Britain is “sleepwalking into a debt crisis” after a steep rise in emergency borrowing by low- and middle-income households to cope with the Covid-19 jobs crisis. I’m imagining similar vulnerabilities everywhere – the last thing anybody needs is to feel a ton of internal and external pressure to spend money they don’t have on stuff we don’t need.

And in the meantime, as I think about how to make this Christmas meaningful, without relying on purchases, I think about our town, this lovely town we live in, that has more character than many other towns because it is so full of small independent businesses – businesses that don’t have the back-stop of a global chain, businesses that are run by families and individuals and community members and so many awesome people, who sit on boards, and volunteer, and who give our kids their first jobs, and who contribute to all our local fund-raisers and associations.

We can give them our appreciation and acknowledgement. We can think less about getting bargain prices so that we can buy more stuff… and think about doubling down on right here, on this place we are, this community we’re part of, these businesses here.

The Chamber of Commerce shared this #BCBuyLocal suggestion, and I love it for its simplicity. Show up for who you love and what you love.