A bee sting in the middle of January
And Why Not?
And Why Not?Post-Christmas, 6 January, 2009
Several years ago I stopped giving Christmas gifts.  I had come to see Christmas as a grossly over-commodified purchasing orgy, a holiday of things rather than people, and I simply gave up on it.  This year, a couple days before the 25th I met a woman on the street begging.  It took me a while to convince
Christmas Consumption
Several years ago I stopped giving Christmas gifts. Every year I felt obligated to purchase things for others, and after a while that began to feel ridiculous. Being required to buy something seemed to contradict the very notion of giving a gift freely and expecting nothing in return. Growing up I had loved Christmas, but