I haven't posted on this in a while, but I am most definitely still working through my issues with stuff.
In my first Another Way Wednesday, I shared my commitment to buy only (well, mostly only) secondhand/gently used clothes for the girls. I did take the girls and the birthday money to The Children's Orchard and pretty much finished out their summer wardrobes.
(All of this - some even NWT - for $80!)
But then the onslaught of Easter marketing came early this year, and I started to debate with myself about what to do about the girls' Easter dresses. Being a mom to girls . . . it's fun, right? Playing dress up is one of the perks that makes it easier to handle the constant drama. But I had made this commitment to myself not to buy any new clothes for them.
(Particularly challenging is the fact that we live a stone's throw from some of the best outlet shopping in the US. I can actually buy some brand new clearance items for less than I spent on some of those dresses at The Children's Orchard. But for me, this challenge isn't about being thrifty. It's about doing my teeny little part to counter the consumption aspect of the Story of Stuff.)
(Um, if you haven't already, go watch at least the consumption chapter. Seriously. It's like seven minutes long and so important.)
Annie Leonard quotes Victor LeBeau's statement that in order for the consumerist model to work, as we "make consumption a way of life," we must "convert the buying and selling of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction in consumption . . ."
I thought about that a lot. About how so many of my fondest childhood memories of Easter are rooted in the stuff of Easter. The new flouncy dresses and matching little white purses. New white patent leather shoes and new brilliant white gloves. Baskets brimming with plastic grass and chocolate eggs.
. . . the buying and selling of goods into rituals . . .
It's been a real quandary for me. Do I give in and buy them brand new dresses and all the trimmings? Or do I dress them in brand-new-to-them dresses I scored at The Children's Orchard? Do we do the Easter basket and the egg hunts or just read stories about them to the girls? And why did I feel so bad about not buying them brand new dresses for Easter?
Part of the quandary for me goes beyond the distancing myself from consumption. To me, Easter is the most significant observance in the Christian faith. The tomb was empty! If it weren't, wouldn't Christianity just be another of the world's religions? And so how do I convey the duality of Easter to my children? The solemnity and the celebration of how the worst day in the history of man led to the best morning for the future of man . . .
If this sounds all disjointed and rambly, it's because that's where I am with this Easter stuff thing. How do you handle it at your house? What are your thoughts on the link between consumption and ritual in the western world?
(Footnote: The girls are getting brand new Easter dresses courtesy of the generosity of family members who like to buy pretty, flouncy dresses for little girls. And they really did need new white shoes. Really, they did!)
