My Christmas wish list
December 1, 2015
Friend: What do you want for Christmas, Revanche?
Revanche: THE WORLD.
Not Friend: What do you want for Christmas, Revanche?
Revanche: None of your business, go away.
Blog readers: What do you want for Christmas, Revanche?
Well, funny you should ask! Here, have a seat next to me and I’ll tell you. (No, I know you didn’t ask but I’m going to pretend you did. A polite fiction never hurt anyone, right?)
Real answer #1: Be simple. Be kind. Be considerate.
“Fresh towels!” I hear echo from the bathroom. Laundry is my thing but it’s awfully nice to be appreciated, isn’t it? Centering our lives around appreciating the simple things, contrary to what our very consumeristic acquaintances say, brings them into sharper focus and stops our tendency to inflate our lifestyles. The less complex our lives, the more energy we can give to the things that really matter.
“Clean your plate, there are starving children in [insert location here]” is a common joke. But it’s true! And a lack of appreciation for our own abundance, the insistence on more more more, makes it awfully easy to forget that we can do good in the world.
My resolution: I already give half my annual personal spending allowance to charitable causes. From now on, I’m going to look for ways to expand that, even if I don’t have my huge charitable foundation & empire yet.
Real Answer #2: Of course I still love things
Like books. Boy do I love books. But I don’t have a lot of room so I’m reconsidering my approach of always getting a physical book first and maybe splurging on an ebook later.Another argument for e-books? I only have to protect my device from the drooling crawling creeper that is my child. We have daily races to the bookshelf as ze scampers on all fours, cackling wildly at the prospect that this time ze might get a grubby finger on my books. I shudder for the day ze wins that race. For both of us.
Gosh darn it, I sure do like my geeky gear. Cheeky grammar / literature wear? YES please. Library socks? Yes and yes. You say The Count of Monte Cristo, I see Doctor Who’s The Silence. And what child doesn’t need a cute evolution shirt? Or their very own Hungry Caterpillar?
But instead of succumbing to my baser desires to buy, I went through my closet and reorganized it all. To my shame, I realize that when you put together my casual gear and my professional wear (that gets not so much wear these days), that closet is jampacked full, thus grossly violating my policy that half of my closet space should just be space. Ooops. No gear for me, then.
I will, however, observe our new Christmas tradition: buying dividend stocks and building our portfolio!
Real Answer #3: Be a better me
I like myself quite well, most days. Professionally, I set high standards and I’ve learned to be forgiving as well. Personally, I make solid efforts to be a good spouse/partner, parent, dog-parent, and friend. I still have room to grow. Preferably existentially and less out so I can fit into more than one pair of pants. *lookin’ at you, belly*
Time and time again, I have to body check myself out of my comfort zone. If I leave room for thinking, there’s room for doubt. But I like it here, it’s cozy! It’s got books, and internet, and and and ….! that unworthy part of me whines.Ā And it’s limiting.
Some limits are real, though even I forget they are, sometimes.Ā
Some limits are temporary and are as much about respecting the now as being a growing period.
Others don’t have to be at all. If I can get over my aversion to guacamole (side benefit: not being escorted to the CA/NV border because my existence offends nature), I can do other strange and horrific things in the name of self improvement.
This year, I started small.Ā I did some interviews. One is still to be shared, and by actual voice, I mean my voice that I hear in my head. The other, in actual audio, was this podcast with Jessica. I started #1GoodMoneyThing which was featured on Rockstar Finance. I kept our Tiny Human alive.
What will next year bring?
Travel: our first vacation with a squirmy wormy baby, my first FinCon (sans squirmy wormy, unless I am persuaded otherwise), seeing friends up and down the West Coast.
More important work: I’ve been struggling with feeling static, with being only moderately productive. With more childcare comes more hours freed back up to do meaningful and/or professional work.
The writing project is coming back to the front burner and so is the quest to find or create my next step. It’s weird that I know what I’m good at when I’m being good at it but struggle to quantify it for discussions like if I’m awesome at X, then I should hang my shingle out as Y.
So you’re seriously considering FinCon? Woot!
I prefer e-books at least when borrowing from the library because then I don’t have to worry about late fees. And on the rare occasions I buy a book, I do like that they only take up virtual space. That said, there’s something very comforting about actually holding the book. Also, you’re supposed to avoid screens before bed, so an e-book before snooze time could actually cause problems. I’m torn.
Yes, ebooks are great from the library specifically because you can so easily return online! But ours sadly only has a small selection.
For me, the only way to read before bed has to be on a screen, unfortunately, so I’ve adjusted to it but I’m sure it’s not the best thing. It’s the lesser of two evils?
Same here with our library, AND the way it works from what I can tell is despite being virtual they still have limited copies? To do with rights I guess? So having the ebook doesn’t actually mean we can download it right away!
Um, they are definitely Doctor Who socks!! š
Thank you! š
Personally, I’m counting the days til 5 January when the tree will come down and everything Christmas put away (not that the tree is up yet). This is the only time of year that I ever feel homesick and it’s in very small things, like the traditions here being different to what I grew up with or the comedy acts not striking me as funny (though that could happen in the US as well) and this year the feeling that I have no family anymore. I always felt I had family – Bill’s kids anyhow – until last year when we ended up spending Christmas day with the eldest daughter and her family, the other two grown children and their partners…and Bill’s ex-wife. We were fine together in that carefully courteous way and I could deal with it fine if it were only weddings, christenings and funerals but I’m loathe to do that every Christmas. We won’t be doing that this year, thankfully, as the son is going to Germany to be with his girlfriend’s family and the younger daughter will be in Scotland with her fiance’s family. So each of the kids will come to us sometime before or after Christmas Day on their way to or from some other location, which suits me fine. I expect it will be strange being on our own Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing Day, but I’m sure we’ll cope. If I could have anything I wanted for Christmas it would be that ‘Better Me’ thing. As it is, I shall have to get that the hard way – by working at it!
Oh I could see that feeling rather awkward. I tip my hat to you for managing that courteous thing this year, that’s not an easy thing to do in most cases.
Cheers to us both learning to be Better Us in the upcoming year!
I really do love physical books. But your right they really do become an issue with space.
So far I haven’t had the kids want to grab them…. They get plenty of action from pulling all their own books and sprawling them across the floor.
LB enjoys pulling down all hir books too, but ze thinks that my books are an extra special target because it’s offbounds š
[…] Loved this post on what someone could want for Christmas […]
[…] As we bleed money this year-end, I want to put up Christmas lights. To remind myself not all is lost? Irrational? Maybe. It’s not like we’re going broke. It’s just a remarkably expensive close to an otherwise pretty good year. And it was a good year. (I jumped the gun on the yearly recap but being grateful for what you have and accomplished isn’t the worst perspective to wear before writing a wish list.) […]
Coming late to the party here as I’m catching up tonight. I’d say I’m looking forward to some time to relax and heal this holiday season. Regaining my health will be my biggest gift. š
I read your post before I read your comments so I’m right there with you on the best gift of all!