I totally see and respect your point, Brook- and I share it. I hope the words in my ideas above didn't seem to disregard, discount or write-off yours'.
Part of it for me is, I hate shopping. I don't go into malls or stores so I'm not so exposed to all the commerical months-ahead money-grabbing that goes on. I've always been that way, but then my many years in Alaska impacted me that way , and then along came the internet- and suddenly 90% of my shopping was done on-line and the stuff comes directly to the house- no shopping, no hassle. Even now that I am back in civilization I find myself ordering eveything online- even though I have tons of shopping all around me!
Our Christmases growing up were much like you describe... we actually never put our tree up until the weekend before Christmas- then took it down normally on New Year's- unless the needles were falling-out like crazy- then we might take it down the day after - or during the week after the holiday. Many neighbors put their tree up the d ay after Thanksgiving- or in some cases even before! That was 30 years ago, and even more seem to follow that practice today.
Dad had a factory job with a modest income so our gift-giving was either homemade stuff as you describe, or cheaper, basic stuff. Even today I don't go for the lavish gift-giving and the over-indulgence people do often do for one another- particularly parents with their kids. I love my sister and bro-in-law, and my niece and nephew to death, but they've completely gotten sucked into the current contemporary practice of lavishing everything onto their children that they possibly can- even stuff they cannot afford- even going into debt for these "things". Their kids have everything- and what's more is last season's "everything" still sits there, unused and under-appreciated.
It seems I make an Alaskan connection to absolutely everything that comes up- but those 13 years really shaped who I am today. In the north were I lived a traveling lifestyle and where I often made my home base small living quarters or a backwoods cabin without a lot of excess space, I really developed a knack for scaling-back and not over-indulging. I lived in quaint, charming places with fantastic views and expansive ways of personal enrichment outside of "having things".
I got to learn what it felt like to live on the tundra with a back pack of music, a single shelf of books, and a single framed art print. And I tell ya- to have someone snow-shoe miles up-hill to your cabin from their truck parked 3 miles down the pass because the snow is too deep to drive through, carrying a satchel with a gift of city-bought tea-bags, and a used volume of poetry, in that rustic environment did the same thing for me as a tree-full of fancy-wrapped presents! And to sit in my cabin and savor that simple gift was a treasrued experience.
What's more- that guest would sit in the warmth enjoying a shared pot of tea, and we felt snug and satisifed with my one shelf of books, that one framed print and that tiny collection of music- as though we were surrounded by a complete museum of inspring art!
Something about being in the vast, quiet woods with no neighbors or civilization for many miles- with very little- yet "just enough" brings a total feeling of fulfillment that I just never got before from close proximity to huge bounties of "stuff". I got to learn to appreciate "little" as though it were truly "a lot"... and I love that fulfilling feeling!
Anyway, where I go with all of this is- I feel learning that "secret" has greatly affected me. So today I really block out a lot of the things out there around me that I consider indulgent excess. I know that Wal-Mart starts shoving Halloween masks down our throats before school even starts. I know they're trying to condition us to believe we need wrapping paper and ribbons and bows in Sepptember, but I totally block it out and since I r arely am even in stores, I am not likely exposed to the goofiness of it all, as others are. So I feel far less impacted by the materialism and excess of it all than most folks are. It's kind of an "ignorance is bliss" thing, I guess!
I Love the holidays! It's that special time of year. I Love all the bright lights and the shopping it's cool. 