During the Christmas season in previous years, I would often write a silly column about all of the dumb things I really wished someone would buy me. It would contain things like movie box sets and expensive electronics, all stuff I couldn't really justify buying but liked to act as though were great gifts to buy some guy you don't know. I did it for the fun of it all, I could justify going around the internet looking for goofy, overpriced presents and try to make a gift guide that was sort of transparently silly. It was fun to write, even though it was probably something that was much more fun for me than it was for anyone reading it.
I tried to bring it back this year actually, you're looking at the end result of several attempts to try to convince people that buying an elaborate box set of samurai movies for a man you've never met would be an excellent way to start the Christmas season. It was all very silly but this time it wasn't actually very entertaining, I kept running into a wall with it and had to start from scratch several times. This year, it's actually not very fun to write an extended riff on all the stupid things I can't justify buying this year. It's not as though I don't enjoy looking up silly presents and pretending they're great ideas, it's that it just seems rude this time around.
I discovered I can't even joke about people buying me something extravagant, useless and kind of stupid in a year where a lot of people lost their homes and everything in it. Even as the community does rally together to support the people who lost their homes in the fire at Yorkton Manor, it's still a difficult time for all the residents, and while stuff like clothes can and will be replaced, other things in their life are gone for good. It's not like it's the first time people have lost things in town, I've been here for more than one flood and more than one fire, but it feels a bit raw to explore the folly of our most elaborate attempts at consumerism when faced with a potent reminder of how irrelevant it actually is.
Things aren't terribly important. We surround ourselves with them, they can easily get wiped out. No matter how much you pay for your various things, they can disappear entirely in the span of an evening, without warning. It's just that this year we have a potent reminder of the fragility of these things, though luckily we do not have a reminder of the fragility of life itself, given that everyone survived. It becomes incredibly difficult to do my regular jokes about Christmas gifts when I kept thinking about the people who lost everything, both trivial objects and those that are incredibly important in their lives.
So this year, I don't want things. I can't even pretend I do for the sake of a joke, given what has happened. I have my house, I have my stupid cat that I still like for some reason, I have my friends and family who I care about even if I don't talk to them as much as I should. I have had great experiences I can remember fondly, and I have plans to have more great experiences in the future. I have some creative projects that are going well, some of which will show up in the near future. Things could always be better, but they can't be improved by any silly gift I would suggest. So if you want to give stuff to a stranger, give it to someone who needs it more than me.
