Festivus for the Restivus

“I find tinsel distracting,” said Frank Costanzo in Seinfeld.

And so Festivus was born, celebrated each year on December 23.

Frank Costanza: Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way.
Cosmo Kramer: What happened to the doll?
Frank Costanza: It was destroyed. But out of that a new holiday was born: a Festivus for the rest of us!

Wikipedia reads “The holiday includes novel practices such as the “Airing of Grievances”, in which each person tells everyone else all the ways they have disappointed him/her over the past year. Also, after the Festivus meal, the “Feats of Strength” are performed, involving wrestling the head of the household to the floor, the holiday only ending if the head of the household is actually pinned.”

Cosmo Kramer: Is there a tree?
Frank Costanza: No, instead, there’s a pole. It requires no decoration.
Frank Costanza: It’s made from aluminum. Very high strength-to-weight ratio.
Mr. Kruger: I find your belief system fascinating.

Please feel free to leave me Festivus wish in the Comments section (late wishes welcome)!

Source: Wikipedia

Environmental 101

I am going to be continually revising my list of 101 Things before Jan 1, and I’ve just realised that other than #78 with my interaction with We Are What We Do, there isn’t enough on this list for me to achieve in terms of environmental goals. So my plan is to change this. Especially as I have just spent the last twenty minutes watching The Story of Stuff.

The Story of Stuff will take you on an “enlightening” tour of our consumer-driven culture—from resource extraction to iPod incineration—exposing the real costs of our use-it and lose-it approach to stuff.

I consider myself to be Buddhist (and I have also realised that I have not included anything on my list in terms of faith, so that too needs to be rectified), so living simply and being happier is what I should be striving for in my practice. However as I want my son to be able to choose his own faith, and the fact that my parents and my brother and my partner are all of Christian or Catholic upbringings and therefore they celebrate Christmas, I also get wrapped up in this consumer-driven holiday.

It’s so easy to forget my goal of living simply at this time of the year when the holiday shopping season is kicking into high gear. Perhaps instead of my goal of “making” everyone a Christmas present one year, perhaps I should suggest to all my friends that one year we have a “Recyclable Christmas” – take something that you don’t want anymore and pass it on to someone else. Do you think that might catch on?