I'm not selling you anything this season

November 29, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to my American friends.

Have you been inundated yet with holiday offers? Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Purple Wednesday - I don't know all the different names for these things. Or what about the "we're thankful for your business" e-mails?

American Thanksgiving has become commercialized as any other holiday, as far as I can see.

My inbox has started to receive the deals and specials from all sorts of businesses. I am constantly unsubscribing from mailing lists that I don't remember joining.

But even the mailing lists I want to be on, because I value the content, are sending me extra notices this week, which are easy enough to delete if I'm not interested.

I'm a story telling blogger but occasionally I "sell" things. I market my own e-books and services (sometimes), I tell you about book bundles I'm participating in, I'll endorse products I think you might like.

But not this weekend and not next month.

No discounts, no coupons, no "you must buy this" messages from me this season. No resources in my newsletters even (I often highlight a product or service in my newsletter that I think would benefit FIMBY readers.)

last year's table, I don't have our tree up yet!

I imagine you must get tired of "sponsored by" posts and sale e-mails in your inbox. I know I do.

So what if we avoid the advertising on television (by not having one) but instead we have a steady stream of advertising in our inboxes, on the blogs we read, etc...

I realize I can't stop a moving train, so I'm choosing to step off it for one month. Or rather jump off it, kind of in a Dauntless-initiate fashion. (I just finished Divergent. Yes, that's an affiliate link. Ha, ha!!)

This season I'm not going to tell you where to shop, or what sustainable or small businesses to support (though I actually love supporting small family businesses at the holidays).

Other people are really good at doing that. I'm not putting together a holiday gift guide, though I have a few ideas in mind.

I do not want to be one more voice, this time of year, in the deafening roar of consumerism.

I have nothing against advertising, per se. Our family has a blog that features quite a few ads. But FIMBY is not that place.

I ask myself why is it that so many people bemoan the never ending grind of consumerism - stores open Thanksgiving Day, the onslaught of "buy, buy, buy" messages, ads now showing up in your Facebook status updates, etc... and yet no one gets off the damn train?

Resistance might be futile but is the alternative any better? When bloggers view their readers simply as "markets"? When people are measured by clicks and pageviews?

If your blog is a business venture, selling goods and services, then I understand you must keep marketing and promoting. But selling is not my business.

Writing, mothering, homeschooling, taking photos, helping my husband get our family to Springer Mountain for the beginning of April - that's my work. For December, FIMBY doesn't need to be a commercial space. It doesn't need to advertise.

I don't have to be sales blog when I'm a story blog.

This is not a criticism of those blogs. To each their own. And this is my own.

(Truth be told, I have a lot of posts that are near completion and ready to publish and I just don't have time or space to talk about shopping, in any capacity.)

Here's a few things I will be doing this month that I couldn't sell you even if I wanted to.

I will be preparing for a full week of guests over Christmas and into New Years. Christmas with Mom & Dad, a mountain backcountry ski trip with good friends followed by a small New Years Eve gathering. Oh my. It will be busy. It will be fun!

I will be enjoying snow in the mountains and in our backyard. I will be walking and training for our thru-hike next year. I will be making soap with friends. I might even be making a few gifts and sending cards, but I have my doubts about those two.

I'm not even going to write about how to slow down and observe the season. I'm just going to live it.

Sometimes in our attempt to step off the crazy consumer train we step right onto another, the "let's make this meaningful train", which can be just as crazy with the homemade gifts, at-home activities and (sometimes exhausting) DIY vibe of the whole thing.

This month I invite you to come and hang out with me as our family celebrates the holiday. That's it. Just be. No pressure to buy, upgrade, reserve a spot now, or join.

Maybe I'll even share a favorite recipe. Maybe. (And if you don't visit FIMBY Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter you missed an awesome whole-food cocoa recipe. It's gotten rave reviews from readers.)

(One exception: Celine might be selling a handmade doll this season. I have offered FIMBY as a place to advertise. I know, I'm such a hypocrite.)