The Grinch and Stuff

So tonight I watched "The Grinch That Stole Christmas" with Sadie.

When I was a kid I had the book long before I saw the animated version on television. There are about twenty seven things I REALLY love, "The Grinch That Stole Christmas" is definitely on the list. Granted its not something you can watch over and over, but the only thing I want to watch over and over is that commercial with Charlize Theron- the one in which she is walking and taking off her clothes-but who doesn't want to watch that over and over.

I know it is cliche and sentimental, but after finding everything gone on Christmas morning the Whos down in Whosville gather and sing - and it always - ALWAYS makes me cry.

"Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store at all," I said to Gioconda.

"Then where does it come from?," she replied.

We have the same argument every year. I find the consumerism of the season disgusting, but admittedly I really detest spending or giving away money, so there's that.

Gioconda loves to buy gifts.

" I think I'm going to buy a one cup coffee maker for my brother," she told me a few weeks back.

" I bought him a really good coffee maker two years ago," I replied.

"But this is a one cup maker. What if he only wants to make one cup?"

Really?

Is this an issue in people's lives?

This spring we put a wood floor down in the attic of the guest house for storage. We need storage because we have too much stuff...and the worse part about all the stuff is- most of it- like 63% is mine.

The remaining 37% breaks down as follows:

Sadie and Camille: 20% (six double strollers)
Gioconda :13% ( all the purses)
Joe's stuff: 3%

The remaining 1% is stuff Gioconda has kept for the boys from their childhood. Keeping in mind there are FOUR boys.

Thus it would appear as though I am a stingy hoarder, which would be true to an extent. I have tried to eliminate stuff from my life, yet every single time I visit my mother I come home with a trunk full of more stuff- that is stuff my mother buys and then can't find a place for- stuff she may have tried to give to my sister but she refused.

Last week while visiting my mom I noticed the kitchen pantry was filled with dishes.

"What did you do with the food?," I asked.

" I decided not to keep a lot of food around, besides I needed the storage," she replied. It seemed perfectly natural to me until my sister brought it up in conversation.

"Did you know that mom made the food pantry into dish storage?", she asked.

"Well she has a lot of stuff," I replied.

"You don't think its odd she is willing to virtually eliminate food from her life in order to obtain more storage?"

"She still has a refrigerator, she can still have cold drinks. She can still make ice," I said.

My sister has a point, but at least my mom won't hoard food.

My mom told me she is thinking about putting a floor in her garage, just like the one we put in the guest house attic.

"I've been thinking about buying a storage unit to put in the back yard, but it wouldn't be leave room for grass for the dog," she said.

"Whatever, she is really fat and won't notice," I replied.

"That's what I think," she said. We don't really help each other with this particular issue.

But I'm the one who hates the consumerism of the season.