My name is Porter McConnell, and I write this blog. I’ve lived and traveled around the world, but Washington, DC is now my home. I love Christmas. I love presents. I’ve been known to listen to the Charlie Brown Christmas album in August.
I also love my friends, my family, my time, and my childhood memories of the holidays. I have become increasingly annoyed at how the bad guys have hijacked Christmas. So I decided it’s time to fight back. The holidays are supposed to be a time to relax and have fun, not to get stuck running endless eleventh-hour errands in a crowded mall. We need to slow down Christmas, and start enjoying it.
If you care about your sanity, your kids, your favorite holiday, the planet, your wallet, or any of the above, you’ll join me in making this Christmas a Slow Christmas.
Great idea! Great Blog! You read my mind. I have to tell you that one of the benefits of having no tv is the fact that I am not saturated with the annoying ads such as: “Tell her you love her by buying her a 2010 Landrover for Christmas” …you know, stuff like that.
Thanks for visiting my blog. I look forward to seeing future blogs from you.
Mandi
Hi Porter, I only know of you, through Tom. And thanks to his promo I now know about your awesome blog!! I started thinking about a less commercial christmas a few years back when my husband and I were facing serious financial difficulty. But times got better and more spending and stuff started creeping back in.
Then we had our first son 2 years ago, and it really forced me to reexamine how we were celebrating the holidays and what I wanted our kids (and us) to take away from this time of year. So we’re making presents for each other, and filling the rest of the space under the tree with a big basket of Christmas/winter-themed children’s books. We’ll be spending lots of time in PJs reading, making Christmas cookies, and watching our favorite Christmas movies…
Thanks so much for sharing your passion with the rest of us.
Thanks Mandi and Emily for the kind words. And way to be your own Slow Christmas heroines. I’m hearing from people who’ve shared the site with friends and family in the hopes that they’ll receive fewer mismatched gifts themselves. Nice strategy.
And Emily, though you are a Wildcat, it’s a pleasure to meet you.
[...] your money, your planet, your time, and your sanity by rediscovering the meaning of Christmas! Porter McConnell, Christmas enthusiast, offers these reminders on her personal and informative blog called Slow [...]
I think you should put “Christmas Enthusiast” on your business card.
[...] Christmas is one woman’s mission to get the most ubiquitous winter holiday off the fast track. How? By rekindling and [...]
I completely agree with your philosophy. This year, having my only child in her third year of college in an adjoining state, and my husband’s oldest getting married a month after Christmas (on the opposite coast), I experienced an epiphany. We would have a “green” Christmas. A “recycled” Christmas. A Goodwill Christmas to put it bluntly. I informed everyone concerned of the rules: items could be handmade, purchased second hand at a thrift store, antique store, garage sale or whatever establishment they chose. Retail was also allowed, but with a 40% or better discount from MSRP. I figured if everyone was aware of what to expect up front, no one would be weirded out by a “used gift”. It was more of a scavenging game than a “look how poor we are” exercise. The point was to slash the monetary outlay without loosing our need to rip paper come Christmas morning. The end result was great. For instance, we found my daughter (a seamstress) a $129 clothing steamer at Goodwill for $12.50. We also found her a Rowenta Professional MSRP $120 iron for FIVE BUCKS. I will mention that both were in like-new condition. We were not buying junk; we were selecting lightly used cast off items to give them a newer, more appreciated life in our home. My husband was tougher to find things for. Being an electronics engineer, if he needs it, he probably has one. I don’t know what 90% of his stuff is (wires???). His books are incomprehensible. However, in early December, I found a subscription to Discover magazine, which had been $29.95 around Thanksgiving, on sale for $15. I also shopped at Paperbackswap.com, a website that trades books; you pay the shipping on your books, earn credits and then you get to shop for something you want. I searched for online discount codes and at Borders.com bought a $19.95 book for $12 with free shipping. Got Christmas eve P.J.s on sale 50% off ($12). All in all, a very satisfying experience. I didn’t keep track, but we probably came in under $200 total. Of course, this type of Christmas isn’t for everyone. And it requires a lot of browsing. And time. You can’t just rush out the week before and find that great something. But it was a really cool way to extend the budget and spend some of our money at a charity (Goodwill, et al). So, get over the double phobias of ‘used’ is unacceptable and that you have to spend a certain dollar amount of someone or it isn’t a good gift. Try a recycled holiday. You might be pleasantly surprised.
Hi Porter. So glad I read about this at work. This is definitely going to catch on. I used to jealously watch a friend of mine knit, sew, crochet, paint or bead beautiful things to give to friends and family for Christmas. Tiring of walking the malls and other shops for unique gifts, I decided this year to make little felt tree ornaments. So after Thanksgiving I sat down with felt, threads, beads, and patterns and set about making what I hoped would be gifts good enough to give. The first one was, well let’s just say it adorns my tree, but the others came out pretty nice. My daughter, who was visiting for our annual cookie bake, took one look at what I was doing and sat down and started creating her own ornaments. She even modeled one after our Boston Terrier – it looks great! But best of all, we had a blast working on our creations and seeing what we could come up with. By Christmas, we had a table full of trees (white and green ones), deer (OK, one actually looks more like a llama), dogs, and snow people. They were great to attach to a bottle of wine, cookie tins, or packages. And they all looked pretty good on the tree. We’re already practicing what to make for next year.
Hey I enjoyed your blog, you raise many very good points. I never thought that there was anybody that shared my name. Have a good one.