Prepare to begin the ultimate protest now (not a new concept)

Boycott the Brainwashed Christmas Values!

Yes, this may be the most difficult thing for those who have children, but it must be done.
We have to band together and agree to shun the "popular" toys and not give in to the brainwashing that has been occurring for several decades. My town decorated for Christmas over a week ago by putting the Christmas flags on the light poles. I'm sick and tired of seeing this materialistic holiday celebrated earlier and earlier every year. Twenty sum odd years ago, retailers didn't decorate until the day after Thanksgiving and I wish it would go back to this.

The media and corporate mantra for the next two months: "Buy, buy, buy! Spend, spend, spend!"

There's no reason for us to spend hundreds of dollars just to celebrate one day. Are your children and loved ones going to love and appreciate you any more if you buy them the *cough* things they think they can't live without? NO!!!

It's sad that we've bought into this money based brainwashing scheme.

Now, please understand that I'm not saying you shouldn't buy anything for anyone.
Giving is a beautiful thing as is receiving.

If you can do nothing else I'm about to mention, please try to stick to this one rule:
The Main Rule of this protest is to not use your credit card(s) to purchase anything!

Also, we should all promise to purchase items that are needed. Avoid the "wants" completely.
If you want to provide someone with a gift, make them something or think of something that they can use. If someone has used a crock pot a lot, but it's now broken, get them a new one. Even gifts that keep giving would be acceptable. If someone loves fruit and lives in a warm area, buy them an orange tree. There's many things you can do to shun any and every notion of greed and egotistical, selfish desires.

I understand that this protest is more acceptable for adults' gifts and kids are a little more difficult, but you can still stick by your guns and provide kids with things they need and will still enjoy. For younger children, purchase an educational toy that they'll still find fun and can stil grow with. Older kids never want to open a box and pull out a shirt or jeans. How many times do these items fit them properly anyways? Instead, purchase a gift certificate so they can get what they want, but still need. If a boy likes baseball, get him a new leather glove. He'll use and cherish it for years to come and maybe pass it on to his son. Buying someone something used such as cooking and sowing books or even video games would still help you stay in the confines of this protest and get people what they need and want.

Let's be honest. Jesus wasn't born on December 25th., so we need to remember that Christmas is about togetherness and showing people how much they matter to us. You know, making things feel warm at the darkest and coldest time of the year.

You can also focus your spending on creating or contributing to a delicious meal.

On the subject of Christmas trees, I have nothing against them. In fact , I love them! They create such a warm feeling in the house and bring smiles. Although, I would suggest scaling down from ones you've chosen in previous years. Just as we watched and laughed at Clark Griswald in the movie "Christmas Vacation", you don't have to have the biggest, baddest tree in the neighborhood. If you've gotten an eight footer in the past, go for a seven footer or even a six foot tall one. Maybe purchase one with the root ball so you can plant it after the holidays.

There's much we can do to send a message to Corporate America that we aren't going to play into their hands anymore. We are choosing to reject the values they've created. We need to let them know with our wallets that we value simpler values that money can't buy such as love, family, friendship, and peace. Retailers look forward to Black Friday every year since it gets them out of the red. We can all get together to keep them in the red, which is one of the best ways to get them to see how we feel about their greedy ways.

So, how does everyone feel about this? What are your ideas?

Oh, and I also want to add that I truly never saw anything wrong with wishing someone a Merry Christmas either. If you happen to say this to someone who's Jewish, there's no reason they can't respond with a cheery "Happy Hanukkah!"
After all, I really couldn't care less what you celebrate just as long as you're smiling and wishing well to others and giving Corporate America the gift of the two finger salute.

To kick off the spirit of the season and remind everyone that this is how the greedy treat us, here's some of the best "come to truth" moments from "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation":

The "Corporate Christmas Card":


The "Christmas Bonus":


Exactly how Clark feels about his boss and his "Christmas Bonus":


Clark Griswald goes a "little bit crazy" and realizes he's in the threshold of Hell:
(Caution - strong language)


I hope I haven't ruined the movie for anyone by providing these clips, but I feel these scenes really bring home what Christmas is supposed to be about and how corporations treat their employees. Sure, a swimming pool is an expensive gift, but Clark views it as a way to make his family happy for years to come.

As we all know, in the end Clark's boss is coerced into seeing the errors of his ways. But, since we all don't have cousin Eddies who'll kidnap the 1% and drag them to our homes for Christmas, we can at least show them through their sales' numbers what we think of them and how they've hijacked Christmas.

To wrap things up, it doesn't matter what you're celebrating this year just as long as you're promoting happiness and good times all around while sticking it to the banksters and corporate thugs!

One thing I'd like to add is that we shouldn't think it's taboo to buy someone laundry detergent and other staples. How many people have quit buying fabric softener because it's kind of expensive and really isn't necessary? I'm not ashamed to admit that I have. I'd be thrilled if someone gift wrapped a bottle of my favorite softener and placed it under the tree this year. (I'd be even happier to hear that they used a coupon to buy it with, too!)
Plus, it would give me a laugh once I unwrapped it.
I can see it now. A large gift bag that's really heavy. Goodness knows I'd never guess what it was!

If someone asks me what I want this year, I'll probably say higher end coffee, lotion, and organic soaps that tend to be on the pricey side. These are all things that I need and want, but have recently stopped buying for myself.

Anyways, how many times have we gotten something as a gift and it ends up at our next yard sale or re-gifted?
Yep, we've all done this! So, let's stop this vicious cycle.

Since I've authored this thread and trying to promote my ideas, it's only fair that I announce what I'm planning to give out this year. Well, I'll probably have $20 to $50 to spend since I'm not making much money these days, which has left me with no choice but to think creatively about gifts. As a result, I've already started propagating clippings from my blackberry bush and planted baby orchids. Once Christmas is here, they'll be more than ready for a new home.
Of the things I'm going to purchase, so far I've decided to get my sister some used books about sowing since she got a sowing machine for Christmas last year and loves it.

This isn't the first year I'm practicing what I'm preaching. Two years ago, I went through all of my DVDs and chose about 20 to send to my sister and she was thrilled. She said it was the best gift she and her husband received and it made me happy to hear that several of the movies I sent were on their "to see" list.

Now that I've revealed a bit about my plans, I hope this inspires others to contribute their ideas, too.

Excellent thread!

I will be giving alot of home baked goodies and things that I either made (I make stained glass art) or veggies that I canned this summer.
BTW LOVE the Griswalds! Best Christmas movie ever!

reply to post by Neysa


Yes! Baking and cooking something to give is a great idea.
I'm not the best baker or cook, so I might send the wrong message to the receiver, but for those who are gifted in the kitchen, this is one of the best gifts!
Thanks for contributing!

Edit to Add: Love the stained glass art idea, too! That's one of the things I'm going to try to learn as soon as I get some extra income. I'm sure it's very rewarding for you, too, as well as a relaxing.

Don't have any choice but to boycott Christmas this year. BROKE.

Really, really, really broke. I'm not going to buy everyone gifts when that's a house payment for a month - and last night I had nightmares all night about losing my house - this house I've already paid for if I'd been actually paying anything but interest most of these years.

I love that you have posted this!! I could not agree more, in fact, we have significantly scaled down our Christmas' over the past few years! I can't say my kids are overly thrilled because of the "keeping up with the Jonses" mentality that our culture has beeen permiated with! However, last year we celebrated Chanuka and I only purchased things at the dollar store where everything was a dollar for those 8 crazy nights. And let me tell ya, we had the best time reciting prayers in hebrew and lighting candles! My thirteen year old loved that after the first 3 nights he was able to shave lol!! We ate kosher all week and now we have matza ball soup every so often because we all liked it so much.

My mother~in~law is very religious (even bakes a birthday cake for Jesus every year, go figure) and one year my oldest son had asked this question at the dinner table; "If Jesus was a Jew, why are we eatting ham to celebrate his Birthday (insert air quotes here)?" I almost choked!!!

Since then we have decided to get proactive about our children's religious education and have begun allowing them to ask questions and seek out answers and knowledge where ever they want! We are not religious ourselves, but we support them in their quest for wisdom!

The main reason we scaled back our holiday spending is because our budget simply won't budge enough to get all the latest and greatest things the kids want. Instead, we decide to celebrate Tax Return, the day the government partially repays the money they illegally stole from us the previous year hahaha!! And the kids seem ok with that

I also want to say that I totally agree with you on the whole debate over wishing someone a Merry Christmas. I am not a believer, but I don't see how folks are offended by it. It's friendly. lol
It's like when someone sneezes. I always say bless you. It has nothing to do with religion. It's a friendly social convention. I enjoy wishing people Merry Christmas.

reply to post by hadriana


Well, at least we all know you'll be participating.
No, I'm not making fun. I'm happy to see that you've come to terms with it and won't be trying to pretend like you have money to spend as those with credit cards do every year. All they're doing is pretending they have money to spend when they are also scraping by.

I'm sorry to hear about your house. I'm in the same boat and have been fighting BOA for over three years and they haven't gotten me out yet. Hang in there. There's plenty of things you can do to get them to back off. Visit the foreclosure threads on ATS. You'll find questions to send the bank that they MUST answer. If they don't, they're in violation. Just don't back down. In my situation, the bank jumped the gun accidently giving me the upper hand. If they would've been patient and waited until I truly couldn't pay anymore, they'd have won fair and square. Since they have decided to act in an underhanded manner, I now have enough ammo to win in court, which they are well aware of and now leave me alone. I'm sure it's going to come to a hearing, but I'm going to stand my ground to the bitter end. I hope you do, too. Best wishes on your battle!
(Maybe I'll send BOA some of my baked goods for the holidays. If I'm trying to communicate to anyone to go and die somewhere, it's them. )

If you want this to STOP Don't FEED the BEAST !!!
If you want to withhold your deductions of the FED (Private Banks) your Employer (if you have a Job) Has a Form that can change your Deductions Just use the Maximum Dependents or the Tax Exempt part and you will take Home More money than you thought and at the End of the Year you just don't File. This is Not for everyone many can do this with no problem But The choice is yours and it can be done. just Don't feed the Beast. If everyone did this it would be better than a Bank run 10 times over. And the Fed would Fall. Don't feed the Beast. Let it Starve. Many People withhold under the Fact that their Money Deductions are being used for Murder. So We as People Have more Options to make a Change and this is another way to do this. So Lets see how many of you want to Change this World Like the Occupiers This is another Tool to Use and would Be Very Effective. Don't feed the Beast.

reply to post by hadriana


Sorry to hear that, hadriana.
We started the scaling down when I decided to leave my job to raise my daughter at home. We lost half of our income and had to make BIG changes to our lifestyle, which was by no means lavish.lol
I found a book on "voluntary simplicity" which was part of the whole 60s movement. Anyway...I think it has made us better people. A closer family. Our priorities are very different now.
I hope things get better for you. You will come out at the better end of it eventually. Be strong.

~Neysa

reply to post by bobw927


Thanks for adding this concept. I've done it myself and owe the IRS $1800 in back taxes because of it.
Sure I owe the money and have to declare hardship with them each year, but they can't throw me in jail bacause of it. I hope they aren't holding their breath for the money.

reply to post by IrishCream


Happy to hear that you've already implemented this in your holiday.
I'm happy it works out for you and your children's brainwashing is beginning to subside because of it.

reply to post by bobw927


This is very interesting! I don't want to hijack this fantastic thread, but I am aware of this process and did this at my last job. However, this new job (which is a completely oppressive corporation that preys on the low~income population in many ways) says that they know nothing of this! I do claim the highest number of dependants, as does my husband. We both work for the same company and let me tell you it is blatantly corrupt at even the lowest levels of management. But in this economy we need to work, we have three kids to raise and all 5 of us live in a one bedroom apartment, the bedroom for the boys with a loft bed, a futon and a trundle bed. My husband and I have the living room where our futon is, so it is the living room by day and the love nest by night lol!! We are getting by, but the kids aren't too thrilled about having friends over as you can imagine!

But the basic needs of all are met and most important, we have grown stronger as a family even though there are. Times that I, the only female, want to scream!! But we are doing it and feeding the beast is the last thing I want to do, so we try not to as much as possible! We are also going to be taking our money out of BoA and switching to a local credit Union on Saturday!! There is an OWS group gathered outside the police station in our "city" a few miles away and that has made hubby and I keep our eyes open, and our bug~out~bags at the ready... seriously! These are scary times to be raising kids in, but we are doing our best to be educated without reaching the point of paranoia!

Anywayz, Merry Christmas everyone!!

reply to post by Afterthought


Yes! Ja! Si! We! Yah! or as the Zulu nation says: Yebo!!

IMHO,this p ost contributes towards cracking the mold that has shaped a race into a really nasty piece of work!
Rudolf Steiner, who started the anthroposophy movement, uses the expression 'erotic materialism' to describe the endulgment of greed that the human race is mostly caught up in, lost in, hipnotised by, and slaves to. He coined that term in the early 1900, and I would not like to know what he would think up for the state of disgrace and greed that we now live in!

It is my mission on ATS to try and reason, inspire, motivate from my small little corner down here on this floor, for people to start fixing from the insides of themselves and not only from the outside.

All the protests may well be worhtless (in my very humble opinion) if we bring wall street down onto its knees, but we remain the same greedy, gobbeling-for-better-and-more-expensive-possessions-simply-cause-we-have-to-have-that-thing- specie as before.
It will be like getting rid of malaria after a most painful and fearful encouter with this deadly desease, beating it after a long period of suffering, just to walk straight back into a room full of malaria misqutoes, naked as the day you wore your birthday suit for the first time. You will be deseased by malaria once again if you don't get rid of the mosqutoes.

The desease comes from our hearts, we seriously need to heal our values in order to turn this planet into something that makes sense.

Perhaps the biggest problem, that harbours and breeds all other problems is based on materialism. Hate, jelousy, greed, anger, pain, fear, inequality and discrimination definitely thrives where materialism has its claws around the human heart.
We can really change it. Your post is an excellent example of a way to start working towards increasing self value and compassion for others, and see tangible stuff for what they really are -stuff,that will stay here when you go.
If we all start by at least thinking about it, processing the thought, then eventually something must give! Action will follow and reality will change. Then we will be in a postition to govern our lives with sense. Thoughts are constructive! Many thoughts are very constructive.

I really enjoyed your post tremendously. It was nice to look into a kind heart on this site. Greed and kindness cannot live together. The emphasis on 'necesarry', the consideration to explain your vid linx, and the human to human consideration, compassion and grace during Christmas regarless of the other person's 'flavour' makes it gr8 to read.

Reminds me of that Buddhist story about the monks that asked what rules they can follow to improve their spiritual values and live pure lives. The answer was:
Before you speak, think or do, ask yourself 3 questions:
Is it kind
Is it true
Is it necesarry

Do the same when you buy this Christmas!

Your post was sooooooo all 3! Especially necesarry!
Go very well!

I want to thank everyone for visiting and contributing.
It makes me quite happy to read that many of you have enjoyed this thread and I hope many more do as well.

I won't be logging in for a few days, but I look forward to seeing everyone's ideas when I get back on ATS.
I hope this concept will take hold this year with the most people participating than all the years previously. Even if you have money to spend, I hope you'll take a stand and decide to scale back and become creative this year. For those who are truly in the red, I hope you'll find this thread to be inspirational and you'll find an idea that will work for you to give to a loved one this year.
Some people have a difficult time thinking up creative and inexpensive gift ideas, but, together, we can come up with some wonderfully unique ideas that require little to no money whatsoever.

For those who have never done this before, you'll find that it's ten times more rewarding than giving someone something new you bought at the store.

Have a happy and safe Halloween, everyone!

reply to post by UnlimitedSky

Yes! Ja! Si! We! Yah! or as the Zulu nation says: Yebo!!

Beautiful! I loved what you wrote. You speak the truth loudly and clearly.
Thank you for adding your thoughts to this and giving me quite the smile!

I guess I've been protesting Christmas since the 70's.

I do looooves me some Thanksgiving though! and try to keep that attitude going all year round.

But I must admit I am having a hard time of it this year, too much pending death in my family.

I've noticed this in other families as well through life during this time of year.

reply to post by Afterthought


Excellent work on keeping your house and fighting the bank!

Property ownership really is such a bizaar idea if you think about it from a different perspective. Land is land, was always land, long before banks came along and claimed it. Who did they buy it from? Did they send God some money and did He then send them the Title deeds for that land? Did they check with Our Sacred Mother Earth to see if she no longer wanted that particular piece of her beautiful cloak and decided to bestow it upon them and only them?
No.
Every house is built on Her land. Why do we fight over what is not ours?
We need a totally new system to live by. Perhaps as not yet percieved.

Apply the rule of need: Does the bank really need to own all the land? (I do realise, that life must be seen out of a totally different corner to be able to percieve my point.)
Do we even need banks????

So what gives them the right to sell what was never theirs in the first place?

Go get them Girl! (Cant remember what gave me the impression that you are also female, but if not so: Go get them anyway!)

I just got done doing some research into how retailers are predicting this holiday's consumer spending. So far, retailers across the board in different countries are predicting a 1% to 2.5% increase overall for 2011.
I think we need to prove them wrong.

This PDF is an interesting read (from Australia):
www.bdo.com.au...
"RETAIL HAS PROVEN TO BE REMARKABLY RESILIENT IN 2010.
CONSUMERS HAVE CONTINUED TO SPEND DESPITE BLOODCURDLING WARNINGS ABOUT A DOUBLE DIP RECESSION. HOWEVER, CAN CONSUMERS REALLY CONTINUE TO CONFOUND EXPECTATIONS IN 2011?"
Be sure to check out the graph at the bottom of the first page. It shows that people spent more money on FOOD from 2005 to 2009, then in 2010, many more people bought non-food items by a landslide.

Most retailers we have talked to are approaching Christmas with a degree of caution. On the whole, having significantly outperformed last year’s Christmas, the majority believe it will be difficult to make meaningful gains
this year. Over the 2009/10 festive period, of the retailers who publicly released data, just 9 reported negative like-for-likes, against 54 positive. However, having said that, the general consensus of opinion is that
sales will not decrease either. It may sound like a cliché but Christmas always comes every year, and consumers pretty well always spend more every year whatever the state of the economy. Even in 2008 after the
collapse of Lehmans and the financial meltdown that saw sales fall off the proverbial cliff in the autumn, consumers still spent relatively heavily at Christmas.

The last paragraph of the paper is exactly what they think of us:

Having gone out on what felt like a bit of a limb last year by predicting that an upbeat Christmas would be followed by pretty positive figures thereafter, we are basically sticking with this bullish view into 2011. Of course, whilst none of this is to deny that conditions will probably become tougher over the next 12 months, we still fundamentally believe that consumers love shopping and will therefore find a way to spend whatever the state of the economy.

They believe that we are hopelessly addicted to shopping. It says it right there. Their Christmas sales numbers are based upon humanity's addiction to shopping. I think it's time to show them that we're stronger than that and stomp on their 2011 Christmas parade.

So, let's wind back the clock and start spending more money on food this year just as their numbers indicated for 2005 through 2009. Spend your money on used items. Don't use your credit cards because the banks will make a killing on the interest they acrue after the holidays. If you want to shop online, get one of those refillable debit cards so that it's still basicly cash, just in the form of plastic just not allowing banks to collect on any interest fees.

Just as a follow up, thoughts for this year's gifts are baked goods, food, used items (purchased or from the home), plants from your yard or propagated clippings, and staples and necessities to everyday life.

Keep adding your creative suggestions!
This Christmas will see no black. Only red and green.
The retailers will stay in the red while we keep our green!

Originally posted by Afterthought
I just got done doing some research into how retailers are predicting this holiday's consumer spending. So far, retailers across the board in different countries are predicting a 1% to 2.5% increase overall for 2011.
I think we need to prove them wrong.

This PDF is an interesting read (from Australia):
www.bdo.com.au...
"RETAIL HAS PROVEN TO BE REMARKABLY RESILIENT IN 2010.
CONSUMERS HAVE CONTINUED TO SPEND DESPITE BLOODCURDLING WARNINGS ABOUT A DOUBLE DIP RECESSION. HOWEVER, CAN CONSUMERS REALLY CONTINUE TO CONFOUND EXPECTATIONS IN 2011?"
Be sure to check out the graph at the bottom of the first page. It shows that people spent more money on FOOD from 2005 to 2009, then in 2010, many more people bought non-food items by a landslide.

Most retailers we have talked to are approaching Christmas with a degree of caution. On the whole, having significantly outperformed last year’s Christmas, the majority believe it will be difficult to make meaningful gains
this year. Over the 2009/10 festive period, of the retailers who publicly released data, just 9 reported negative like-for-likes, against 54 positive. However, having said that, the general consensus of opinion is that
sales will not decrease either. It may sound like a cliché but Christmas always comes every year, and consumers pretty well always spend more every year whatever the state of the economy. Even in 2008 after the
collapse of Lehmans and the financial meltdown that saw sales fall off the proverbial cliff in the autumn, consumers still spent relatively heavily at Christmas.

The last paragraph of the paper is exactly what they think of us:

Having gone out on what felt like a bit of a limb last year by predicting that an upbeat Christmas would be followed by pretty positive figures thereafter, we are basically sticking with this bullish view into 2011. Of course, whilst none of this is to deny that conditions will probably become tougher over the next 12 months, we still fundamentally believe that consumers love shopping and will therefore find a way to spend whatever the state of the economy.

They believe that we are hopelessly addicted to shopping. It says it right there. Their Christmas sales numbers are based upon humanity's addiction to shopping. I think it's time to show them that we're stronger than that and stomp on their 2011 Christmas parade.

So, let's wind back the clock and start spending more money on food this year just as their numbers indicated for 2005 through 2009. Spend your money on used items. Don't use your credit cards because the banks will make a killing on the interest they acrue after the holidays. If you want to shop online, get one of those refillable debit cards so that it's still basicly cash, just in the form of plastic just not allowing banks to collect on any interest fees.

Just as a follow up, thoughts for this year's gifts are baked goods, food, used items (purchased or from the home), plants from your yard or propagated clippings, and staples and necessities to everyday life.

Keep adding your creative suggestions!
This Christmas will see no black. Only red and green.
The retailers will stay in the red while we keep our green!

edit on 2-11-2011 by Afterthought because: spelling

How will it help us to s**** the retailers? Is it our goal to shut down all of the shops? Seriously?

I have no problem with simplifying. That's a great idea. Enjoy your family, and celibrate in a meaningful way.

But why do we want to punish ALL of the retailers???? Personally, I like to be able to buy things rather than weaving my own cloth from cotton I had to grow in the backyard....