Car Free in Raleigh

Confession time.

In addition to not owning a car, we also don’t have a television. We sold it about three years ago and never looked back.  We have more free time and are able to limit our (and our son’s) exposure to advertising.

Side note: By “advertising,” I don’t just mean commercials. I mean the more insidious types, like ad-free children’s programming and network channels whose characters are then licensed for use on everything from breakfast cereal to stuffed toys.  I mean the sort of “advertising” to adults that sells a materialistic lifestyle… and you absorb those “needs” when you watch many typical sitcoms that feature Hollywood’s definition of a “middle class American family.”

In any case, this is the first year that we have moved through Advent with neither a television nor a car.

And it has been amazing. We haven’t been to a shopping mall (except last night, to meet a friend after work). We haven’t heard much fuss about the approaching holidays. We haven’t driven around and been reminded by frenzied shoppers and traffic jams.

In fact, I only realized yesterday that Christmas was 10 days away. We put up a tree just after Thanksgiving. We’ve played some holiday tunes. But somehow, the usual momentum just hasn’t carried us through the month of December, hurrying to shop, shop, shop.

So, for Malachy, I’ve wrapped up a Waldorf doll that I mail ordered a while back. I set aside a little barn that I found at a thrift shop months ago.

For Mark, I picked out a few stocking sweets and am working with a friend to finish up one thoughtful gift. (At least, I hope he’ll like it.)

I picked up a small gift for Malachy’s “godbrother,” and that’s pretty much it for this year. I can’t really think of anything that anyone else wants or needs.

A strange end for the year, indeed.