lifeisfunny

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. It’s kind of funny how busy I am in a small town. There are just fewer people to do things so we all have to have several activities to keep things afloat. Clean air, no traffic and a slower pace brought us here. We got two out of three, and as they say, that ain’t bad.

With the holiday season most of us immediately think of  secular things like giving gifts, holiday budgets, and the like. Sometimes we’re ready, and sometimes we aren’t.

One thing for folks in small communities such as ours to think about is how to take care of our holiday shopping without driving to the city.

There are a lot of reasons for this, but the most important is that when a community is tiny, the only thing that keeps it alive is the people who live there. (duh) And, people tend to live where they can do things city-folk take for granted like shop for groceries, see a movie, buy a pair of jeans, and eat out once in awhile.

Who keeps the local merchants local? We do. And how do we do that? Buy spending money in their businesses.

I urge everyone who lives in a small town to challenge themselves to doing their holiday spending at home as much as possible. Sure, things are cheaper at Walmart if you want to drive 40 or 50 mles to find one. Then you have to weigh the cost of gas against the savings on the product. Sometimes it isn’t worth it.

So what can I buy in my town?

I could buy jeans, shirts, purses and shoes at the local dress shop.

I could buy cute little antique-y type things and unique gifts at one of the local gift shops. I can buy decorations at another. I can buy all products made in our home state at another.

I can buy my Christmas ham and the trimmings. (Haven’t seen a Christmas goose there but you never know)

I could buy movie tickets, or prepay detailing on the car. I can buy gift certifiates at restaurants.

I can buy handcrafted items.

I can buy Pampered Chef, Longaberger Baskets, and Mary Kay cosmetics. 

I can buy a subscription to the local newspaper and provide a little job security for myself!

I can buy Christmas ’spirits’.

And if I don’t know what to buy, I can buy Chamber Bucks that the recipient can use for anything a Chamber of Commerce member has to offer.

I can buy fabric, patterns, and thread. I can buy history books about the county, and I can buy first rate artwork.

I can make my gifts.

Or, I can honor someone by giving to a non-profit in their name, and believe me, there a lot of non-profits in a community this size.

I can give to the local food bank, or give my time at the local nursing home.

I can donate to the historical society, the art center, the public library, the veterans, the cancer support group, the economic development group, or the group who wants to purchase and rennovate the old high school.

I can donate gifts of books, time, or money to the schools.

I can pick an angel from the Angel Tree.

I can pick up the garbage from an elderly neighbor’s yard.

I can donate flower bulbs to the historical society’s 1895 house.

I can offer free babysitting for a single mom.

I can offer to drive the elderly to the doctor or the grocery store or wherever they need to go.

There are so many things I could do locally that the list is unlimited.

The important part is that I do it with the true spirit of Christmas in my heart, and I do as much of it in my town as I can. If I don’t, maybe in ten or twenty years there won’t be a town.

How sad would that be?