Unwrapolution (aka Cummins on Ice, the show)

We know it's seachange when I can use Facebook to mea culpa about not sending holiday cards this year. And get a roar of support. It's not that I don't enjoy sending out the annual missive. Or making them! But this year has been quite a ride in the Cummins household....now known as Cummins on Ice, the show. So I'll say it one more time and then not again: if you expected a holiday card from us and then didn't receive one, we're sorry and please just understand.

Our kids have been incredibly flexible with changes in our holiday traditions. We've tried to be greener. We've tried to be simpler. We no longer wrap presents but instead use one giant felt bag per child. It's almost more fun to "unwrap" because the bag is like a giant stocking. Put your hand in, guess what it is by touch, and then pull it out. I'm calling this our unwrapolution, a revolution in the way we do things. Not just change. Big change.

Our kids have also embraced the handmade gift as just-as-good or better than the things they put on their wish lists. My kids would never have thought to list custom hooded-snuggies, an owl hat or a crochet Club Penguin figurine to their lists, but I can rest tonight (because the gifts are done!) knowing that these will be their favorites. Not just when they're adults looking back on their childhood holiday memories, but in just a few days when they pull them out of the giant felt bags.

It's been hard work to make these shifts, and undoubtedly more so for previously-consumerist me than for our resilient and amazing kids. I no longer have to ask myself "how much is too much?" because I've developed a sixth sense that now knows better. I'll always love cashmere. And gift certificates to the spa. But the next massage I get will be guilt-free, a true reward and very relaxing. Here's to an amazing 2011.