image by pingu1963

I love how, in this article, Stella progresses from recognizing that her family has enough to sharing the overflowing abundance of love and energy with those outside her family. Instead of working to make our own individual dreams of come true, what if we decided to come together and dream bigger dreams? I see so much possibility there ... -ed.

Every November, before the post-Thanksgiving rush I take a day and wander my favorite toy stores trying to get ideas for my kids for Christmas. I love toys, especially the kind that foster creativity. Children’s creativity inspires me with its limitlessness and freedom. There’s something so pure in the way they imagine and combine ideas largely unchecked by self-consciousness and reality.

Still, as I strolled the aisles of the natural toy store fingering beautifully hand crafted wood animals and looking at all kinds of interesting games and playthings I began to realize that, really, my children have enough.

Play is learning for children, and I have always approached it in that way. I can see in my kids, and I vividly remember from my own childhood the absolute joy of discovery and learning. I’ve tried over the past couple of years to provide the kids with good solid toys like blocks, a dollhouse, a play kitchen, a train set, books and art supplies. I’ve scoured yard sales and thrift shops, enlisted the support of family and friends, and in the end I think we’ve done a pretty good job. My children’s days are filled with enriching, creative play.

Abundance is a wonderful thing. Overabundance is not. Overabundance kills creativity. It fills in the gaps that imagination and resourcefulness would otherwise fill. I have always wanted a crazy big dollhouse—something sprawling and castle-like, or a Victorian manor with secret passageways and cozy libraries with roaring fires and lots of little busy people running to and fro. I never got it and now I’m glad I didn’t. Instead I filled notebooks with stories and pictures of my wonderful imaginary dollhouse. I made extra rooms for my regular dollhouse from shoeboxes and the underside of the table and beds from napkins and even socks. I think I learned infinitely more from wanting that dollhouse and not getting it than I would have learned from the actual dollhouse.

Enough is a really beautiful thing. It’s the goal, isn’t it? To have what you need and enough of what you want that you really enjoy it? So the question now is what to do with our enough?

On the practical, everyday level I’ve been thinking about how Enough will affect our plans for Christmas. I love holidays and I want my kids to have a magical childhood experience. I don’t want to end gift giving all together, but I do want to scale it back and refocus our attention on the non-material things that bring us joy.

I want it to be a season of experiences instead of a season of stuff. I want them to remember baking cookies with friends and family, decorating the tree, attending the Santa Lucia parade and the amazing Lessons and Carols choral service at our church as much as they remember opening the gifts. I want the gifts they do open to be meaningful even if they are spare.

Instead of creating an unfulfillable expectation of more, I want to find a way to emphasize our gratitude for being some of the lucky ones who do have enough. I think it is time to channel our energies into making a difference in the world instead of just focusing on our desires and ourselves.

Tomorrow’s article will discuss the broader implications of Enough and how we can use Enough to focus our energies on creating a better world.