For this holiday season, I’ll be trying to practice immaterialism by thinking less about the gift as a product but instead as a process. Ordering something for someone on Amazon has no story. The void of that is patched by gifting something way more extravagant than what’s needed or wanted, to disguise cost as rarity when it was really just a different link on the scroll-through. The gifts I appreciate most aren’t necessarily the most functional or deeply desired. They’re the ones that reflect my relationship with the gifter, that reminds me of them whenever I see it. I think by now I should accept that I no longer need that classic Christmas morning experience, tearing at a big box like Ralphie and squealing with joy when it’s that shiny thing I’ve been longing for from its window display. If I’m actually going to inch toward actual immaterialism, a decent start would be to stop participating in either end of that expectation.