Armstrong is a devotee of "Buy Nothing Christmas," one of several online movements that have shined a spotlight on people who -- for philosophical, economic or religious reasons -- are doing something radical this holiday season: saying no to gift buying.
Many of these non-shoppers are replacing the annual buying spree with rituals that they believe more aptly reflect the meaning of the holiday, such as sharing time with loved ones, offering up a homemade gift or donating to a favorite charity.
"The idea that we express how we love through buying consumer items is so outdated," Aiden Enns, founder of Buy Nothing Christmas, tells DailyFinance.
The group, started by Canadian Mennonites, rejects what it deems the over-consumptive shopping patterns of North Americans, urging people to spread the message of non-shopping at home, work, in their communities and places of worship. It's grown from a group of about seven Mennonites in 2001 into a national movement with 36,000 web visitors in November, Enns says.
Buy Nothing Christmas is on a mission to recast the holidays so that they're "richer in meaning, smaller in impact upon the earth and greater in giving to people less privileged," according to BuyNothingChristmas.org. It also aims to expose the downside of an economy largely reliant on consumer purchases.
Other, similar sites have sprouted, such as The Christmas Resistance Movement and OccupyXmas.
The crusade against holiday shopping has assumed a new resonance this year amid the rise of Occupy Wall Street, which, like the anti-holiday buying crusades, rally in part against corporate greed.
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