“The stigma ends tonight,” says Ian Power, the 46-year-old lifelong cannabis activist moments after becoming the first person in 95 years to legally buy recreational cannabis in Canada. He smiles wide, proudly displaying the paper bag of marijuana of which he plans to frame on his wall with a plaque reading, October 17th 2018 “We Won.” October 17th 2018 is the day cannabis became legal in Canada, and it is indeed a victory for many Canadians. Smokers congregate in parks and on street corners, places they have always smoked, but now do so without fear of persecution. Certainly, cannabis activists have made progress, but as tempting as it is to declare their decades-long struggle over, they have more work to do.

With Halloween in our rearview mirror, the time for costumes, candy, and horror is over, and so begins the season of Christmas that brings with it slightly less candy and costumes, but certainly more horror. For adults all over the western world, credit card debt and the demands of the season are the scariest monsters of all. Between the pressures of shopping, cooking, socializing, and traveling, it’s no wonder why what Andy Williams calls “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” can also be seen as the most stressful time of the year for many Canadians. And so, for the sake of our collective mental health and our wallets, this Christmas I propose we spend less, not just in terms of money, but our time and energy as well.