Maybe you just can’t afford to buy Christmas gifts this year — or perhaps you want to revive the true spirit of the holiday. In either case, advocates of a “Buy Nothing Christmas” are doing just that — occupying the holiday season, as it were, by deciding not to shop.

Daily Finance delves into the movement, highlighting a few believers of the Buy Nothing idea. From a dad who just can’t afford to buy presents for his three children and is instead hand-crafting gifts, to other non-shoppers who are turning away from buying so they can reflect better on the time with loved ones.

“The idea that we express how we love through buying consumer items is so outdated,” Aiden Enns, founder of Buy Nothing Christmas, tells DailyFinance.

Like the Occupy Wall Street movement, this one was also started in Canada, by a group of Mennonites. They reject what they consider the “over-consumptive shopping patterns” of the rest of North America, and work to promote the idea of non-shopping in all aspects of one’s life. It began in 2001 and has grown into a national movement, says Enns, with 36,000 visitors to their web site last month.

There are other sites popping up online, advocating similar ideals, like The Christmas Resistance Movement and OccupXmas.

This is the year of the protester, after all.

Occupy This: The Crusade Against Holiday Shopping [Daily Finance]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.