This Year’s Hottest Holiday Gift? No Gift at All

2016 was the year of Marie Kondo. The Japanese decluttering guru and author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up took on Americans’ closets, challenging readers to throw out any possessions that didn’t spark joy. A recently widowed Emily Gilmore flirts with the philosophy as a way to process her grief in the Netflix revival of the much loved series Gilmore Girls. While Kondo’s method is still up for debate, the popularity of the book proves that Americans have a complicated relationship with our stuff. ...