I like Christmas. I like the celebration of family time; I like the traditions both inherited from our respective families and those we've built in our own home; I like giving and receiving presents - and, dare I say it, I like shopping for them. However, knowing that I'm going on this amazing expedition to learn more and become a leader in climate change and sustainability has added an additional level of complication (guilt?) to my preparations this year: how can we enjoy the traditions and celebrations while minimising impact?
I know that I'm not the only one who struggles with this and while in some ways it's about Christmas, really it's the same challenge we have all year round, just made more intense (as are so many other things at this time of year). Unfortunately there's just so much pressure for the perfect Christmas - the magazine ready dinner table; colour co-ordinated picture perfect decorations; finding the ideal Christmas presents; more food than we can possibly eat in a short period of time. I hate the consumerism that is rampant but having spent a number of hours shopping in Cambridge yesterday am I still too influenced by it?
In the grand scheme I don't think we do as badly as some people (I'm sometimes astounded by the sheer decadence of some of the things I see in the media) but there's always room for improvement so here's my thoughts on what we do/don't do - would love your comments and alternative ideas below!
Tree Real or plastic is one of the big debates. We've always gone for real, from a local farm or garden centre - the act of going to collect it is one of the things that kicks off Christmas for me. However I've seen an increasing number of articles this year talking about the effect of real trees that end up in landfill and how a plastic one used for many years is lower impact. I think like many things there's probably not a definitive answer - so much will depend on the subtleties of the question. I don't think I could move away from a real tree - there's something about the smell, the feel, needles everywhere.... However, although I do buy locally I don't actually know where the tree we've got this year was grown - so next year I should probably make sure that the transportation miles are minimal too. We're lucky that our local council collects trees in January and shreds them for mulching the maintained green spaces in the town so I know that we're not contributing to landfill which is also a positive. However, a friend of mine who lives on the Herts & Essex border has found a local farm that will rent them a Christmas tree and this sounds great (https://www.hallingburychristmastrees.co.uk/). Maybe this will become more widespread in future? Cards/Wrapping Those of you who know me well enough to be on my Christmas card list will also know that making it onto the list is no guarantee of getting a card. I'd love to say this was due to cutting down for environmental reasons but actually it's more to do with not being organised enough to get them in the post by the last posting dates! This also means that I have a bit of a stash of cards that I've bought over the years and not sent. My mission will be to use these up before I buy more but with the last posting date being tomorrow I fear it will not be this year! Similarly, I have wrapping paper and ribbons that I have bought over the years. But with both these and cards I now feel guilty as they were bought before I became aware of the issue with things like recyclability (I've always loved a bit of sparkly glitter :-( ) - so I've been putting off using some of them. Having wrestled with this a little I've come to the conclusion that it's surely better to use what I've got rather than buy new so apologies in advance to anyone who wonders why they're receiving something clearly less "green" than it ought to be. For a number of years though I have smoothed out and collected up wrapping paper to re-use so some of it may be being seeing a second or third (or even greater) Christmas.
For the paper than I consider unsalvageable then there is the perpetual dilemma of to recycle or not? The scrunch test apparently tells you if it's made of metallised plastic (ie it doesn't scrunch) and therefore can't go in the bin - but do you need to remove the tape as well? I received a lovely present wrapped in tissue paper and with some printed paper tape and string instead of ribbon last week so I've been hunting similar tape - apparently quite hard in Cambridge. I did end up with a pack of washi tape so I'm hoping this is better than normal sticky tape. If nothing else when I run out of wrapping paper it'll look good with plain brown or tissue paper. One other suggestion is to use fabric as a reusable wrapping year after year. While I like this idea, I'm not sure that buying and storing fabric (which seems bulkier than paper) purely for this purpose quite fits the bill - let me know if you've gone down this route and how you find it!
Presents So this is the big one really isn't it? How many of us buy stuff that ends up languishing in the recipient's cupboards unused, because we feel we ought to? How many of us put things on a wish list just to have stuff on it? I'm sure the point here is about reduction of consumption but sometimes it requires awkward conversations. We're lucky that the children are now getting to an age where boxes full of plastic toys are less sought after so that a bit easier - although technology seems to be the main request this year and I haven't even attempted that sustainability hornet's nest yet. One option is to do more second hand shopping. I've been consciously trying to buy more clothes second hand and I asked the children yesterday what they thought about second hand presents. Interestingly (given that they have both received second hand things knowingly or unknowingly in the past) they didn't seem totally convinced by this idea. I'll work on that as I think it's a good way to give things a new lease of life and, as long as they're still in good condition, why not?
One thing I have been wrestling with is is stockings. Our tradition is that Father Christmas brings a stocking full of little presents - wherever possible these are consumables or things they'd need anyway but there are always bits in there that fall outside of that, some of which end up being hits and others which are not. I've tried to stay more mindful this year but at the same time I'm sure Father Christmas will stop visiting soon and, for me, a stocking full of knobbly surprises is definitely part of the magic of Christmas. So all in all, it feels like a bit of a minefield, trying to balance a sustainable celebration with a culture of over consumption (and I didn't even get onto the topic of Christmas food!). However you've managed to walk that tightrope (or even if you think you've fallen straight off it!), I'd love to hear about it and I wish you and your families a wonderful Christmas/holiday season!