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Author Topic: Minimizing Your Christmas Footprint
paxamillion
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posted 06 December 2002 03:32 PM      Profile for paxamillion   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I'm wondering what folks are doing this Christmas season to minimize the environmental impacts typically associated with the holidays. One thing I do is send electronic cards instead of paper ones wherever possible.

How about you?


From: the process of recovery | Registered: Jul 2002  |  IP: Logged
Debra
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posted 06 December 2002 03:55 PM      Profile for Debra   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I've been sending email cards too. Although sometimes people don't expect them so it is debateable whether or not they recieve them.

We can't afford much anyway so I guess our contribution is poverty.


From: The only difference between graffiti & philosophy is the word fuck... | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
mighty brutus
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posted 06 December 2002 04:39 PM      Profile for mighty brutus     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
My wife and I are off the Consumerist bandwagon that Christmas has become. The only people we buy gifts for are our twin 9 yr. old nieces. You'd be surprised how bent out of shape some people get when you tell them that you and your spouse don't exchange gifts. For people that we do feel obliged to give gifts to, we'll give them a few 'scratch & lose' lottery tickets or perhaps a jar of my world famous antipasto. Last year I'll admit I did break down and get my honeybee a beautiful necklace with an amber pendant that had five petrified insects perfectly preserved in it. She works in retail, so by the time Christmas comes, she's completely stressed out, so we try to keep it pretty low-key.
From: Beautiful Burnaby, British Columbia | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
ben_al
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posted 06 December 2002 06:30 PM      Profile for ben_al     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Instead of buying gifts, make something, or clean out the closet Many people appreciate crafts or a plate of homemade cookies.
From: Kitchener, ON | Registered: Dec 2002  |  IP: Logged
Pogo
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posted 08 December 2002 12:08 PM      Profile for Pogo   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I guess you mean economic footprint (hence "earning and spending"). Not the other parts of Christmas, remembering family and friends, sorting out old greviances, the Christmas atruistic spirit, all of which I would never put limits on how much we should do.

As 'simple livers' my wife and I don't mark any occasion with a present that we would not buy otherwise (last year I got her a hose for the vaccuum for her birthday, this year I got [empty set] for my birthday). Kid's are a different issue. This year we have arranged to take them to the food bank to line up for supper. We live in a coop but we are in the richest end of Richmond which is a rich city so we wanted to show our kids a taste of how others live. I must admit though, that I am looking forward to the big family meals. I am also returning to cards this year for the first time in a long time as I found that I am loosing touch with so many of my relatives and friends.


From: Richmond BC | Registered: Aug 2002  |  IP: Logged
DingleBall
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posted 12 December 2002 08:48 PM      Profile for DingleBall     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I am making everyone's presents this year. I refuse to purchase cards, I'll make some. They're too expensive for something that is looked at once.
From: Halifax, NS | Registered: Nov 2002  |  IP: Logged
Lima Bean
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posted 12 December 2002 10:13 PM      Profile for Lima Bean   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I'm flying home for Christmas this year (NEXT WEEK!!!), so all my gifts have to be small and light and transportable by air. And I'm a little slim in the pocketbook so I'm having to be creative. I'm giving some people photographs I took, some of them are getting books that I've read or picked up in my time, I've bought a few gifts at second hand shops.

I don't like to buy new things ever, and it doesn't feel right to buy something still wrapped in plastic just because I'm buying it for someone else. I also don't like to give people gifts that they can't actually use, so I'm trying to be practical as well.

It's kinda fun this way. I'm really having to think about the people I'm giving gifts to. And it's so much nicer a way to think about it. I hear people at work talking about who they're "buying for", sounds so yucky.

Oh, and I'm burning some CDs of Christmas music for a few people. (ssshh!! don't tell anyone!)

[ December 12, 2002: Message edited by: Lima Bean ]


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nonsuch
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posted 13 December 2002 12:10 AM      Profile for nonsuch     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
What i hate most about Christmas is the acres of paper people tear up and throw away. We haven't used gift-wrap in years: for immediate family, it's Santa sacks (we each have a large cloth bag with our names on); for in-laws and the odd friend, i wrap in scarves, tote-bags, pillow-cases, baskets, shoe-bags, cookie tins - something useful that becomes part of the present.

We usually make some gifts. This year, i preserved cherries and made a super batch of fruit vinegar. Sometimes we give previously-cherished items, either from our own cupboards or the yard-sale circuit; sometimes new things from local craft-fairs.

E-cards, of course. I sent my last manufactured greeting card in 1976... though i still send a few from the Humane Society or other charity.
No dead tree. There is a nice big cedar out front that we can decorate with suet-balls, peanuts and sunflower heads.


From: coming and going | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
Smith
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posted 13 December 2002 12:12 AM      Profile for Smith     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
My mum got sick of wrapping Christmas presents about ten years ago and sewed up a bunch of drawstring/tie-able bags. They're cotton with various Christmas patterns on them, and they're great. You just shove the presents into them, tie them up with ribbons, and when the orgy of gift-unwrapping is over, you pick them up, fold them and put them away for the next year.

Very quick and easy to do if you have a sewing machine...or hell, even an iron and some fusible web would probably do the trick.

[ December 13, 2002: Message edited by: Smith ]


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DrConway
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posted 13 December 2002 02:51 AM      Profile for DrConway     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
That rules. I should see if I can scare up anything like that.

As well, these days, I don't give birthday gifts to my brothers in a wrapped-up form, since it's really informal now. For Christmas, yeah, we still do the whole wrapping-up thing, but if I can find the cloth dealio, I think I just solved the reusability issue.


From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Smith
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posted 13 December 2002 02:53 AM      Profile for Smith     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Or, as an alternative, my boyfriend always wraps 'em up in newspaper.
From: Muddy York | Registered: Oct 2002  |  IP: Logged
verbatim
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posted 13 December 2002 02:59 AM      Profile for verbatim   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
God! What am I going to get people? What am I going to get them all??? AAAHHHH!
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Alix
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posted 13 December 2002 12:14 PM      Profile for Alix     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
My family does the cloth bag wrapping too. My mother whipped up a whole bunch of bags in different sizes in Christmas fabric, and we reuse them every year.

The second-best thing is that it really cuts down on wrapping time - it takes next to no time to put a present in a bag and tie it closed.


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Lima Bean
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posted 13 December 2002 12:30 PM      Profile for Lima Bean   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I intend to wrap the gifts I've got in re-usable boxes, pieces of paper torn from magazines or newspapers etc., or other paper that I've saved from previous gifts and stuff. The cloth bags are a great idea, but seem unlikely this year. Maybe next time around.

I might buy some real cloth ribbon, though. Then if I wrap things in newspaper, at least they'll be festive-looking. And the ribbon is reusable. Especially for people who might use it in their hair!


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Trinitty
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posted 13 December 2002 12:46 PM      Profile for Trinitty     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Those cloth bags are a GREAT idea!!! I'll be making those as soon as I get a sewing machine, or, I might even do them by hand.
From: Europa | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged
prince
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posted 13 December 2002 04:02 PM      Profile for prince     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The lane to the cottage is about a kilometer long and we usually have to cut back the small trees that grow along the side. About 12 years ago I started digging up some of the better varieties like white spruce, white pine. I did this in the fall and then transplanted them along the fence rows at the farm. I have actually over the years moved hundreds of trees. The last two years we have gone out and cut a Christmas tree from those I planted years back. The old farm house has 10 foot ceilings and it is nice to get a tree that reaches to the ceiling.

So instead of wiping out a bunch of small saplings, I have created a natural fence line barrier and we have an ample supply of trees to select for a Christmas tree.


From: Ontario | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
shelby9
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posted 15 December 2002 04:36 AM      Profile for shelby9     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
My friend and I have exchanged gifts back and forth for the last 7 years with the same gift bag going back and forth between us. Our birthdays - same thing. So every year I either get the Christmas bag or the birthday bag with the little gift in it.

I'm a great believer in the gift bag thing. My Mom has had the same gift bags forever, most of which has our names on the bottom of the bags so year after year we get the same gift wrapping. It still looks great.

I made a whole crap load of baking for people this year. Old tried and true family recipes - like my great great grandmother's Vinetertta (Icelandic Christmas cake). Mostly for those who I know are too busy to bake themselves.

On the cards... I'm an old school type - I still send the paper ones. Though in my defence, I do recycle the cards I do receive. I've made cool ornaments out of the pretty cards. I just like to open my mailbox in December and find something other than bills in it!


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Tommy_Paine
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posted 15 December 2002 09:57 AM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I take great care in wrapping presents. The ends are neatly folded, and I use ribbon to bind them, and then take a pair of scissors, to curl the excess ribbon into really cute curly thingies.

Oh, I'm a big, fat liar. I couldn't wrap a present to save my life.

Yesterday, I started my shopping, and my last stop was a table at one end of Masonville Mall, where volunteers wrap presents.

The nominal fee, ( I paid extra, because the value to me was higher than what they charged) goes to support the United Way.

I couldn't find it last year, so I went with gift bags.


From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Rebecca West
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posted 15 December 2002 10:32 AM      Profile for Rebecca West     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
This has been a very very busy year for me, with a new baby, long hours at work and a job search in another city. I have very little extra money as well, so I was concerned that I wouldn't have time to make the gifts I had planned. But I've managed to do a few simple things: I bought Christmas tins at a dollar store and have baked shortbread cookies (from an old recipe in my mother's post-war cookbook...yummy). Those are for friends and coworkers. I'm sending photos of us to my mother. For children, I've been knitting brightly coloured mittens and will tie them, and maybe a small toy, onto a tin of homemade treats with ribbon. For my own kids, I'll knit a few things and buy a few things. I'm also knitting a few scarves and hats. Having several things on the go makes it easier - scarves can be tedious, so when I get bored I can switch to mittens or a toque.
From: London , Ontario - homogeneous maximus | Registered: Nov 2001  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 15 December 2002 11:20 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
and a job search in another city

Oooooooooooo!


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Woodnymph
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posted 15 December 2002 08:13 PM      Profile for Woodnymph     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
This year has been my best pre-Christmas season yet! Why, do you ask? Because I'm not spending loads of time shopping for my picky, middle-class family that has everything already or fretting about what my boyfriend really wants for Christmas or antagonizing about what to get my friends. I advised everyone in my life this September that I was not going to be giving them Christmas presents. Instead, I've sponsored a family through the local shelter and am using that money to buy them groceries and their three children (who really don't have everything) presents. Quite a number of my friends thought it was such a good idea, they are now helping me out. We all agree that this is the first time in a long time that we've actually felt the "Christmas spirit".

My parents insisted on a gift, so a donation in my name will be given to the shelter in my town. For the first time, I can say that everyone is getting exactly what they want for Christmas!


From: A little island on a big ocean | Registered: Sep 2002  |  IP: Logged
nonsuch
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posted 15 December 2002 10:42 PM      Profile for nonsuch     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Way cool!
Do i get brownie points for refinishing a rocking-horse for the local women's shelter?

Oh, and no decorative lights. (I admit i enjoy looking at them....)


From: coming and going | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
angela N
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posted 18 December 2002 01:44 PM      Profile for angela N   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
The new technological Christmas

Edit some family video into a movie.

Make animated e-cards

Scan old slides that no one has seen in decades and make books and calendars out of them.

For my sister who is an excellent writer I am compiling stories and emails into a book for her. It looks great and it’s nice to see her work as a whole. Mom too – recipes and stories – cool little book actually.

Then I make a few copies and dish them out. I think they will be happy, and I love having such neat projects.

My kid makes e-cards with that D-film program that audra gave us.
(in case you missed it or haven’t checked it out lately there are Christmas scenes and characters now.) great fun!


From: The city of Townsville | Registered: May 2002  |  IP: Logged
sheep
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posted 18 December 2002 02:07 PM      Profile for sheep     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
My cats would never forgive me if we did away with the christmas wrapping paper in our house. Shredding cloth bags isn't nearly as much fun
From: Vancouver | Registered: Jan 2002  |  IP: Logged
nonsuch
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posted 18 December 2002 03:34 PM      Profile for nonsuch     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Two years ago, my mother and i compiled family recipes into a book - loose-leaf, both for convenience to the user and in case we want to add more. It was well received.
Another thoughtful gift: make a new binding of cloth (from recycled fabric), leather (fake!) or metallic foil for the recipient's favourite paperback book.

A long time ago, i made dolls that look like their intended owner. You can start with a manufactured doll (second-hand, naturally), or make it from scratch (rag body, modelling clay or dough for the head and hands) and add hair and clothing in the recipient's style. You could also make replicas of their pets.
Of course, this is a time-consuming project, so you'll want to begin in the drear of February, for next Christmas.

[ December 18, 2002: Message edited by: nonesuch ]


From: coming and going | Registered: Sep 2001  |  IP: Logged
lagatta
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posted 18 December 2002 03:57 PM      Profile for lagatta     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
There is a lovely, colourful plastic clay called FIMO to make costume jewellery and tiny sculptures. You can find it in art supply shops.

I don't give Christmas presents (I often give watercolours and other artwork to friends, but not around any particular occasion), and pretty much boycott the whole thing, with the exception of small children (the son of a younger cousin, the 1 1/2 year-old daughter of a close friend in France...). With some friends we are getting together and having an unchristmas meal - paella? fish and seafood soup? Perhaps I will break down and make a couple of tourtières, a lamb one for carnivores and a mushroom-seitan one for veggies... (The best meat tourtières are made with game, but you have to have the game...). I like to serve something with fish because it is a treat for my cat Renzo too.

If I visit relatives, it will be after Christmas, because if not there is no way out of the whole gift-giving thing, and I haven't got the money or inclination to buy a lot of gifts, and haven't had the time to paint a lot recently. Now in art-supply shops they make blank postcards and greeting cards in lovely ph neutral watercolour paper, but I haven't had time to do a series and don't feel like cranking out potboilers.

I sent my German-Jewish friend across the pond some small watercolours I did recently and a jpeg another friend made of paintings of mine, but the fact that he'll be getting them shortly before that day is pure chance. Would be strange to have an atheist Jew thank me for my lovely Christmas present, but no stranger than the Christmas I spent in Paris with lapsed Muslim friends from Morocco, eating an extraordinary tagine and drinking yummy non-halal Moroccan wine.


From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
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posted 18 December 2002 04:07 PM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Heh. I have a friend whose mother used to take in international student boarders from Queen's. They were generally from African or Middle Eastern countries. She held a holiday party every year, and all sorts of past and present boarders would always come to it. My friend and I joked that she was the only woman we knew who threw Christmas parties for Muslims.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
lagatta
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posted 18 December 2002 04:10 PM      Profile for lagatta     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Actually, the story of the birth of Jesus, son of Mary, in the Koran is very beautiful.
From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged

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