Illustrated by Ellie Sutton
As a little girl I loved Christmas, and all the pink plastic that went with it, as most little girls do. Then teenagerdom struck and I decided that I was so OVER Christmas with its relatives, Brussels sprouts and crap telly. But in some strange counter-evolutionary development, I seem to be regressing toward the level of excitement I felt as a 6 year old. My Christmas tree has been up for three weeks and I am pee-my-pants-excited about it. I keep coming home, seeing the tree and wanting to run around in excited circles. At the same time however, my awareness of the potential for Christmas to be nothing more than a festival of shopping weighs ever more heavily on my shoulders.
Illustration by Avril Kelly
Christmas is supposedly about “peace on earth and goodwill to all mankind”. But for me, those sentiments sit awkwardly with the present version of Christmas before us; heaving crowds pushing and shoving down high streets, being bombarded with adverts for stuff we must buy (DFS. Must. Die) and a general frenzy of thoroughly depressing mass consumption.
Everywhere I look, people who are normally pretty calm, are stressing out about what to buy for friends and loved ones. Blog land is packed with Christmas gift guides and wish lists and this year we are once again told that despite the countries huge debt, major cuts to public services and rising unemployment, we should shop (with glee!) to save the economy and make everything better this Christmas. Bah.
Illustration by Avril Kelly
It is easy to fall into a little self-absorbed cocoon at Christmas, becoming consumed by present buying stress, family drama and how you might co-ordinate your baubauls with your toilet roll. I confess that I had a bit of a mad moment last week where I spent half a day fretting about how I am going to wrap my presents this year because I couldn’t possibly wrap them in the same way I did last year (The horror! Gasp!) It wasn’t until after I had spent £18 (yes, £18) on two rolls of posh sellotape that I was able to proverbially slap myself across the face and shake myself from the Christmas stupor I was in. But fear not, I am here to save you from similar Christmas sellotape induced madness.
Illustration by Daniel Williams
Rather than locking yourselves in isolation or emigrating, I have talked to friends and put together a few ideas to prevent the Christmas consumer gloom and spread a little good will.
- Step back from the high street, where possible and ignore the retail desperation. If you do buy anything, try to keep it handmade, vintage or local.
- Turn the TV off, for a while at least. Give your head a rest from the smorgasbord (I love that word) of christmas visual stimulus.
- Rather than stuff, consider giving experiences as gifts. A spa day, a picnic, a home cooked meal, a pretty walk, a short break, a cinema visit.
- We should all remember to step out of our over-heated homes and go for a walk. It’s crucial for re-building tolerance for relatives and easing the indigestion caused by eating colossal amounts of food.
- Christmas is bad news for the environment. There’s the cards, wrapping paper and packaging, the mountains of presents, the meat, the heating and the lights. Try to choose the greener, less wasteful option, be mindful of energy usage and switch stuff off at night. Wrap presents in reusable fabric bags, recycled newspaper, or give presents that require no wrapping at all (vouchers, or experiences- see above)
You get the jist, yes? I have included some other ideas below, intended to make Christmas just that wee bit nicer. I’d love to hear your suggestions too, if you have any.
If you have 5-10 minutes to spare (and we all have 5 minutes, right?)
- Buy a meal for a homeless person (online or in person.)
- Give a gift to a vulnerable child in the UK, many of whom will receive no presents this year.
- Wish a stranger and any retail staff you come into contact with a happy Christmas.
- Give an online donation to the NSPCC who fund Childline, or The Samaritans helpline. Both are sadly gearing up for their busiest season. Every little helps, so even if you can only afford a few quid it will be appreciated.
- Give a mince pie to your neighbour. Just because.
- Or donate a Duck online and help Bangladeshi communities.
- Smile at people. In a non creepy way.
If you have 30 mins-1 hr:
- Make something, even if it looks shit. Its good for the soul. (See my article on home made Christmas cards, for starters, and look out for my article on Christmas decorations tomorrow)
- Or maybe send a shoe box of gifts to poor children in Swaziland. Because it’s a good thing to do, but also for a trip down memory lane; anyone else remember packing shoeboxes In school?! I do. I packed chocolate Santa’s which I now realise would have arrived in Africa as a melted mush.
- Send a Christmas Card for Amnesty International, to somebody who is unjustly imprisoned.
- Quickly dash to your local charity shop with a few good quality books, CD’s clothes.
- Sing a carol. Because singing feels weirdly satisfying.
If you have a few hours/ a day:
- Visit a granny.
- Have a big clear out and donate any (good quality, non trashed) clothes, books, crockery and cutlery, CD’s, games, books etc to a charity shop. Donate even those items you know you could get a bit of money for if you sold them and allow the charity shop to make the money instead. It also feels unbelievably satisfying to have a clear out.
- Volunteer at a homeless shelter
As for me, I have had a huge sort out and given tons of stuff to charity and I am making all (yes all) of my Christmas presents this year. I have boycotted Oxford Street and all high street shops and am spending very little money. On Monday I showed you how to make Christmas cards. Tomorrow I will talk about some ideas for non-traditional decorations too, in the hope that you feel inspired to make something this festive season rather than buy it. Try it! Even if you don’t think you are very crafty, because trust me, it feels good.
If you have any other ideas to spread a bit of festive cheer, any other charitable schemes we should be aware of or any ideas for easy home made Christmas presents, do share below so we can all benefit.
Similar Posts:
- Craft: Make your own Christmas cards
- Craft: christmas decorations.
- All I Want for Christmas is cards!
- Potato stamping
- An interview with illustrator Lesley Barnes, as featured in Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration
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