... yeah. Christmas kind of enrages me.I don't do Christmas presents. Strike that: I have been trying to get out of having to do Christmas presents. The whole materiality and wastefulness of Christmas is upsetting to me. All I want is to see my friends and family and have some good times and some drunken hugging and maybe a few games of Pictionary. Regardless.
Aside from the fact that we grow trees simply to cut them down and put them in our living rooms (and what is with that anyways?), we do something else that has enraged me for years. We wrap presents in paper.
We wrap gifts in colored paper that is subsequently ripped off and (maybe) recycled in millions or billions of households around the world.
It's totally insane.
Even if the paper was all recycled it doesn't matter because the trees had to be cut down to make the damnable stuff in the first place.
It's totally deplorable.
Maybe ten years ago Esso started handing out cloth gift bags with the purchase of a tank of gas. For an O&G company I think that was pretty bang on. Then my Nana thought that she would simply make her own gift bags. And our family got into the habit of using (for the most part) cloth, recyclable gift bags. So, so cool. We would unwrap (or unbag) our gifts on Christmas day and the gift bags would be collected back by the people to whom they belonged so that they could be used in future years.
This is a good idea. In fact, if you're still using wrapping paper for things? You're a bit of a shit heel.
And if - like me - you're sewing skills are so abysmal that you bring your broken bras to your boyfriend to fix, then please buy gift bags this year. They look nice, you'll look saavy and the environment benefits.
Allow me to recommend ReFabrica: bags made from material that was destined for the landfill. They're the perfect way to gift that travel mug and those re-usable chopsticks to the environmentally stunted cousin in your family.
11 comments:
I'm book marking that site to check it out tonight. Not that I'll buy anything, but I sew. Sew I will borrow their ideas. We have gotten to where we don't do gifts anymore. What do you buy parents who live on a golf course/lake and have a $300K home paid off? The kids get $$ and love it. As for the tree, we can't have the real kind b/c of allergies, and I'm not dragging the fake one down, that's Jolea's job and if she doesn't show up... it don't come out.
Cool! I like it. Sounds like something my mom could make!
Aw. Mother/daughter bonding via comments on random blog in Vancouver.
:)
Recyclable chopsticks for all!
I knew there was a reason why I follow you. My beacon for good behavior.
I've never been into the wrapping paper thing. We've always used the same paper over for years. We taught out kids early on not to go rippin' through things because we were gonna fold that paper up for next year. We even reuse the name tags. I have to admit, we do the natural tree thing but we only do it every other year now that the kids are older. I use the tree when I'm done with it too. I cut it up and use it to heat my house - branches and trunk. Xmas trees burn really well, smell pretty good, and throw a lot of heat. May as well get all the use out of the dying pine that I can.
ha, Jolea used to make wine gift bags from sleeves cut off sweatshirts....
you guys celebrate christmas in canada?
teee heee, yeah they are so multi cultural.
7 comments on a blog about Christmas bags?
You are a strange lot to please.
And yes: we celebrate Christmas in Canada. Except we call it "Festivus". I hope I get a pink manssiere this year!
Great post!
I've seen some of the bags they make. They are very nice. beautiful fabric! They sell them at Book Warehouse actually.
(Duder, you rock!)
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