Some thoughts for this time of year:
The Charlie Brown Christmas special, in which Charlie struggles to cope with the rampant commercialization of the season. The Peanuts’ strong consensus is that they need “a great, big, shiny aluminum Christmas tree” for their Christmas play, but Charlie decides to buy a scraggly little natural tree instead. The kids are outraged at first, but it becomes clear that Charlie’s choice better suits the true meaning of Christmas (conveyed by Linus’ recitation of the second chapter of Luke). Before wishing Charlie a Merry Christmas and breaking into “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” to close the show, the kids conclude, “Charlie Brown is a blockhead, but he did get a nice tree.”
Why we need the Jetsons and solarpunk – Niskanen Center
And a few more thoughts:
“So can I volunteer you to work in a salt mine?” My cousin said when I proposed my alternative Christmas idea of gifting time instead of socks. I didn’t feel he’d quite taken on the spirit of what I was suggesting.
It highlighted one of the challenges of trying to do Christmas differently. To make it less an orgy of over consumption and more about quality experiences that tread more lightly on the earth.
No time like the present, no present like time
Research has shown most people value enjoyable experiences with friends and family more than physical presents. Especially if those ‘gifts’ are just some rubbish you’ve bought at the supermarket checkout on Christmas Eve.
Experiences like cooking food, visiting a quirky local heritage site, doing a pickling class or accompanying them to that movie no one else wants to watch – the possibilities are endless.