A no-waste Christmas

The economy is quite bonkers when retailers depend upon Christmas spending to survive, and the shops are full of stuff which will pause only briefly on its way to landfill.

Waste is everywhere. Even gifts can be unwanted waste. Decorations and beautiful cards and calendars are thrown out, instead of being kept for another Christmas,

Real Christmas is when gifts are needed, and durability and economy are important. Cards are recycled around friends. ''This is a recyclable card'. Send out your extra specially good new Christmas cards unmarked, with your insert of greetings and the message 'This is a recyclable card' so that recipients can send on its loveliness to others.The best cards are kept for years, and displayed as your own National Gallery. Decorations are kept as family traditions. Wrappings are scarves or baskets that can be re-used.

Children can be taken to choose a present that costs under so much – often what they wish is surprisingly cheap. (Often the cardboard box of the toy is played with more than the toy itself as it is.) Father Christmas is a 'pretend' they can join in if they wish – and they always wish to join in such a nice 'pretend'.

Much of your Christmas can be giving to the people who need your help.

Enjoy your Christmas – no rush of shopping or duty presents, but fun for everyone.

What do you want for Christmas?

We want a happy time for everyone, and happy memories afterwards. Friendship, kindness and peace on earth.

Looking around, you can see so many ways to make this a No-Waste Plenty-Fun Christmas, with Father Thriftmas.

What has gone wrong when people do not like Christmas?

What has gone wrong is waste. You should not let yourselves in for anything that you think is silly or wasteful or a hassle.

All over the world, people celebrate Christmas, regardless of religion, because it is a good idea, to enjoy giving, to enjoy receiving, to celebrate together, meet up families together, enjoy our children, and to celebrate a little baby and the birth of hope once again.

The Christmas message is about Peace on Earth, not hassle.

With No-Waste Christmas, we give presents because we want to, not out of duty or in return. We give presents we know people will want, not something they'll probably throw out. When in doubt, something good to eat is always welcome. Many adults who 'have everything' like the cards that go with donations to a favourite charity for those in need. An extended family can decide that one of them gets the 'big present' for the year that is really wanted, and everybody chips in.

Little presents that can be bought include:

THE NO-TEABAG TEA-MAKER A good-looking tea-strainer of deep stainless-steel mesh, with two little tabs at the rim for handles sits in a cup or teapot. It uses loose tea, far cheaper and flavor-full than teabags, which in their billions cost tons of materials and are rubbish when thrown out.

ROOM PERFUME – A fat little corked terra-cotta bottle which can be refilled with perfume oils is less wasteful than burning oils, and the perfume lasts for months. They can be bought for a few cents from op.shops. Add a little bottle of essential oil to the gift, and even a little coaster, so the bottle will not stain surfaces.

WORTHY CAUSES sell cards that tell the recipients that you have donated money in their name for good purposes – such as books for a poor school, seeds for poor farmers, medicine to heal diseases. Be careful of gifts that might make a plight worse even though It Seems a Good Idea at the Time – for example, goats have often turned semi-arid areas to deserts and wells without fore-thought may or drain artesian water dry or tap into arsenic as happened in Bangladesh.

EXERCISE SHOPPING JEEP. Some models are better than others. A shopping jeep kept in the hall can hold re-usable plastic bags and other shopping gear. (Don's try to save plastic begs in containers that squash then up!)

A TORCH that works when you squeeze the handle. No battery. Check the model you buy is light, bright, and easy to work to keep the light on.

RECOMMENDED KITCHEN EQUIPMENT. A strong 2-tier dish-rack. A stainless steel soapsaver, with bars, not mesh.

PHOTOS of the little children can be on mugs.

CALENDARS. Birthdays for everybody to remember can be marked with little photos on calendars.

A CHRISTMAS PARTY at home is fun for everyone not hassle for a few, when everyone can enjoy helping to prepare and bringing the goodies and the visitors can help to clear up with song and dance. For one of the Christmas-time meals, 'bring a stranger'.

NO-WASTE WRAPPING: show even the little children how to open presents carefully and dramatically, with everyone taking turns to open their presents in front of everyone, so all share in all that is given -much more fun than a group scene tearing paper to bits (Steam-iron the best paper before packing it for next Christmas). Or like the Japanese, give gifts wrapped in scarves, or the children can paste pictures on grocery boxes that can be Useful Boxes to Put Things in. Save decorations from year to year, to be Family Heirlooms, linking the years.

CHRISTMAS CARDS. Make your own with fotos, family artistry, pressed flowers, or buy from charities.

SHOPS – What happens to shops if people do not splurge at Christmas-time on things they do not need and others may not want? We can continue to splurge at Christmas – but on things that are needed, things that others will want, and on things that bring joy and relief to others in the world whom we may not even know. Shop-owners that only survive because of Christmas should think again of work that is useful.

So enjoy! We wish you a Merry Christmas after which you will be so much richer, not poorer.