An Earth-Friendly Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!!!!


I'd just to share this post for everyone to remember that this Christmas and New Year, we don't have to be that extravagant on gifts to show the people we love and care for. We can have an earth friendly Christmas and New Year.

A lot has been damaged for the past years and I don't want Christmas and New Year to be an excuse to continue doing so.

Every Christmas and New Year for some we distribute gifts to our loved ones. But then we use a lot of gift wrappers that just gets torn and burnt away: making a lot of trash and waste of paper.

Also, we tend to give things that most of them won't be able to use, which we know, is a waste of money.

Our clan in my mother's side has been conducting a reunion every night of January 1. During the reunion, we exchange gifts to each member of the clan (one family gives one gift to one member). Our clan consists of 15 families and we are almost 50 in our clan so imagine the numbers of gifts!

For the past years I have honestly been receiving gifts that I don't get to really use. If ever I use them, I only use them once or twice because of the reason that I don't need it. I do appreciate those gifts, even though how much I'd want to use them I just can't use them because I don't actually use those things in my personal living. Asking my relatives, they've been experiencing the same thing.

So, early this October, I suggested to the clan for each of us to make a wishlist. I noted that they put things they really need and will use. But of course, they have to take note of the prices of the things they wish for because all of us have a budget in gift giving. With this, we are sure that the ones we'd be giving a gift to would surely use it and it would be a good value of money for the giver.

Another thing is that right after the reunion all of us open our gifts together at the reunion venue. We gather all the gift wrappers used and just burn them in the fire place. My cousin opened this up to me and I thought that it's definitely a big waste seeing the number of gifts being wrapped in our reunion. So my cousin suggested that we use recycled wrappers, newspapers, recycled paper bags, and the like, in wrapping the gifts this year.

So as a result are these pictures of the gifts under our Christmas Tree:

Christmas gifts wrapped in newspaper

Recycled paper bags

I'm sharing this hoping that those who read this would be inspired to do the same and keep Christmas and New Year earth-friendly.

Happy Holidays everyone!!