"Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?" - A Charlie Brown Christmas

"B

ig commercial racket" -Lucy A Charlie Brown Christmas

Personally, one of my love languages is gift giving. As a child I realized how happy people where when they got gifts from others and I always wanted to make people happy. One Christmas I realized I didn’t get anyone anything so I made every one jewelry out of paper. I know it is funny but I was a young kid and wanted to give people something special. As an adult every year I have tried to make people stuff, but sometimes it feels like it goes unappreciated. I have started to believe people don’t care about the homemade stuff they care about the money spent of gifts for them.

Honestly Christmas felt a lot quieter as a kid. Maybe that is growing up. I feel like it is hard to get into the spirit of it anymore. I haven’t put up a Christmas tree in a long time. That is mostly due to lack of room, worrying about my cats trying to climb it and just not feeling like it. I did want to put it up this year, but didn’t know where to. I feel like the joy of it came from simple things like decorating the tree as a family, but honestly mine is so divided anymore and I feel like I am stuck in the middle. It feels like over time the holiday has shifted from waiting for meaningful gifts and heartwarming connections to shopping lists, flash sales, and the pressure to buy more each year. Christmas didn’t change overnight, but consumerism has slowly reshaped how the season looks, feels, and functions.

Today, the holiday season often begins before Thanksgiving even arrives. Stores are stocked with decorations months in advance, advertisements follow us across every screen, and gift-giving has become less about meaning and more about volume. There is a quiet but powerful message embedded in this cycle: more spending equals more love. For many people, this creates stress, (I know it does for me) rather than joy, financial pressure, comparison, and the feeling that no amount of giving is ever “enough.”

This shift toward excess doesn’t just affect our mental well-being; it has a measurable environmental cost. The weeks surrounding Christmas generate massive amounts of waste, from packaging and wrapping paper to broken decorations and unwanted gifts. Much of this waste is not recyclable, especially items made with mixed materials, plastic coatings, or glitter. Trees, lights, toys, and trendy décor are often bought cheaply, used briefly, and discarded when styles change or items break.

Fast fashion also plays a major role during the holidays. “Christmas outfits,” novelty sweaters, and holiday-themed accessories are frequently worn once and then forgotten. The production of these items consumes water, energy, and raw materials while contributing to pollution and landfill overflow. Similarly, the surge in online shopping increases emissions through manufacturing, packaging, and expedited shipping, each purchase carrying an environmental footprint that extends far beyond December.

Food waste spikes during the holidays as well. In an effort to create abundance, many households overbuy and over-prepare, leading to uneaten meals and discarded leftovers. While generosity is at the heart of holiday meals, the environmental reality is that wasted food also wastes the land, water, and energy used to produce it.

None of this means that Christmas itself is the problem. The issue is not celebration, tradition, or even gift-giving, it is the idea that joy must be purchased in bulk. Somewhere along the way, the meaning of the season became tangled with consumption, and the result is a holiday that often feels rushed, cluttered, and disconnected from its original purpose.

Reimagining Christmas does not require eliminating gifts or traditions. Instead, it invites us to be more intentional. Experiences, shared meals, handmade items, reused decorations, and gifts that serve a purpose all help shift the focus back to connection rather than accumulation. Slowing down, buying less, and choosing thoughtfully can reduce environmental impact while making the season feel more genuine.

Perhaps the most sustainable change we can make is redefining what “enough” looks like. When Christmas is no longer measured by the number of packages under the tree, it leaves room for what many of us are actually craving: time, presence, warmth, and meaning. By stepping back from consumerism, we not only lessen our impact on the planet, we reclaim the spirit of the season itself.