Tis the season to be jolly..... Ba humbug!

A few of you might already know that I don't really "do" Christmas. It really is NOT my favourite time of year. Don't get me wrong I love the long winter evenings in front of a cosy fire, the smell of mulled wine wafting from the kitchen and of course the twinkle of lights on the Christmas tree.

I have a collection of vintage Christmas decorations which I enjoy  unpacking every year, and often as a family we decorate the tree together, reminiscing about the Christmas decorations made by the boys at school and funny stories about school carol services and plays..... I also enjoy getting together with friends and family around Christmas time.

What I have found so depressing in the past weeks are the usual frenetic adverts on TV encouraging us to go shopping for gifts (and that the supermarket aisles have been stocked up with "Christmas Fayre" since August). It is also the fact that all the Charity Shops are now full to the rafters of "festive items" for sale. Most of which appear to be "unwanted gifts" from the previous year. It is clear to see that most of these items were donated to charity on January 2nd as nobody wanted yet another pack of notelets, novelty apron, bubble bath or imported resin ornaments cluttering up their homes.

It will be great if the charity shops manage to sell all these items, but sadly I suspect that the majority of the population are charging around the High Street shops like headless chickens buying more of the same for their unsuspecting friends and relatives!

The fact is that most of us don't NEED anything, a lot of homes in this country are so full of stuff that there is a boom in renting storage space. There is a Big Yellow Storage Unit (or similar in almost every town you drive through).
If anyone has ever been to the first Car Boot sale of the year (usually in about March/April time) the stands are piled high with CD's (still in the wrapper), coffee table books, diaries, calendars, perfumes, soaps, mass produced imported tat.... in short - more "unwanted gifts" !
Of course it is lovely to give and receive gifts, but somewhere along the line it has become seriously unpleasant and out of control.
Sending cards at Christmas is something that mother stopped doing many years ago. Instead she gave a donation to her favourite charity.She still writes letters at Christmas and phones friends who she may not have seen or spoken to for a long time.
Like her I have started to do the same. When my Christmas card list was approaching 200 I decided that it was time to reduce the habit. Now I also try to write letters or phone friends. Last year I even used facebook to send out greetings to friends, and why not? It doesn't waste paper or card. How many people actually bother to recycle their cards each year? How much ends up in landfill??


What is heartening is the recent trend for making gifts and cards again, there are fantastic examples of imaginative and beautiful treasures on etsy, folksy and in blogland. Once again recycling is chic and perhaps we are beginning to steer away from the throw-away society we have become in recent years? I am sorry to post a bit of a "rant". I have no intention to offend or upset anyone, it is just this amount of needless waste and overindulgence depresses me when you think of people in other parts of the world who don't even have a roof over their heads, let alone personal possessions.

I feel the same with the food shopping, and the "siege mentality" that kicks in every year. It is good to eat nice meals and have special treats, but how much of this actually just ends up in the bin. There are just 12 months in every year, and I get irritated that almost 3 of them are directed towards a 2 day "holiday" at the end of December.

I think I should stop now, and in case you are wondering about the pictures accompanying this post. They are a few of the items I have on ebay at the moment, or are taking to the wonderful Vintage and Handmade fair next weekend. Where I promise I will be smiling and not doing an imitation of Scrooge!!!!