People shaming you

[wards]

Would be interesting to see if he would reject Xmas gifts if they came to him wrapped.

 

[The Pandector]

Well, cards, wrapping paper, etc. are largely wasteful. I don't see how you can argue otherwise since most of it goes right in the trash. I don't see how tradition outweighs valuing the planet and what allows us to exist.

That doesn't mean everyone who celebrates is evil, but people lived just fine before all these "traditions" existed.

Yeah. I wonder if science could determine what percentage of the mass under the tree finally served a purpose. Don’t include that Christmas sweater never worn or toy tossed into the toy box unused. Then calculate the price of the useful per gram versus unit price of the useless.

If someone gifts me a bottle of wine, the bottle and cork are necessary. However, the card, envelope, box, paper, tape, ribbon, tree, light strings, house decorations, accompanying power consumption and collateral frayed nerves and financial impact… are what we have made of Christmas. You could have spent $5 more on the wine and handed it to me in a recycled lunch sack, upon which is scrawled Pandector in magic marker.

I guess the trick is to keep the wine in mind. Otherwise, I start thinking of families torn by Christmas tree fires and the shocking number of bones broken annually due to falling from the ladder while installing lights.

 

[Mary Terry]

Well, cards, wrapping paper, etc. are largely wasteful. I don't see how you can argue otherwise since most of it goes right in the trash. I don't see how tradition outweighs valuing the planet and what allows us to exist.

That doesn't mean everyone who celebrates is evil, but people lived just fine before all these "traditions" existed.

We use a lot of gift bags. Everyone recycles the bags for next year's gifts. Same thing with nice ribbons and bows. It is not unusual for me to see the same old gift bag that I used ten years ago for a gift to show up this year.

 

[Judge]

We use a lot of gift bags. Everyone recycles the bags for next year's gifts. Same thing with nice ribbons and bows. It is not unusual for me to see the same old gift bag that I used ten years ago for a gift to show up this year.

Same here. Very practical alternative.

 

[Mary Terry]

One thing about paper, besides the things in mentioned earlier. Here paper is recycled. We have a separate garbage can for paper. So that paper is turned into pulp and then turned into new paper. Same as plastic, we have a separate garbage can for that too. So it's very possible to make and use Christmas cards and not wreck the forest. With environmentally friendly forestry techniques and recycling, it works fine. It's not like we have to kill a forest to make paper.

I have made log cabins, using a lot of trees. But we didn't kill any forests and the trees were replaced with new trees. It's possible to use resources and still keep the planet alive and healthy.

Paper is recycled in the US, too. A lot of the toilet paper and paper towels used in the US is made from recycled paper. Some states do a better job than others to facilitate recycling so it is not uniform across the country.

 

[Gerontius]

Christmas cards used to be postcards at one point. The larger cards and envelopes came about as a way to enclose money, or do a fun pop up design, or whatever.

I think it's a wonderful, wonderful holiday, but am happily avoiding the commercial aspect to the feast.

Hundreds of years of Christmas, every culture that celebrates it does so in a different way, and I don't feel guilty at all about not putting plastic and whatnot everywhere.

 

[GrownupGirl]

The only problem I have with cards is that they're insanely expensive.

 

[Progster]

I don't see the point or necessity of cards where one can just as easily send a text message to wish someone a happy Christmas or birthday or whatever. I never send or give cards.

 

[Misty Avich]

I like to send cards. It feels more personal, like a gift.
I hate when people bring climate change into everything as a way to make people feel bad or guilty for doing something they always have done traditionally. It's like politics have to be brought into everything these days instead of just enjoying the Christmas cheer.

I wouldn't criticise people who don't send cards though, and I don't give to receive. I give because I enjoy it. It's their choice whether they want to send out cards or not. I like writing cards out and sending them. When I lived at home me and my mum would go around a lot of the houses of people we knew in our neighbourhood and post Christmas cards through their doors. It was a fun and festive activity, especially when we went into each garden and got to see the lovely Christmas lights people had displayed. It's a bit like trick-or-treating in a way, only not.

 

[Dagan]

Tell this person that they will be visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve and never allowed to use toilet paper ever again.