Side Stepping Normal in December
Side Stepping Normal will be taking a break for the rest of December to give us more time to prepare for Christmas. We’ll be back in January with a whole host of essays and newsletters about our attempt to side step the normalcy of a civilization hell-bent on damaging the climate and environment. Before we do that though, what does Christmas look like for us?
Side Stepping Normal at Christmas
A truly environmentally conscious Christmas would probably require significant restraint and change to how we celebrate. I’d love to say that was us, but our Christmas is probably similar to many others. Like everything, its a process of thinking about what we do and how we do it, and trying to find better and more sustainable ways of doing it instead.
Here are a few highlights:
Presents
We do try to make some of our gifts, but with a 5 year old (nearing 6) its not really possible to avoid buying toys and other presents as well. That said, we do try to limit this. Sometime ago we came across the ‘5 gift rule’ which suggests that presents should be limited to five, each with a different purpose:
Want
Need
Read
Wear
Something to do
Let’s break that down a bit:
Want - a key present that the child is desperate to have.
Need - something that the child needs (new furniture, a bike, equipment, clothes, etc.)
Read - a book or comic to read
Wear - new clothes as children are always outgrowing them or destroying them - we aim for second-hand where possible, although that gets harder as the child grows older.
Something to do - don’t just think about presents, but experiences. What can you do as a family that the child will enjoy and remember?
In addition to these we also have a stocking with a limit of 5 items in them. These are a mixture of things, but will include dull but useful stuff like a new toothbrush or socks!
Food
Christmas dinner is meant to be a feast and we don’t shy away from doing this. Our Christmas dinner is a traditional affair of Turkey (sometimes goose), Yorkshire Pudding, Brussels Sprouts (why people hate these I will never know!), roasted veg including parsnips and carrots, roasted potatoes, cranberry sauce, bread sauce, and stuffing.
For us, though, all this food is not intended for just one meal. It’s there to be remade into meals for the future too. The dinner includes meat, but this is also part of a strategy to reduce our meat consumption throughout the year. It’s not so much about not having meat to eat for us, but reducing consumption overall. So, we buy a whole Turkey or Goose which is a bit too large for us, but with the intention that the left-overs are used for meals over the next few days and changed into pies, curries, soups, and other meals which can be frozen.
The day after Boxing Day is our ‘cooking day’. We use up most of the left-over meat, along with any left over vegetables and sauces to make new meals. These help to feed us throughout the rest of winter, reducing what we need to buy at other times of the year and reducing our meat consumption in general!
Games
Christmas isn’t the same without a game or two. We try to avoid television on Christmas day if we can (something which is much harder to do with a young child in the house), so that we can focus on other things. Our child will help us with making the Christmas dinner in the morning and later on we always go for a walk. Then, a bit later, its game time.
We have a variety of board games and kids games that we can play, but we also try to design our own. These meet with varying results but are usually fun anyway. Here are a few examples:
Dice story game
In the past we’ve made a story out of dices. We put stickers on each side of the dice. There are six in all,
two have places on them,
two have characters,
and two actions.
Thus, when three dice are thrown at the same time, the thrower has to make a story out of the elements given to them.
Board Game
More complicated to make, but can be fun as long as you make it easy enough. Cut up a cardboard letter (roughly A4 x A4 in size) and stick on to it two pieces of white paper. Then draw a track with sections. Decide what happens when a player lands on a section. Get a dice and play the game! This can be on any topic or theme that you would like to choose.
Crackers Game
This one takes a fair bit of work, but why not make your own Christmas Crackers. Save a lot of toilet rolls and then wrap them up in brown paper, tying the ends together with string. You can draw on the brown paper to make it look more christmasy (I’m afraid these Crackers don’t go ‘crack’!).
What you decide to put inside is entirely up to you, but I usually try to include elements which, when put together, make a game. This could be playing pieces for a board game, or clues to search out other clues hidden around the house. This can be a fun way to introduce the game and to make crackers actually a bit more useful.
Wrapping Paper
I can’t remember the last time that I brought wrapping paper. Some of it can be recycled but so much of it is still non-recyclable. We usually use brown paper and decorate it ourselves with Christmas drawings. None of us are particularly good at drawing but that doesn’t matter. It makes present opening all the more fun as you never know what artwork you’ll get next (and means that all wrapping paper can be recycled once the tape has been removed.
One year we did try to avoid sellotape entirely and use string instead. That can work, but it was fiddly and didn’t necessarily hold the presents as well.
Have a great Christmas Break!
All that’s left to say is have a great Christmas or Christmas break and enjoy celebrating the new year! We’ll be back in January 2025!