Getting Ready for Christmas 2020

 

This has been a very unusual year, but one thing that is sort of following the same route is Christmas.  Of course, there have been some slight changes but on the whole, it's pretty much been as standard.  So, this is how I've prepared for Christmas this year.

Christmas Cards

These have basically all been sent now, with only a couple to go with Christmas presents.  As with the last few years, I've made them myself using a cross-stitch pattern.  However, as I had extra time this year, I decided to turn them into sort of Christmas decorations by putting them onto fabric.  It's unlikely I'll do this every year, but it was a nice way to pass the extra time I had.

Christmas Presents

As before, I've tried to make my presents as sustainable as possible, though it's not always possible.  I have done my best, but I did still have to buy some things from the dreaded Amazon (I know they're now putting forward their climate plan - after much pushing from outside sources - I still feel guilty doing it).  I've actually made a few items this year, mostly knitting with a few bits of sewing here and there.  I've really enjoyed it, but I don't know if I'll be able to do this again next year.  One thing I do want to do in the future is to pay much more attention to the wool and fabric I use to make sure I'm buying the most ethical and sustainable products possible.

As I said, a few items were brought from Amazon as I struggled to find them anywhere else.  However, I did manage to find a few items on the Ethical Superstore and some books from Book Shop, which helps support local, independent bookshops by allowing you to buy directly from one of them or by pooling their profits and distributing this to the stores.  I also brought something from a small independent music shop.  It has taken a little longer for the items from independent shops to get to me, but I'm hoping I've ordered them early enough for them to arrive in time for Christmas.

Wrapping paper

In the past, I have tried to get out to charity shops to buy scarves and fabric to wrap the presents in, or brought brown paper which I've made more festive with stamps.  That hasn't quite been an option this year, so instead, I decided to go for wrapping paper made from 100% recycled paper and printed with environmentally friendly vegetable ink from Re-wrapped.  The designs are really good and the paper is such good quality that it's almost difficult to wrap with.

Advent Calendar

I usually don't bother with these, except for the one my Mum sometimes gets me.  However, we decided to do things a little differently this year, basically when we saw the Brewdog advent beer calendar.  Good beer, supporting a British organisation that pays a living wage and is being carbon neutral, seemed like a good idea.  And then I had a hankering for something tea-based.  So now we also have the English Tea Shop Organic advent calendar which allows me to try a whole lot of new teas.  Of course, there's also the chocolate calendar my Mum has gotten us.

Christmas Decorations

I do have some somewhere in storage, and by some I mean a couple.  I'm not really sure where they are and I'm not too bothered about not having them up this year as I've never really needed Christmas decorations to feel Christmas-ie.  We did get this little wooden Christmas tree, to replace mine that broke last year, so that we have somewhere to put the presents.  In the long run, what I'm really looking for is some Scandinavian decorations (mostly the wooden ones) that I can keep for years to come.  However, they are turning out to be quite difficult to find and may just be something I have to collect over the years rather than get this year specifically.

Christmas Food

This bit I haven't thought about at all.  I don't even really know where we're going to be so starting to buy in stuff that needs to be stored isn't really an option right now.  Obviously, it'll mostly be vegetarian, if not vegan, and mainly made from scratch, but that's about as far as I've gotten when it comes to thinking about it.  I guess we'll have to just wait and see.

And that's it.  It's pretty similar to the last few years (apart from last year as I was in New Zealand), just with a few more constraints.  The biggest difference this year is that I wasn't able to save up for it over the year like I did the last couple of years.  That's definitely the plan for next year to make things easier.  I hope your Christmas planning is going well.