Christmas is finally behind us but not the challenge of transforming our family culture into a sustainable one. During the last couple of years we have kept christmas very simple just for our own mental sanity. Instead of shopping, parties, and presents, we have opted for trips and winter sports. During the last holidays there were two factors that altered our peaceful plans. First, we welcomed our baby boy 8 weeks before christmas. Second, our 6 years old believed, like never before, in Santa — and with that the asking and waiting for presents to show up by “miracle”.
This year with no winter scape, we prepared ourselves to celebrate Christmas at home while enforcing our goals of being sustainable. Our family goals were very simple: buy second hand (only to our 6 years old) and only one or two presents that he would truly enjoy and didn't have until now.
Since we know how intensive Christmas shopping can get my wife and I sat down with our older son and wrote a letter to Santa in advance. As parents, we thought we were going to be doing a greater good, re-using, reducing waste, and saving money while taking the opportunity to show him the value of used toys. We also went online and searched on the most common second hand shopping websites used in Switzerland. We found tons of “pre-loved” toys that match exactly what we were looking. To our surprise, the toys items were as expensive as a brand new item (we are aware that this phenomenon might only happen in Switzerland where the value of used items are not depreciated but rather appreciated). It was not possible to justify the hassle to contact a seller, driving to an unknown location, and get the item (that may or may not match the description). Added to that, there was the issue of my son’s expectations of presents — mostly given by the movies, which is very hard to change.
Nevertheless, he got 2 presents: a Swiss brand kick scooter, which is modular and can be replaced by components in case something breaks down (giving this plenty of years of life), and a Lego set that should last him a long time. So I would say the quality and choice of the presents is as important as the volume.
As a family, I believe we succeeded in this Christmas overconsumption, however, it seems that there are battles that are simpler to fight. Christmas is not one of them. I think with anticipation and alignment on the expectations of presents with the family, and specially if there are kids involved, it is possible to drive less consumption. Christmas aside, the next steps are to continue with the family sustainability trend, which has had an impact in some family members and friends — which will be posted soon. I think we can achieve a greater impact with waste management on the food we buy and to compost the organic waste. This is the beginning of the journey but we are getting there!
