Diana Clement: Tips for a more meaningful Christmas

Homemade gifts are always well received. Photo / 123RF

Christmas can be exhausting, stressful and wasteful. But there are many ways to inject more meaning into it. Every minute of careful thinking and planning is multiplied several times over in meaningful output.

A few years ago, the Retirement Commissioner released some research that indicated, for adults, presents came seventh down the list of the joys of Christmas. Family is by far the most important thing about Christmas for 62 per cent of us. Summer weather comes in second at 37 per cent and time off work, 33 per cent. That doesn't surprise me.

Shopping, commercialism and the cost of Christmas were the three things people look forward to the least, all coming in at around 33 per cent.

Previous research by the Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission found that people struggling the most financially feel the greatest pressure to spend at Christmas. The commission recommended setting dollar limits on gifts, only buying for children, or having a secret Santa system, which are good ways to create more meaning.

What's right for me doesn't necessarily work for others. And there will always be issues faced by other families that I haven't even considered. Nonetheless here are some of my ideas that can help make your Christmas more meaningful.

Buy local, buy ethical, buy green

For the record, I try to buy less at Christmas and love the concept of the Buy Nothing Christmas. Where possible I buy second-hand, repurpose or make gifts, attempting to lessen my carbon footprint a tad. In the real world, most people buy more than a few gifts for others, especially children. One good gift is better than multiple unwanted gifts. Ask people what they want. Or make sure there is a story behind the gift that the receiver will appreciate. If you are buying stuff, then Covid-19 has made us much more aware of the benefits to ourselves and our communities of shopping local. Many parts of New Zealand have Christmas or farmers markets to shop at. Or consider shopping at some of the brands listed on the ethical marketplace at Fairandgood.co.nz

Create family traditions

I've talked about this before. Traditions add joy to Christmas. For some it's carol services, or trips to donate presents to charities. While admittedly a bit mindless, one of our family traditions is the annual mall trip to enjoy the scents, sounds and window displays at Christmas. It may not be as appealing this year, laced as it is with a whiff of Covid. Another given is that we eat homemade bagels for breakfast on Christmas day. A new tradition is wrapping our presents in the death notices, after I did that accidentally last year. Having seen creative newspaper wrapping on Pinterest, I saved the OneRoof Commercial section for months, not realising the back of it was the family notices. It was so funny we plan to repeat the exercise. Ask your friends what their Christmas traditions involve: big and small. You could add a few to your repertoire.

Keep it simple

Less is more in my humble opinion. Be more mindful about Christmas. And give experiences instead of stuff, if appropriate. Thanks to two birthdays and Christmas all in December I'm already exhausted. Sharing the workload helps a lot. Sometimes the female partner is left to do everything. The shopping, cooking, and more. There is no biological reason the man can't be assigned tasks such as present wrapping or even given responsibility for a chunk of the planning. If you have friends or family coming for dinner, don't say "bring a plate". Tell them exactly what to bring, to lessen your workload. Delegate jobs on the day, such as collecting up the recycling. Or consider having the gathering in a park so that one family member isn't left doing all the work. Many of us are learning to love picnics more than ever thanks to Covid.

Whatever you do, schedule some activities that give you joy this Christmas and New Year.