The world isn’t going to hell in a handbasket, it’s going to hell in a shopping basket.

Ho!Ho!Ho! Merry Christmas!

I had the pleasure of reading The Problem With Christmas : Are you brave enough to say no to a high-stress holiday? today. Bill McKibben has a way with words and he didn’t fail me in his addressing the issue of Consumer Based Christmas. In his article, he highlights all of the personal problems I have with the holiday and offers up some insight into the possible ways to reduce the stress and achieve a more peaceful celebration. And, SURPRISE, none of them involve the terrible S word: shopping.

First off, I was thrilled to find out that my feelings surrounding this time of the year aren’t unnatural. It was a welcome relief to see that there are others out there who struggle each and every year like I do.

If you poll Americans this time of year, far more of them regard the approaching holidays with dread than anticipation. It has long since become too busy, too expensive, too centered around acquiring that which we do not need.

And his suggestions for alternate gifts were also among the very things I found myself thinking about giving in place of the usual ties, socks, picture frames, and candle holders.

A gift of time — a coupon for a back rub, or a trip to the museum, or a dinner prepared someday in the future — is a gift whose exchange rate is figured in a stronger currency (if you’re an economics major, think euros vs. dollars). Or gifts can come embedded with time already spent: a jar of homemade jam, a stack of firewood in the back yard.

Then he speaks to my heart deeply when he speaks the truth of exactly where the environmental part of this problem comes into play.

[…] our environmental problem, at root, isn’t that the stuff we’re buying uses too much energy or too much plastic, or that its paint has lead in it, or that it’s been shipped too far. Our environmental problem is that we consume way too much because we’ve agreed to try and meet basic human needs — status, respect, affection — with material ends. And no time more so than at Christmas, when Santa rides in on a Norelco razor. It’s a kind of joint conspiracy that few of us dare break out of, even though we all understand at some level that it’s not working.

For several years now I’ve tried to come up with a way to approach my family about this issue. For several years I’ve felt so discouraged and depressed whenever Christmas comes around because I know what it means: money spent on gifts not needed on a day not celebrated for what it really is. I’ve struggled to understand why my family members insist on spending more, doing more, planning more, buying more every single year. It has gotten so bad that I was thrilled to death when they finally decided to draw names, limiting the number of gifts purchased each year, at least.

Alternate giving has been a tactic for me for the past two years or so. For instance, one year I bought my family members a month’s membership to a fitness center. What happened? They never used it. Another time I bought some a 30 minute massage. Yet again, they never cashed it in. For Mother’s Day I donated some money to a charity in my mother and sister’s name and gave them the card explaining the details. How did they take it? Well, let’s just say there was no excitement in the air that day.

With Christmas upon us yet again, I have more reasons to finally approach my family and request that they not buy us gifts this year. Not only do we find it ridiculous to have everyone go out and spend money on a gift for us just for the sake of buying a gift, it would mean that it is one more thing we’ll have to get rid of this year. So what is the point if it’s something that will just end up on eBay or in a bag going to Goodwill? We won’t be able to take a bunch of stuff on the bus with us, only the necessities. And let’s face it, Christmas gifts are usually anything but the necessities.

While gifts to loved ones don’t have to be a necessity, you can still manage to give them something of importance that doesn’t require finding a space for or a sneaky way to regift without the original giver finding out. My alternatives, unfortunately, haven’t been the best options for my family members, but who is to say they won’t be for someone else. I, for one, would love a free month at a gym or a 30 minute full body massage. But hey, that’s me. I think the trick is finding out what works for you and your loved ones. Coming to the answer will require thinking outside the box (or shopping cart), though. Is that something you are ready to do?