It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
Can’t you just hear that line being sung by the iconic Christmas caroller Andy Williams? You can just hear it being sung with his smooth yet husky voice on a fine Christmas morning.
Indeed, Christmas has long been dubbed “the most wonderful time of the year” – and for good reason! When the yuletide season comes around, magic instantly fills the air. During this time of year, children’s laughter seems a bit louder, people’s smiles look a bit wider, and everyone definitely is a bit kinder! Christmas casts this certain spell on people and the resulting atmosphere is simply mesmerizing.
However, what if I told you that this seemingly “perfect” holiday isn’t so perfect after all?
I’m sure you detest the notion! But really, behind this mask of perfect happiness lies an untold truth. And, it’s much harsher than you can imagine:
Christmas may be the most wonderful time of the year – but it’s also the nastiest. Accumulating three million tons of general waste (or more) in the UK alone, the Christmas season stands as a major environmental concern. It’s alarming to think that people can accumulate several months’ worth of waste materials in a span of one month. Imagine the kind of impact this inflicts on our environment year after year.
Every time you throw out all the pieces of wrapping paper scattered all across the living room on Christmas morning, have you ever thought where all of these get dumped to? Have you ever considered recycling them? Do you choose what types of material to use as wrapping paper or do you just buy whatever? These questions may seem irrelevant but they are very important. A single wrapping paper may be no big deal but think thousands – no, millions of miles of wrapping paper being thrown out after Christmas morning every year and you’ll begin to see how much of an environmental threat it actually is.
There’s also the issue of cutting down actual trees to use for decoration. I saw one video today of a family who keeps all their dead Christmas trees in the backyard. There were ten – symbolizing ten Christmases that have gone already. This means that in the next few years, this family will continue to cut down trees and use them for decoration. Although it has been a long-standing tradition, it doesn’t change the fact that cutting down trees won’t help resolve problems concerning Global Warming. In fact, it will only worsen it.
This year, let’s be a little more mindful of how we practice tradition. Create a brand new way of celebrating Christmas with your family. And while you’re at it, make it zero waste! I know it requires a lot of thinking and guts to suddenly change old traditions. It may be a difficult and challenging thing to do but it is still possible.
Thrive for that possibility.
