This is a big birthday month for my family.
Gift bags: Pull out tissue paper, extract gift, throw away tissue.
Boxes: Tear off paper, open box, extract gift, throw away tissue.
See anything wrong here? This same routine will be repeated at Christmas, so let’s be clear. I was so glad to see the trend toward gift bags years ago because we REUSE them. I’ve even been known to reuse tissue paper. Did you know you can iron the wrinkles out very quickly. Yup! But I’m past that. When the gifts went to my granddaughters this month, I used tissue paper in the younger one’s gift bag. The older girl offered it back to me. Now, I’ve been thinking about this a long time. It’s not as if I’m buying tissue paper; I’m using up an old stash. But still. So when my gift went to the elder girl, I skipped the tissue paper and briefly explained why to her. She’s seven. She’s been environmentally educated since she was old enough to get it. She turns off the water when she brushes her teeth to conserve water. She gets it!–and enjoyed her gift just as much. She was even so cute as to close her eyes while she extracted it from its bag. What a doll.
Christmas is coming faster than we know it. Now I don’t want to put the greeting card industry out of business overnight. Our family has discontinued card giving, but I won’t preach that everyone should. But can’t we all at least discontinue (ab)using tissue paper?? Worldwide, that’s a lot of trees. Save a few.
