If you celebrated Christmas by wrapping and unwrapping presents next to a freshly cut Christmas tree, what now?  Where did all the paper, ribbons & plastics go to, and what happens to the tree? Isn’t this a lot of waste produced? How does it make you feel after? What is the message that kids in your family learn from doing this every year?

What are the values of Christmas that drive you? Is it about your relationships/connections and the people that you love? Is it just about consumerism and gifting that makes the festive season so special?

Are you environmentally conscious at Christmas time?  How did the Christmas tree industry start anyway?  Is cutting trees encouraged by anyone’s bible? Tree worship was common among the pagan who believed to bring with them the custom when they converted to Christianity hundreds of years after the life of Jesus. Why should you follow these pagan worship ‘traditions’ blindly? How can you evolve your future Christmases to be aligned with the values of planetary preservation?

Did you know that every year an average person in the developed world consumes about 7 trees? Just think about your personal toilet paper consumption and disposable diapers if you are a parent.

We can change our behaviors, our Christmas customs now. We can revert back to the spiritual meaning of the festive season of giving and community. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Plant or pay to plant 8 trees a year for each one of your family members. In some countries like in Israel, you can get a grove under your name if they plant for you more than 1,000 trees.
2. From now on be comfortable with not wrapping presents or wrapping them in creative ways out of old newspaper/magazine pages. When you live your values of caring for the environment, you brand yourself as an environmentally conscious human. People will respect you more and will not expect perfectly wrapped gifts from you anymore.
3. Engage the family members in preparing eco-friendly Christmas decorations. 
4. What if you go to nature and camp next to a tree and decorate it without cutting it?  How about buying a potted plant that you can ethically decorate and then have forever in your home? What if you could use a spectacular 3D projection or a hologram instead of a dying tree?

Don’t get me wrong. I love tradition, fairy tales, and celebrations. My message is that we were led by consumerism to stray away from the real messages and the spiritual meaning of the festival. Let’s reclaim it.

I bless you the blessing for the reward promised to the “blessed man” in Psalms 1:3  “He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water,  that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.”