Christmas is a happy time for nearly all of us, re-affirming bonds of family and friendship whether or not we celebrate it as a religious festival. 

But it is not all good. The spiritual side of Christmas was being drowned out by the clangour of cash-register bells even when I was a small child still willing to believe in Santa, and in these days of environmental degradation there is another reason to reject its commercialisation, too: Christmas is yet another pretext for blatantly wasteful over-consumption.

In itself, giving is always a good thing (receiving can be nice, too!) and Christmas can be a good excuse to acknowledge our relationships in this way. And choosing not to give presents offends and upsets those who believe in tradition, while refusing to accept gifts offends them even more. So what can we do to opt out of Consumas and back in to Christmas?