Now that I have opened the door on Christmas I find I can’t stop. In the last week I have been sent a couple of bits of interesting research on the subject of Christmas 2009. Apparently the credit crunch/recession will mean that more of us than ever before will recycle Christmas presents this year.

Personally I have always had a somewhat schizophrenic attitude to recycling presents. While I have no issues with receiving a recycled present – after all why would I? If a friend feels a gift is a good one for me I really don’t care whether they bought it for me or not.

On the other hand I just can not bring myself to recycle presents myself. I know this is daft but I just can’t. It also puts me in a minority as according to research by www.Prezzybox.com some 86% of Brits will be recycling gifts this year to save money.

What I have done with these unused gifts (all still in packaging) though is donate them to my son’s school Christmas Fair. And I know a lot of other Mums have done this too. This way come Saturday they will
be helping raise money for his school – money that is vitally needed now that the Council has decided to slash budgets again next year.

The other bit of research was about how many of us will be making our own Christmas gifts this year. The impetus for this burst of creativity is also the credit crunch apparently. I am not creative in that way at all and a terrible cook so their isn’t really that much scope for me in this area. However the Christmas gift I treasure most is a home made one. It is on my desk as I write this and I absolutely love it.

It is a drawing of a Christmas Tree my son did when he was three and on the back it says “Happy Christmas Mummy” all sealed inside a coaster. Along side the 78 cream eggs my sister gave me for my 18 birthday it is probably my favourite present of all time.