Merry Ishmas

Posted by Andy Hamilton - 09/12/08 at 07:12:59 pm

We created a word with “selfsufficientish” and so what’s to stop us creating another one with Ishmas? So what is ishmas? What does it mean? Well it’s like Christmas; in fact it really is what Christmas future will have to be as it is sustainable and thoughtful.

Ishmas is celebrated on the 25th December and has one message and one alone and that is to really think before you do anything for Ishmas day. Think about what you buy and think about your loved ones, don’t allow any of them to go hungry and don’t get tricked into thinking that the more money you spend on them the happier they will be.

So many people tend to forget their morals and consuming habits at Christmas time, this was very apparent when I went to a Christmas market in Bath at the weekend; hundreds of people were trying to push through the narrow streets, ladened with arms full of wrapping paper, decorations and presents. All things that I am cutting back on buying this year. In fact the only presents I am buying are copies of my own book, and I am only giving out one of those. So think ishmas, think don’t spend money.

I might sound like a humbug, but I think I am giving people far more thoughtful and individual presents than I could get was I too trudge around an out of town shopping monstrosity. My shop is the local common, the wood and well I do also need to buy the odd ingredient from a health food shop. Oh and I think, like James Strawbridge of It’s not easy being green fame, there is no harm in buying just one book – The Selfsufficientish Bible.

Decorations and trees

Ishmas starts with decorations, we still have some left from Christmas past the odd bit of tinsle and the plastic tree but as ever bits get broken and go missing and there always seems to be half as much as the year before. So for decorations for Ishmas this year I decided that we would weed our friends allotment, he has a holly tree and having the corner plot he has ivy growing all over the surrounding walls. We filled up to bags with this holly and ivy and it now adorns our living room, it really does make the room feel cosy too. According to the Druids by bringing in evergreens we are giving the natural spirits somewhere safe to stay, nice one always good to have spirits at Christmas.

If our “normal” decorations start to fall apart next year then they will be totally replaced with holly, ivy and other evergreens that I will get from the local area. Thus being a carbon free and highly sustainable way of decorating the house. I will have to point out that you should be careful with this approach if you have small children or animals as many everygreen berries are poisonus.

I will keep the plastic tree though as I don’t see any need of growing one when a fake one does the job. This tree on the left belongs to an old lady in Chippenham and it is thought to be the oldest christmas tree in use. It is still being used after 120 christmases. I am not sure if ours will last that long. This must be the most sustainable christmas tree in the world too as only one tree has been used instead of 120, imagine if every tree was fake and lasted this long we would all save a fortune on the yearly cost of trees which stands at £20 million just here in the UK.

Presents

I have to be careful with what I write here about presents as I know that some of the recipents read my blog, so no clues here Mum! Needless to say it the thought that counts with presents. I had to start to make some of my presents months ago and so they will have lots of thought put into them. One that I can talk about is my hop pillow, for my insomniac friend. I cut up a very tatty old white shirt into one big square. Then I sewed up each side of it leaving a big gap. I filled it with hops from my allotment, a few sprigs of lavender and the rest of the shirt to pad it out a little. Then I sowed up the final side to make a pillow.

I have also dug up feverfew from my allotment to give to a friend who gets a lot of migranes. For other friends I have a big barrel of beer on the brew and they are going to get a bottle each with a personalised label. For example, “blue moon ale” will be written on the label of a mate who only drinks every few months.

Lastly I am putting together herbal kits including ointments made from ingredients I have foraged and dried herbs that I have foraged. These are for the people that you would normally buy soap for as you don’t have a clue what to get them.

I hope that everyone will be happy with what they are given and I am very thankful that I don’t have any teenagers to but for. Well I guess I would just give them booze and I am sure they would be happy. Not so sure their parents would be though.

Wrapping paper

So what do you use for ishmas wrapping paper? Last year I used old magazines, but I used these wisely only using pages that I thought relivant to the recipent of the gift. So my big mouthed friend got pictures of Jade goody, my political friend got picture of MP’s and Dave got pictures of dog’s playing cards.

I will also be making paper this year from mushrooms but if I said more it might spoil the surprise of one of my gifts.

Transport

I decided too that I might not spend any money on transport this year either and am seriously contemplating cycling home. Home is up in Northampton which is about 102 according to google maps. This I could be done in a day if I was feeling very fit, in reality 2 days would mean I could do it all in daylight which does sound like a better plan. I would stay at a mates house, certainly would mean that I would not have to worry about the crowds at the train and bus stations.

If the weather is bad though I will scrub this idea and try for a liftshare.

Ishmas

So that would be an ishmas, I hope you agree that instead of a Christmas full of stress and spending it is one full of joy and love. Merry Ishmas everyone.

3 Comments

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1. what a great idea. i have posted this to my facebook. i love james strawbridge! we are facebook friends! met him at glastonbury and he was lovely.

   me and my husband have had to ask our parents to wrap our gifts in newspaper as we discovered the council will not pick up wrapping paper for recycling!

   Merry Ishmas!

   Emma

   Comment by Eccentric Emma — December 10, 2008 #

2. He does seem to be a nice bloke and passionate about green issues too, which was good to see.

   I am sure there is a list as long as your arm of what councils won’t pick up, that reminds me I have a years worth of plastic bottles to take down to the bottle bank.

   Merry ishmas back to you Emma.

   Comment by andyhamilton — December 10, 2008 #

3. some great ideas, if you are feeling crafty and want to put an extra special, eco friendly touch to your gifts, try out these recycled paper gift bows!
   They are so easy to make, anyone can have a go
   http://pouchbags.blogspot.com/2008/12/recycled-paper-gift-bows.html

   Comment by pouch — December 22, 2008 #

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