My son, who lives in Bristol, is a young adult with a lot of climate anxiety. He despises our government and feels a great deal of doom and negativity regarding his future. He lives with his girlfriend (who is slightly less burdened by such weighty matters) in a decent part of the city, but their flat is poorly insulated, [naturally] very expensive, and noisy. Neither drive–part of their commitment to a reduced carbon lifestyle–so getting home is tricky, and although they both work relatively flexible hours, it’s costly and protracted to make their way to Sussex, and the train strikes mean their planned trip home for Christmas has had to be bumped.
So far, so not very Blogmas and cheery. As my living quarters are quite cosy and compact, I have made myself a stick-and-string tree to hang on my eaves door; I made one for my daughter too who is living with her boyfriend at his family home and therefore they are also short on space.
I offered to make one for Tristan, fully expecting a “bah-humbug” response but he said it would be nice, so I hastily found a lightweight length of field maple, and tied it together with recycled string from my Abel & Cole boxes. My daughter then organised a Crafternoon via FaceTime, and I made some decorations using cardboard, offcuts from my envelopes, and more string. Amber made some cardboard gingerbread houses, and some metal decorations using a tomato puree tube which is currently a craze on social media.
I love how these decorations turned out. They are recyclable, repurposed, non-religious and anti-capitalist, so I hope they will chime with his values. More prosaically, they are lightweight and flat making them easy to post, so perhaps something to consider if you want to make a last-minute gift.
I showed them to my best friend who said “Ooh, they’re great – they look like leather!” which is unfortunate, as Tristan and Camille are strict vegans…
