007. Intentionalista's First Christmas
Letting grace and personal growth peacefully coexist.
‘Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Mama was hunched in the glow of her screen, with 48 tabs open for gift ideas she’d seen.
The kids were dreaming of plastic toys and foam, of doohickeys and play sets to fill up their home.
But Mama paused briefly, a hand to her head, as thoughts of the landfill filled her with dread.
I want to be intentional, Mama said with a sigh, but I’m busy and tired, and Christmas is nigh.
She opened up marketplaces, scrolling with care, in hopes that a secondhand gem would be there.
She searched Beni and Craigslist and had luck on those sites! But the tech gadget she needed was nowhere in sight.
She wrestled her conscience—to wait or to click? The shipping clock echoed, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick.
She paused and she breathed, letting guilt drift away, realizing that progress happens day by day.
Her cart had gently used toys and FSC wood, and she’d done for the planet the best that she could.
Then what to her wondering eyes should appear, but great Amazon deals of the day — oh dear!
She clicked “Place Order” and her shopping was done — a mix of secondhand and brand new, but everything fun.
The screen faded dark as she leaned back in bed, while visions of getting sleep danced in her head.
She shut down her laptop, her heart feeling light, no longer a victim of holiday plight.
Then she yawned through a whisper, as she turned out the light: “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
This poem pretty much sums up my holidays — can anyone relate?!
I have spent the better part of 2025 taking small steps in my own life to be a more intentional consumer and human.
I completed a 7-week course on the Circular Economy, held a Swap Event at my kids’ school, discovered the joys of consignment at Rhea Lana’s and secondhand shopping using tools like Beni, visited a MRF to get a behind-the-scenes view of what actually happens to our recyclables, started diverting my own plastics via Ridwell, and immersed myself in lots of reading, experimentation and learning.
I am trying new things, getting out of my comfort zone, and even broadcasting my journey to all of you on this platform!
And all of that is in service of trying to make the world a little less wasteful, a little more intentional. One small action and mindset shift at a time.
But now we’re at the point in the year where things get real: the holidays.
It’s basically the Intentionalista Olympics.
A true test of my strength and stamina to maintain my intentional behaviors even when there are millions of daily temptations to revert back to the familiar. The easy. The over-consumption habits that society tells us are required to make us and our loved ones happy.
The truth is that being intentional takes some work. And time. And repeated effort.
Like the poem suggests, I had some great success with being a more intentional consumer this year (and I’m really proud of the positive changes I’ve made!), but I’m still not “perfect”, nor is that the goal.
I almost feel like I could add a new ornament to my tree this year that says “Intentionalista’s First Christmas” — a celebration of how far I’ve come, but a reminder that I’m still in my infancy.
So in the spirit of experimentation and transparency, I thought I’d share some of the ways I have *tried* (and sometimes failed) to maintain my Intentionalista spirit this holiday season.
Spoiler: I allowed grace and personal growth to peacefully coexist.
Testing Reusable Gift Wrapping
One of the holiday experiments I loved trying this year was using reusable gift wrapping. I started small, just for close family friends who attend our annual holiday party — but it was pretty simple and fun!
It’s a little easier to show than tell, so I’ve included a little step-by-step photo guide if you’d like to try it too (there’s still time)!
PS: I used wrapping fabric that I got from a Michigan-based shop on Etsy (BENEStudio). There are tons of sellers who make wrapping fabric in lots of cute patterns and colors. But you could theoretically use any type of fabric you want and not have to spend a dime.
If you don’t have a safety pin (or if you have kids and don’t want to use a safety pin for obvious reasons), you can also use a method where you tie the corners together, like the example below:
Here was the end result from our holiday party!
The pros:
✅ Super easy. I’m no Meghan Markle, but I thought it was a breeze to make it look nice, or “elevated” as she might say...
✅ A lot less waste! This was noticeable when I was cleaning up from the party at the end of the night. Even though we had lots of other gifts from other party attendees, there was still a lot less to toss than in previous years.
✅ No scissors or tape (which I usually have to replace at the end of the season).
✅ It felt special for the recipients since it’s so rare to receive a gift in reusable wrapping. I even tailored the patterns to my guests as best I could (I bought tartan plaid for our two friends who love Scotland, for example).
The cons:
❌ Requires more advance planning.
❌ Per con above, I didn’t have nearly enough extra scarves or fabric scraps laying around that I could repurpose for the rest of my gifts, so I’ll still be using some of the gift wrap I already have.
❌ Since it’s reusable, it’s a little awkward to decide if you should let the person receiving it keep it, or if you should ask for it back to use again (since it’s not cheap). I think it’s ideal to let them keep it and pay it forward to someone else with a different gift!
Overall, I loved using reusable fabric wrapping and will have to plan it out better next year so I have enough supplies handy. I also want to keep experimenting during other gift-giving occasions to see if there are other methods that work just as well. I’ll report back.
Giving More Intentional Gifts
In addition to more intentional gift wrapping, I had other some great successes this season that I’m really proud of. Mostly, I was trying to optimize for fewer brand new things and less waste, but I also balanced this with prioritizing higher-quality materials and item longevity whenever buying something new.
Here are some of my favorite wins:
🎁 Buying my kids’ main gift (a 5 ft tall gently used Frozen Castle!) off Craigslist
🎁 Gifting a book I loved (and already owned) to a friend
🎁 Gifting Ridwell Mail-In starter packs to several family members
🎁 Gifting my kids some hand-me-down books from my sister-in-law (you’d never even know they weren’t brand new, so neither will the kids!)
🎁 Gifting my younger daughter an awesome learning toy from Lovevery Pre-Loved
🎁 Gifting my older daughter a cute Hanna Andersson outfit I found from Beni
🎁 Gifting myself high-quality stainless steel pots and pans that I’ll never have to replace. At least that’s the brand promise…
🎁 Gifting an Italian friend an adopted olive tree in Italy that comes with the gift of 2L of olive oil.
🎁 Ordering our holiday cards from Paper Culture. They plant a tree for every order, use 100% recycled paper, and offset their carbon footprint. I love what they stand for!
Overall, I think intentional gift giving means thinking about the other person’s needs, wants and overall experience when receiving the gift (with any environmental benefits as an added bonus, of course).
Is this something they actually want and will use?
Is this something that will last a while, not something they’ll be burdened to get rid of?
Is this something thoughtful that shows them I care, rather than something I could have given to a random stranger?
And if they don’t want or need anything, is there a shared experience you can gift them that will create memories or time together?
Where I Struggled
At this point in the post, you might think “wow, Jenny really has her act together”. But let me assure you, there were plenty of places I still struggled. Remember my little poem at the beginning? Learning means lots of “failing” too.
Here are some of the areas where I was not so successful this year:
❌ Stuffing the stockings. Stockings are basically made for little tchotchkes (and kids enjoy those so much - who wants to steal joy?!). I’ll admit I still fell for buying a couple silly things that will probably break or get lost within days, as well as those nostalgic plastic candy canes filled with candy. But I did mix in some more utilitarian stocking items this year, like fun boxes of Bandaids (does anyone else’s child LOVE Bandaids?!) and warm socks, so not all was lost.
❌ Still buying new things. One of the hardest parts for me has been falling back on the convenience of places like Amazon and Target. It’s *really tough* to beat same-day shipping or fast curbside pickup when you’re a busy mom. Discovering the joys of secondhand shopping has been a delightful experience for me this year, but it does take a bit more time and advance planning — sometimes it’s easy to find what you’re looking for, and sometimes it’s not. I definitely spent less this year than I typically do by finding some gently used gems, but I still spent more than I needed to on new things.
❌ Not using reusable napkins. My mother-in-law — a loyal reader of The Intentionalista — lovingly called me out for having disposable paper napkins at our holiday party. Busted! 😂
It’s not perfect, but it’s real progress.
Some noticeable changes, yet still a little messy.
But then again, doesn’t that describe everyone?
I’m really pleased that all the little mindset shifts I’ve made throughout 2025 have resulted in ending the year with a more intentional (and slightly less wasteful) holiday season, and I look forward to continued learning in 2026.
I also hope you give yourself grace on your own journey to becoming more intentional — wherever you may be on that path.
However you celebrate the holidays this year, I wish you a joyful season with loved ones.
Until next time,
Jenny