Don't read this if you think I might be giving you a present

So its Christmas time and I have been trying as usual to buy low carbon presents without alienating too many people. I think that Jesus would not want us to celebrate his birthday by destroying the planet that he spent all week (and possibly longer) making.

A few months ago I had all these amazing ideas for presents but with only a few days to go I am panicking slightly as not everything has quite worked out. Somethings I was going to make I never really did make and ended up on facebook playing scrabble instead. Other things didnt really turn out as they should have because they involved such random processes as boiling knitting in a washing machine. On the up side I have a new girlfriend and I decided to make her a scarf out of all the wool I had left over from various projects. You can see the result here. I am very pleased with it and she is buying me a ticket for the pantomime which I am very much looking forward to.

My brother specifically asked for a clock radio so I shall be buying that. Dad is getting a new jumper. My friends who are less specific in their requests are mostly getting the sloe vodka I made after I met Charlotte and Mark for the weekend and we collected sloes. Some other people will get crab apple jelly. At work I usually go round giving out fudge that I buy from the market. It is actually made on the market so low food miles!

I don't really do cards and I would like to say that this is to save trees or that I give the money to charity but the truth is I just can't be bothered. I don't actually see the point in giving a card to someone I will see so I have decided to send emails to anyone I won't see and tell them something that I have appreciated about them that year. I got the idea from a friend of mine who recently had a leaving do for work and said it was like being at his own funeral and hearing nice stuff about you but without having to die.

So that is really it. Oh and I have been invited to a winter solstice tree dressing which I am very excited about as I have photographed the oak tree on Mousehold heath for a number of years but never knew who dressed it and then I bumped into a woman at a conference and she invited me to join the group who do it (strangley this was still without her knowing that I had photographed it). The only trouble is she didnt tell me what time and I am wondering if I can be bothered to wait by a tree all day like someone has been stood up for a pagan ritual.

So there you have it, my guide to low carbon Christmas and I will be getting the train to Peterborough to see my family and probably finishing presents as I travel. So look out for someone sewing on the train, it may be me!