KEY POINTS:
I'm surprised the green lobby groups haven't come out and called for a ban on Christmas.
Sustainable Wellington Net has suggested Western families should limit their children to two at the most to reduce the ecological footprint on the planet. People in the West use far more natural resources per person than those in developing countries, according to the greenies, and the difference each person makes to the sustainability of the planet is dramatic.
Limiting family size was just one of a raft of proposals put forward by green advocacy groups, but I was surprised to see that banning Christmas was not on their list.
Surely when it comes to wanton displays of consumerism and excess, the festival of Christmas would have to be at the top of the list. The orgy of spending and consumption that takes place every year would horrify greenies right down to their biodegradable cores - although every self-respecting urban liberal will have included an Oxfam unwrapped present to those they love this year. Just $10 will buy a pair of chickens, a box of condoms or 50 nutritional meals, and if you really want to go to town, you can give a village a water bore or pay a teacher's salary for a village school for a year.
Closer to home, a couple of drought-stricken farmers in Mudgee, Australia, have come up with a brilliant way for city slickers to show tangible support for farmers doing it tough: http://adoptasheep.blogspot.com is the initiative of Michael and Louisa Kiely who were faced with having to sell off their 2800 sheep.
Thirty-five dollars will cover the feeding of one sheep for 100 days and in return the adoptive parent gets to name their sheep, they receive a commemorative certificate and they are invited to send messages to their woolly friend, which Michael Kiely promises will be read out to them.
And in case you're wondering - no, you can't eat them, but you're welcome to visit at any time.
Michael and Louise hope to spread the sponsorship scheme beyond the gates of their own farm as a way of helping other farmers struggling to cope with the consequences of the worst drought in Australian history.
And although greenies would probably disapprove of sheep farming in general, they couldn't complain about the spirit of generosity that schemes like this encourage. And maybe that's why Christmas remains safe from those who believe society's going to hell in a handcart because of humans' selfishness and greed.
Sure we're a long way from the Northern Hemisphere Victorian concept of Christmas where the emphasis on Christmas was Christ and the tradition of a morale-boosting feast made good sense during a long winter in which food was hard to come by.
But we still cherish Christmas for the right reasons. The Readers Digest survey which asked people what they liked most about the season found that 63 per cent of us love Christmas because of the opportunity it affords to spend time with family and friends, with the average person surveyed expecting to share their main meal with at least 12 other people.
And although people might have been on their best behaviour when it came to answering the survey questions - who, other than a 7-year-old, is going to admit that they love Christmas because they get truckloads of presents - I can believe that most people really do enjoy the Christmas festival. It is a time for thinking of others - those within your immediate family as well as those who aren't so lucky - it's a time when we do try to be good and do good, and even though you can get sucked into the maelstrom of Christmas shopping, when you're spat out the other end and you're sitting at home on Christmas Day surrounded by the people you love, many of whom might have travelled miles to be with you, there's no other feeling like it.
