Wifey and i are getting into zero/low waste and my hatred for this holiday has increased tenfold. Every gift card is more useless plastic that's gonna get thrown in the ground and leech microplastics for centuries. Every cute pre-packaged gift at the store is covered in plastic and is half cardboard (which at least can be recycled). And while it's very sweet when people think of you and put your on their christmas shopping list, i'd honestly rather just have some homemade treats 9/10 than some mall device that's only gonna be used a single time or some clothes that aren't to my tastes.

So yeah i totally agree. I did hand-painted cards for all my family last year and it felt much more real and like i was actually investing myself in their gifts, and i feel the same feeling when i get a gift chosen by someone who knows me really well and put time/thought/energy into it. Gift giving should be so joyous - something you do when you have excess resources to lovingly share, but capitalism actually managed to suck a lot of the fun out of it.