My gently used holiday season

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff

When I was growing up, my mother used to place paper grocery bags filled with second hand books under the Christmas tree for each of her six children. While we would occasionally get something new, circumstance and her Depression-era ways made my brothers and sisters joke years later we were part of the first-ever recycled Christmas. Even the wrapping paper was reused four or five times and we were yelled at if we didn't open presents carefully enough.

Then we grew up, got jobs and, at least compared to our early life, got rich.

We left my mothers' parsimoniousness in the dust. Sony walkmans, then iPods, filled our Christmas stockings. We bought boots, dresses, fancy coats and even airplane tickets for each other. I remember getting a second-hand alarm clock from my mother in my 20s, thanking her politely, and throwing it away once I got back to Boston. Then I bought a new one.

But in these extraordinary economic and environmental times, I’m seeing people acting a bit more like my mom in the pursuit of presents this holiday season: They are reaching for creativity instead of cash.

My friend Catherine and her boyfriend are making chutney. A playground mother I met is going through her substantial book collection and giving favorites to friends and family with a note why they might like it and why she did.