Hi, welcome back to Eco Chic. My name is Laura Diaz. It is so fabulous to have you here today. I used to be very strict on my holiday timelines. Like you cannot start prepping for Christmas. The Christmas tree does not go up until after Thanksgiving,

but it feels like this year, things are starting so, so early. I've already seen so many

gift guides online. Pre-Halloween, I was already seeing so much Christmas prep. And honestly,

I don't hate it. I am ready to get into the holiday spirit. It's been a rough year. It feels like

it is time to just get jolly. If you know

what I mean. I just feel like it's time to get cozy to really lean into these feel good

moments and really extend this period of time as long as I can, like this festive time of year.

And I feel like another benefit of it is this ability to plan

ahead for the sake of sustainability. Conscious consumption is not always top of mind around

the holiday season, and I understand that there's a lot of stresses put on us as consumers.

There's the stress of expectations of wanting your loved ones to feel like they were

really taking care of and considered in your gift giving. There are different social stresses this

time of year. Maybe you're going to some holiday parties. Maybe you are showing up with gifts

for people that you wouldn't normally think to give or things that you don't really know that

well, like you're gifting to your neighbors or a host of something.

And there's also this very immense stress of time around the holiday season.

It feels like no matter how much you try to plan ahead, there is always a time crunch.

I want to talk a little bit today about some frameworks we can use to help us in keeping conscious

consumption, top of mind, or part of our lifestyles around this time of year. And I also want to talk

about conscious gifting. If you're gifting, if you're thinking about sustainability in your own

lifestyle, it is awesome to be able to incorporate those values into the gifts that you're giving to the people

you love. And also I want to quickly plug here. I am so excited to be opening up a voicemail box.

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