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Some statistics that may interest you. The average American spends $620 on holiday gifts. Quite a bit of it goes unused, gets returned to the store, perishes in the refrigerator, or sits around in the attic or basement. Some clever people will take your gift and wrap it up again to send it off to their relatives or distant friends. But much of it will follow the wrapping paper into the wastebasket. Americans generate an excess five million tons of garbage during the holiday season. Surely not all of it is packaging, even in this nation of wrap-crazies.

And that should not surprise anyone. After all, what do you give to people who already have everything or can easily buy everything they may like ? You'd have to really spend several thousands of dollars per recipient to buy something special. And that is beyond reach. So on we go, buying useless and unappreciated gifts to "save" the economy. Ever since 9-11 buying stuff that you don't need has become a patriotic duty.

That wasn't true fifty years ago, but things have changed. What hasn't changed are our habits. And that is why many people turned to gift cards. The most popular holiday item according to ABC news is the gift card. And it is a trend retailers love. Because the unspent money on the gift card amounts to nothing more than a donation to the retailer. After two years retailers can use the small amounts that everyone invariably leaves on their cards. Come January 1st that will no longer be true in California, where retailers will have to pay cash for these small left-overs.

The waste did not go unnoticed either. Officials in many cities are trying to do something about it. In the Seattle area, www. wastefreeholidays.com recommends people purchase discounted tickets and gift certificates for concerts, plays, sporting events, recreation and museums. They call it "Give Experiences Instead of Stuff." And that is a good idea for those who can't part with tradition and feel the need to spend. Apart from not generating waste, experiences leave better and longer lasting memories. If you really want to give something to your sports or rock fan friend, consider buying hard to get tickets instead of that commemorative poster or baseball hat.

But even better would be to stop wasteful spending altogether. Good luck trying to explain that to someone.