I don't know about you guys, but where we live, the whole holiday shopping frenzy is in full force. And this year, I am waaaaaaay behind. As in, I've done almost no shopping, and that feeling of panic has begun to set in that I'm going to have to slog through crowded malls with crabby people as penance for working really hard during election season instead of doing my shopping early.
But the whole commercialization of the holidays really ticks me off. I mean, I love being able to give someone a present and seeing that joy when you and they realize that it is perfect for them. But it takes an awful lot of searching to pull that off and, frankly, I'm way behind the curve this year. Which makes me very stressed out. And knowing that every store is going to be filled with equally stressed out people and signs screaming "SALE" and "BUY" and "ARRRRGH" (okay, not really, but aren't you feeling that every time you go to the store these days?), well, it's just irritating and exhausting.
And that is not how I want to feel this time of year, because I love Thanksgiving and Christmas. And when I say I love it, I mean it — our house is a huge eruption of decorations every year, beginning the weekend after Thanksgiving until just after New Year's. But I like to be able to sit back and enjoy the shining lights of my efforts, not have to run around in a frenzy the whole season, which is why I'm usually done with the bulk of my shopping by now.
Not this year.
So when RevDeb suggested that I consider doing a Saturday morning post on gifts that give back…well, that's really perfect, isn't it? Who wouldn't want to shop where their dollars were actually doing some good both for the person receiving the gift and for the folks selling the gift or service? (Thanks, RevDeb — great idea!)
When I asked around in the comments for everyone's favorite holiday charities, I got some fantastic suggestions. And Peterr sent along a link to a great story that I wanted to share with everyone this morning:
For 26 years, the man Kansas City knows as Secret Santa has freely given away money — $100 bills by the handful — to hundreds of down-on-their-luck folks.
He never has told them who he is. Instead, he has remained anonymous, an unnamed Jackson County businessman thrilled to share the joy of a little extra cash at the holidays.
But things have changed.
He has cancer, and this year is probably the last for a “sleigh ride.”
He wants to start speaking to community groups about his devotion to random acts of kindness. He can’t exactly do that with a bag over his head, he jokes.
So Secret Santa is ready to go public. He wants to inspire us to give as much time and money to others as we can.
That’s easier to do if we know he wasn’t born into wealth. And if we know just how good Secret Santa feels when he quietly says, “You must have dropped this,” passes along a crisp greenback and whispers, “Merry Christmas.”
It turns out that this wonderful man has cancer. But his story is so inspirational, you can't help but hope that a whole bunch of folks who are able to do so think about taking up the red, furry hat and passing on the tradition. Or at least take a little time during the holidays to give a little to someone less fortunate.
Things are tight this year for a lot of charities, at least the ones around where we live. The local mission has a lot of homeless women and kids this year, going into the holiday season this is unusual, and folks around here have been trying to up their donations to give the kids as decent a holiday as they can have at a homeless shelter. We're filling a bunch of Salvation Army stockings for kids in our area. If you don't have the money to buy stuff, most shelters are always looking for volunteers to help with the cooking and serving of meals, or with donations of canned goods or whatever else needs doing, including help with handy work when it's needed. This has been true for every charity or shelter group with whom I have ever volunteered, btw: so if you are handy as a carpenter or electrician or something like that and could volunteer time, there is probably a group that could put you to work. (I know our local Humane Society is always very grateful for that kind of volunteer help.)
But on to the ideas that I got. These are truly great, and I'm going to list them in no particular order.
Heifer International (This one was sent by so many readers — I love this group!)
Conservation Calling (sent by Rosalind)
ShopNola.org (I can personally vouch for the yummy-ness of the Aunt Sally's pralines.)
ABCHome&Planet Foundation (Found this via an Oprah magazine, and they have some lovely donation ideas and links.)
Bead For Life (sent by Millineryman, who says these meet the "very cool" standard for teenagers)
Ten Thousand Villages (sent by "GB")
Defenders of Wildlife (sent by An Angry Old Broad)
Treehouse for Kids (sent by Strategerie, and I adore this one — having worked with so many kids in the foster care system, something like this can mean the world to a child at a time when the world seems like it is crashing in around them.)
Best Friends (sent by "JB")
Mercycorps (sent by "JB")
The Hunger Site (sent by SadieSue)
World Shoppe (another Oprah mag find)
Operation Holiday Joy (for military families)
This is by no means a comprehensive list — and please do consider local homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, the local humane society, and a whole host of other groups in your area who could probably use a donation in someone's name to help with their bottom line — rising heating costs are cutting into a lot of budgets this year, so every little bit helps.
I may have missed a few suggestions, too, juggling blogging and the sick Peanut and my own bout with the latest ick, so I apologize if the one you sent or commented on isn't listed above, it wasn't intentional, only a product of being a tired and sick momma this week. But please, share some more of your favorites in the comments below. There are so many ways to spend our pennies for the holidays — wouldn't it be nice if some of our pennies not only made the gift recipient happy, but also helped someone else out who really needed the hand up?
I don't know about you guys, but that truly has "holiday spirit" written all over it. Can't wait to read more of your suggestions and thoughts on this, so pull up a chair…
(The above illustration is, of course, from the iconic A Charlie Brown Christmas by the wonderful Charles M. Shulz. If you've never seen it, you can catch a YouTube of a bit of it here. And rent this movie…your inner child will thank you.)
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Good morning, all!
Great idea, Christy. I’m way behind as well…due to a state senate race here in NY…so I’m thinking charity is the way to go.
OT, we did well and will be back at it in ‘08.
Very few people seem to know about Kiva, which is an organization where you can make micro-loans to businesses. I’ve got 2 loans out now, one to a rice merchant and one to a piggery, both in Uganda. They’re being paid back (into my Kiva account, which will be lent out again to new businesses) regularly. I also love Heifer International, and they’re on my Christmas “wish list.” Lord knows, I have way too much “stuff,” and don’t need any more.
Linky to Kiva:
http://www.kiva.org/app.php
NYBri @ 2
I’m sorry you didn’t win. Glad to hear you’ll be back.
If you’re behind becuase of all the good work you’ve been doing, no worries, here’s an opportunity to continue the good work.
Marion in Savannah @ 3
Wow. Thanks for this.
OfT – Can I just say that I’m glad that it’s not Veteran’s Day again today?
Lemme ’splain.
Woke up last Sat Morning, about 3/4 hung over from a delayed b-day celebration, put on the coffee, took a shower, grabbed some coffee, walked to the window, looked out, and saw – a tank!
A couple of blocks over there was a big column of soldiers marching up the street.
So I’m thinkin’ – shit – get a little drunk for a couple of days, and they done started the Revolution without me!
The coffee was a bit superfluous at that point.
This morning, however, the view is quite pleasantly devoid of tanks and such.
Maybe I need a calendar or somethin’.
American Friends Service Committee (http://www.afsc.org) is a Quaker organization which provides humanitarian relief services all over the world, often in war-torn countries.
Feeding children is one of their core projects, going back to WWI and earlier. See their website for more information.
Christy,
As usual, another thoughtful post appealing to the best in all of us.
But first, have you heard of the “internets”…for years I’ve accomplished my Christmas shopping without putting a foot into a crowded store after thanksgiving.
One of my favorite places to donate is “Books for Soldiers – Care Packages for the Mind”
Soldiers post requests, and people prepare packages including books, dvds, and the like for our soldiers overseas. It’s a wonderful direct link to the soldiers.
http://www.booksforsoldiers.com/
Habitat for Humanity… My father works two days a week doing everything that is part of building low income housing. From buying, clearing the land, interviewing the families, and building the homes.
The group in my Dad’s town are a bunch of geezers, 70 and up, Dad is 83, just bought himself a new F150 to carry his tools so he can keep building them homes.
When I am up there for Christmas, I will meet my new adopted siblings and their families.
How you can help – donate money and/or time, volunteer to be the person to supply the food to the working crews on work days. Coffee, munchies, sandwiches, crock pots of chili, cookies.
hey Christy –
I hear you on worrying about being behind … I’ve been ill recently, and even without kids the chores have piled up. Glad you, the peanut, and Mr. Redd are all home and feeling better.
I hate the frenzy of the holidays, and since my family and my DP’s family don’t have small children, we’re spared the need for buying and giving toys. We’ve been lucky to have a number of very prosperous years, and collectively we’ve agreed that this is the year to give gifts to charity.
The other thing that is truly a gift is to make some favorite food for the people you love. Sure, it adds to the pressure of the season. But a gift of home made chutney, or a quart of spaghetti sauce made from fresh ingredients and an extra measure of care is really a gift.
Christy,
Use the internet for your shopping. True, it’s not the real deal (standing in line to pay for your packages, searching for the right size, etc.) but it’s safe, fast, and you can do wondrous things with research.
My husband has an old Swiss Army knife that he’s carried in his pocket for years – it’s small, and does the 5 or 7 things that guys want to do with a tiny knife (tweezers, scissors, toothpick, screwdriver, etc.). So he wants a new one for Christmas as the old one is wearing out from use.
So I go to a SAK website. There are over 30 different ones (the Explorer, the Huntsman, the Mountaineer, the Traveler, the Navigator, etc.). I compare the features and get the one that’s the best fit for him. Took me about 15 minutes to do the research and buy the knife.
The web is a wonderful thing. I’m doing about 90% of my shopping on the Web.
There are great toy finds there too. Imagine – no hassles at ToysRUs!
Al things Mac:
Small Dog Electronics
They are a small VT company that only sells Mac stuff. They give good customer service and have an option at the check out to contribute to good causes.
Check out their page on Social Responsibility
The Green Store
Has several stores in Maine.
Vermont Flannel
Great products and they support a fund for those who can’t afford heat in the VT. winters.
Great links for Responsible Shopping
For a laugh and some good shirts:
Goods For Change
Find local Green Stores
GREAT soaps and lotions
Buttons, bumper stickers, etc
Causes:
To find good charities:
Charity Navigator
with Tips for Holiday Giving
2 that I give to:
http://www.nnaf.org/
http://www.heifer.org/
But the whole commercialization of the holidays really ticks me off.
…well, it’s just irritating and exhausting.
War on Christmas?
We don’t want Bill-O comin’ round here, now do we?
small acts, I travel a lot and stay in hotels. I collect the “free” soap, shampoo, etc and put personal care bags together for the women’s homeless shelter. The sizes are perfect and very apreciated.
great list… here’s another suggestion for the environmentally concerned:
native energy has a program to buy carbon offset gift certificates (for home, car, and more).
a gift certificate could even be combined with the dvd (to be released on tuesday) or book “an inconvenient truth”.
a list of places to shop and “Charity Navigator” awaiting mod. yes, I know lots of links will do that.
get this;
cheney has the nerve to say “recent experience tells us we shouldn’t pull out”
where does he come up with this crap?
has he bee right about anything?
so, wasn’t the president JUST in vietnam where ‘revent evidence” tell’s us the oppososite of his opposite”
For anyone who’d like to reduce the “ARRRRGH” factor, I highly recommend this book:
Unplug the Christmas Machine: A Complete Guide to Putting Love and Joy Back into the Season
by Jo Robinson and Jean C. Staeheli
It focuses on Christmas, but is relevant to all holiday and gift-giving celebrations involving frenzy and stress – though you may have to extrapolate for Hanukkah, Thanksgiving, or the birthday parties that annually wear you out.
Mods, my 13 is stuck in the toobz. Please release.
This would look good on a sampler:
From a GQ interview with Al Gore.
Swordswoman @ 18
Ditto praise for this book. You CAN cut back, and here’s not only how but why.
We did an Advent series using this book at my old church in Massachusetts.
At my new church here in Virginia, we did a mom’s group meeting about Christmas frenzy. Moms are the Christmas magicians, at some cost. Wouldn’t it be nice just to show up, and have everything ready?
After the Christmas morning gift and Santa frenzy, I like to take my grandchildren into our den, have a quiet talk about the children in the world who have nothing, and have them decide which animals they want to purchase this year at Heifer International.
Good morning all and Go Blue! Christy and RevDeb, thanks for a very cool change-up for Xmas.
The kids and I used to make up boxes* full of small things for prisoners. They’ve got to be feeling humiliated and alone this time of year. One year we added a giant sack of new underwear [trying to address the humiliation concept] and the chaplain said they were just overwhelmed.
*If you make prison boxes they have to be able to be inspected. Don’t wrap them shut.
jeffreyw @ 20
gore is EMININTLY electable, EVERYBODY, (but the base) WHICHES he took the office he was elected but bush occupied
We’ve got a great little charity in Santa Barbara that I’ve supported for years, Unity Shoppe. They provide food and essentials to folks that are either homeless or close. Wonderful bunch of people run the place. It’s a small-town kind of charity that feels good to support. I’ll be supporting them this year as well, in in-kind donations from my business for their telethon, as well as a little money toward their operations. Maybe you’ve got something like this in your town?
Heifer International is an old favorite of mine. I attended a small (2 buildings) school district. Each classroom of my elementary school had a plastic cow to collect donations, and all the grades would compete for a pizza party. After we went to ‘the big school’ we missed donating, and so the program expanded to cover the whole district.
Swordswoman: I’ll be ordering a copy of that! A couple years ago, my family started drawing names and exchanges ornaments – with a $2 limit. Since our family had kept growing by in-laws and children, none of us could afford to keep buying gifts for every single person. Now, our holiday get-together is about being together, not finding the perfect gift.
Good Morning
One year at Thanksgiving I interviewed all the guests (parents, siblings, in-laws) about their favorite holiday memories from childhood.
With almost everyone, gifts weren’t even mentioned. This was true across a wide religious and family-background spectrum.
I predict that if you try this yourself and watch what makes people’s eyes light up as they talk, it will lead to a welcome change in how you celebrate your holidays.
This is a great website for “tweens”..(or anybody really)
http://www.ibuydifferent.org/
…and I don’t want Bill-O to hear, but we, um, don’t “do” Christmas. We have a lovely solstice dinner, some presents, and the peak of our family holiday (oops, sorry), we exchange love letters. We each write a love letter to the other members of our little family, print or draw or letter them onto cool paper, and read them to the family, one at a time. Tears, expanded hearts, and a rare moment of heartfelt love by candlelight. It’s just the coolest thing.
My mom died this summer and we have inherited money. Quite a bit for us.
I have been donating money to charities and organizations that I know need them.
Nothing I have done since her death has made me feel so good.
Your local organizations always need money.
Most of us do not need more “things”.
I would feel better if someone donated to a charity then gave me something.
Another stress reducer is to volunteer during this season. Nothing feels better that to give of yourself at a soup kitchen or the Salvation Army or making a basket of food that can be donated to a family.
I know we are all stressed, but when you give you always receive more.
Try it!
Here’s a more specific link for gifts for the holidays from http://www.ibuydifferent.org
http://www.ibuydifferent.org/giftideas.asp
Diane–sorry to hear about your mother.
I think it would be hard to find a more worthy donation then raw story
http://www.rawstory.com/donations.html
OT: Congrats to Josh Marshall of TPM and his wife on the birth of their son last Wednesday. The nascent media empire that is TPM now has an heir to whom it can be bequeathed. ;-)
I should add: be prepared to take the long view in all this. :-) Making changes to traditions involves a lot of patience and a lot of care for people’s feelings.
That said, 10 years of seemingly infinitessimal changes do make a big difference.
Just keep humming “Have You Had Enough?” and it’ll work miracles….
burnspbesq @ 36
Marshalling the forces?
Jack
Wonderful ideas, Christy and RevDeb.
Way behind myself as working on antiwar activities here on Cape Cod including speakout forums and a display of 2800 crosses (stars of Davids and crescents, too) representing American dead and plaques with names of Iraqi dead in this foolish needless Iraq War. We termed this Arlington East; the display was on the Nat’l Seashore beach. All the crosses built by hand by volunteers from the Veterans for Peace and Cape Codders for Peace and Justice, my organization.
A few more sites:
http://www.seva.org (gifts of service especially health-related)
http://www.oxfamamericaunwrapped.com (gifts of animals,irrigation,equipment to help families sustain, etc.)
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org (tribute donations)
We have a domestic violence shelter locally which is always looking for fresh underwear and toiletries and at this time of year, presents for the children.
OT,
What is a six letter word for an evil in fighter?
http://www.boston.com/news/glo…..ey_riddle/
lina @ 4
Many thanks….
This is the time of year to give baked turkeys to your local homeless shelter. Ours doesn’t have the oven capacity to bake enough gobblers- so they really appreciate it if you can bring in a couple all ready to go. It’s fun- and sometimes they need help carvin and serving- so you get to see some really humgry people gobbling yer gobbler.
Good Morning All Our Relations,
For the holidays we luckily have the hassle split up a bit, my man’s parents leave the first week of Dec each year for Florida and so they hold their family Christmas party on Thanksgiving. Takes care of one side of the family shopping right there leaving a month to finish up for my side of the family, and for our combined grandkids which is now up to six of them. I really like having our shopping done this way each year in two parts taking off some of the pressure.
Thanks for all the great charity links and ideas, they are wonderful.
Christie, sorry to hear you sick.
Diane, sorry to hear about your mother.
The students at my law school have been collecting “Thanksgiving baskets” for needy families in the community for the past week or so, and yesterday afternoon it all came together.
Each student group — the various law journals, the moot court board, the Latino/a law students, the environmental law society, and on and on — “adopted” one or two families. Gifts for children, boxes of toothpaste, food, you name it, it was all collected in large barrels for days on end.
Then someone bought dozens of large, plastic laundry baskets. The food was loaded in, with the names and addresses of recipients, and the main hallway was filled with full baskets, law students milling around, and a sense of giving back.
Finally, several students’ vans and hatchbacks pulled up to the door and the baskets were loaded in, stuffing each vehicle to overflowing, and the law students set off to make some family (many of them Latino families, from the names on the baskets) feel a little more welcome and wanted in our society. And perhaps they will understand that there are some lawyers who are willing to give of their time and treasure.
As for our law students, how broad and deep runs the spirit of sharing with those less fortunate. And don’t misunderstand: these are not rich, coddled students. They are in a public law school, average 27 years old (not 22), and are piling up $100,000 or more in debts to pay for their own education.
Our law students also have won the state bar association’s award for the highest number of hours contributed to “pro bono publico” (”for the good of the public”) volunteer legal work every one of the past five years, beating out the other law schools in the state.
Many of these law students will remember both their volunteer time and the specificity of the family they helped at Thanksgiving, when the graduate and face all the pressures of making a living as an attorney, as well as the choices they will make in their careers.
Putting together a food basket at Thanksgiving might just be what points them down a road that returns some luster to our profession, and gives back to society for the rest of their lives.
diane @
32
i’m not a particularly generous person, but every once in a while something happens and i do a bit of the old altruism.
you mentioned working at a soup kitchen. i volunteered at a catholic worker house. if there is one in your city it’s worth checking out.
the other, and most significant thing i ever did: working in a village enrichment school in the mountains south of caracas. i lived in a shack with a tin roof and board walls you could see daylight through. my best student was a teenage boy who lived with his mother in a block house with no windows, a leaky roof and no refrigerator. speaking virtually no english when i arrived, after eighteen months he had read george orwell’s “down and out in paris and london”. with the help of a small loan from me and a place to stay offered by a colleague he will graduate from a college in philadelphia next month.
i was able to do that because i had reached retirement age and didn’t have any significant personal responsibilities. if any of you out there are in a similar boat you should consider something on that order. i have never felt so rewarded and i never expect to again.
1,337 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen Hardin Smith and the Firepup Patriots:
First of all dear Reddhedd, you are a national treasure and your labors are probably as effective in improving the lives of people as many of the “charities” out there.
For my money, the first and best action we can take to improve the lives of ALL around us and specifically those who suffer from the structural disadvantages of our social-economic system, is to get control of our political system and governments at the state and federal level and reprogressivise the tax system…increase the revenues to the state and federal governments and then allow the legislatures at each level to address the problems that the people say need addressing.
If we don’t start there…if we buy into the old “compassionate conservatism” line that we must allow churches and charitable foundations to take care of our social and economic needs, then we keep the light off the real solution to the problems of hunger and poverty in our society.
There are a number of “charities” that I think do incredable work and can effectively use as much money and LABOR that individuals can give. My wife and I have two “charities” to which we give regularly and I volunteer at 2 shelters a couple a times a month. BUT… the place to start in addressing the problems that we all want to solve and to reach out to our fellows who are suffering while we are comforatable is political…renew our democracy and the public treasury and increase the direct participation of citizens in their government and we can solve the problems that our social and economic activities create.
I think that you are doing great work in mobilizing and empowering people to take back democracy, you don’t need to find more places to give money ya don’t have or time your family needs …you are giving enough by keeping this site open and growing.
KEEP THE FAITH AND TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER, WE CAN TAKE OUR WORLD BACK!!!
For about the past 20 years Mr. Marion in Savannah and I have celebrated our Christmas on the Feast of the Epiphany, or Twelfth Night, January 6. It leaves us free to serve dinner to the homeless at a local church on Christmas Day, and generally removes us from the worst of the frenzy. A number of our friends (without small kids — with young ones it would be too difficult) have started doing this too. You’d also be surprised what last-minute bargains you can pick up AFTER Christmas! A priest in our parish grinned and said “Oh — economically wise and theologically sound.”
Geez,we gave everyone a great new government, what more could they want? :-)
Seriously, though, I like these suggestions. I’m at the stage where I enjoy giving and getting presents, but I don’t actually want anything, which makes it tough.
Guess I wanna get flamed today. Why not skip Xmas altogether? I mean, if it’s your religious gig and all, have a nice celebration. But the gift-giving part? What a bunch of crap. Everyone running around acting as if they have to provide people with the perfect gift, when in fact most of us are adults and can buy for ourselves the stuff we really want. Mrs. F and I have skipped the whole thing for years now. It only took a couple of years for our respective famiies to figure out that we just weren’t going to participate, and now most of them are cool with it and some of them have quit participating as well. Blow it off: have a nice dinner.
And charity? Meh. I worked in corporate hell for years and always had to be involved in the annual United Way Corporate Shakedown. I learned from this that most charity is total crap and designed to fluff the egos of the annoying do-gooders that run the charity rather than actually help people in need. Plus the unbearable smugness of people who talk about how much they give to charity — what a nightmare! Before you go give money to a charity, do some research: find out from an independent source what percentage of donations actually go to people in need and what percentage feathers the nest of the do-gooders. In most cases, it would be more effective to hand bottles of liquor to homeless people.
Giving is good and hopefully has nothing to do with Xmas. I am now completely free of the vestiges of my Xian upbringing and don’t “celebrate” the season except to the extent that my more traditional wife requires for her peace of mind.
Last year, however, was the absolute best: I gave NO Xmas presents whatsoever, paid NO attention to the holiday at all, but intstead celebrated the Winter Solstice (I did send a couple of solstice cards). Not having any connection to the fevered frenzy of Xmas was an absolutely incredible high. You wouldn’t believe the lift it gives a person.
Morning all — Mr. ReddHedd got up with The Peanut so I could get some sleep. Just waking up here and catching up with the thread.
NYBri — SO great to see you! Awesome job this year, just awesome. :)
felagund @ 49
I’m not going to flame, sorry to disappoint! If you’re not sure about any charity you might want to check here:
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm
VERY informative.
Tired of the commercialization of Christmas I chose to give everyone in my family a donation in their name to UNICEF. Went over like a lead balloon, that was 1965.
Fast forward to 1988, after 10 years of marriage I convince my wife to give up on Xmas.
Today we still don’t mess with that holiday. Real big on Thanksgiving but it’s the forgotten holiday since Xmas decorations hit the stores in early Oct.
In most communinties where I have lived, it’s the churches who are most imvolved in community outreach activities…so whether you belong or not- or even like em or not- they do a lot of good.
We have gone to habitat for humanity work parties- all filled with church people- our local shelter is run by volunteers from local churches, etc.
But here’s the strange thing—it’s all “mainstream churches–Presbyterians, Episcopaleans, Methodists, Unitarians—the
Southern Baptists and the “Mega Churches” are no where to be seen- EVER..Jerry Falwell doesn’t DO the poor apparently.
well Good Morning Firedogs !
UNICEF
Bestest Holiday Cards Evah !
(many of the selections are designed by the kids who benefit)
http://www.supportunicef.org/s…..p;b=258522
inspired by the aforementioned UNPLUG THE CHRISTMAS MACHINE, we initially had to drag our kids to a local family shelter with gifts and activities- but they were hooked in about 30 seconds – one of our proudest moments as parents came the following year when our little Field Generals presented us with their charity plans for the season (including pre arranged clearance for the family dog) – the local ‘county’ hospital’s pediatric and geriatric units – as if not rewarding enough, their little cups ranneth over when they found the only other visitors that day were Joe Montana and his family – hotcha !!!
The holidays are a time to get together with family- especially family that you don’t see every day. We wouldn’t see one of our kids nearly as often if it weren’t for christmas- and my daughter- while only a 100 miles away- doesn’t get down very often- but she does for Christmas. They wouldn’t come unless there was some kind of a celebration- and I’m not creative enough to invent a holiday on my own. I like it.
Way to go organic George. I totally hate the commercialization of Christmas. It makes me sick to my stomach that I can barely pay my bills yet I need to spend hundreds of dollars for Xmas presents.
I’ve “adopted” wild animals for people before.
http://www.healthyplanet.com/kits.shtml
Come to think about it- if I announced to the kids that I had just invented a new holiday and that they should give up a couple of days work and come down for it- I don’t think it would fly at all.
1,337 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
Citizen Hardin Smith and the Firepup Patriots:
For money, give to UNICEF and a local homeless or battered families shelter. For labor, give time and sweat to your county or district Democratic Party, take back your country and you will be able to reach more folks in need than you ever imagined.
KEEP THE FAITH AND TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER!!!
Norske- My local democratic party has now gone to sleep until the next election. They don’t even have an office to sweep up- they rented it for the election. It’s all quiet on the Western Front.
Every year I make a whole lot of homemade christmas cookies as presents for a lot of the folks that are in our gift circle. I started doing this when we were in law school and didn’t have any money — but I did have a little time around the holidays, and homemade cookies take a lot of time…which most folks don’t have. They were a huge hit, so I’ve kept making them. It’s a lot of work, because I mjake a huge tray of cookies for Mr. ReddHedd’s office and tins for family and friends — but I love all the baking, so for me it’s a labor of love.
Plus, it makes for great gifts. :) This year, The Peanut will be able to help a bit with sprinkles.
Redd–Can I order a dozen?
The crook who wants to steal Christmas.
“Cheney: Bush backs conservative judges”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200….._wh/cheney
Unlike Scrooge, this guy will never, never see the light.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 62
Yeah! I’m finally going to be able to get back to baking Christmas cookies for people. It’s also a bunch of fun to haunt “junk shops” for old commemorative or pictorial plates that fit the person the cookies are going to. (This of course, goes on all year long, when you see one.) My mom and I did this when I was a kid and there was almost no money. Funny, when I was little I had no idea we were “poor”…
great suggestions all !
many of us still have to ’shop’
got teenager ?
check it out, extremely reasonable and you contribute to progressive change
http://www.workingassetswirele…..d=68205091
1,336 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
rwcole:
Contact one of Dean’s state organizers and get a hand and a jump start on puttin tagether an active local party…I bet you’ll have more fun than watchin yer beard grow and you might ta get to duke it out with some a the encrusted powers that don’t like to come out in the light of day.
I bet you could putcher intelligence, your understandin’ of corporate culture and politics and yer people skills to work pretty effectively.
KEEP THE FAITH AND DON’T LET ‘EM FUCK US UP AGAIN!!!
Redd,
When I had little or no money for gifts I would make cookies and chocolate truffles as gifts. It made quite the mess in the kitchen, but got to lick my fingers a lot before washing them so it was good for me and everyone loved the truffles.
Home made cards are a hit too. With all of the stuff they sell these days for scrapbooking not to mention the ability to print out pictures from our computers, there is an endless array of possibilities. I gave up buying anything Halmark since learning of their decidedly red giving pattern.
Let’s see if I can make this one a Christmas topic..
If ya really wanna do something special for Christmas- buy a brain for our fuckin president.
He just made a speech in Vietnam where he told the world that it was a huge mistake to withdraw from Viet Nam– that we woulda won if we had summoned the will (pronounced VILL ala Henry).
This fuckin right wing sewer maggot is too stupid to realize that his view of VietNam is shared by about 10% of the population- and many of them have ta be locked up at night. So how much confidence does the idiot Prince think it gives the population to find out that the man sitting in the White House would STILL BE FIGHTING THE FUCKING VIET NAM WAR if we’d let him.
Human Garbage
Now back ta yer regularly scheduled progamming.
I have a birthday coming soon and I’ve already told my children that in lieu of gifts, I’d rather they contribute to “Save the Internet”. Because, quite frankly, if I lose sites like this I will go into a slump worse than the last 6 years.
cbl @ 67
I just made the leap to Working Assets Wireless after many years of Verizon. Been using WA long distance for over 10 years.
When the Verizon guy called trying to lure me back I told him I switched for political reasons- Verizon gives much too much money to the repigs. He tried to argue but got no where. WA is on the Sprint network. Maybe not as everywhere as Verizon, but I feel much better when I write out the check to WA. So far it works just fine.
rwcole @ 69
What he said.
My favorite image of Christmas? The kids. My favorite time of the year? Christmas. Hands down. Early this morning I went shopping. And they were playing real Christmas carols.
“It’s a Wonderful Life”. “The Bishops Wife”. And “Miracle on 34th. Street”. My favorite Christmas movies.
Norske—I’ll see if there’s anything goin on. I live in the middle of a nest of gooper vipers- (Randy Duke Cunningham’s district). Dems scurry around in the middle of the night so as not to awaken the goopers. It’s pretty pathetic.
We stopped exchanging gifts at Christmas many years ago. It was a great relief to all of us. Instead we have a Christmas Eve party where I serve nothing but appetizers. We make a meal of all the stuff that is bad for you, but tastes so good.
I tend to get a little stiff-necked at Christmas charity. That’s because the need goes on all year long, but some people give to charity only at Christmas.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 73
Don’t forget “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” Not only is it howlingly funny, it also tugs at the heartstrings.
RevDeb at 69 — I made truffles one year, and they were a huge hit with everyone — but boy were they messy! Last year I made rum balls that everyone really loved. I’ll dig up the recipe and post it for you guys. It was something I got off one of Emeril’s shows. They are definitely potent, though! Be warned!
Susan—Well some people get started at Christmastime and end up hooked all year- so give it a chance ta work.
rwcole, you’re right. It’s just that I see need going unmet in July and it’s hard not to be impatient.
Clusterfuck still shoppin fer Christmas cards- he’s leanin toward “Peace on Earth- Goodwill Toward Men”.
a small piece o’ me brain; resist the urge to spend money on crap that you are driven to purchase by advertising, and more importantly, tradition. traditions are created by advertising people, period.
diamonds are rocks and are only good for breaking other things down by force. gold is useful for electricity, but not as good as silver.
all holidays were made by people that wanted to make money, period.
now I don’t want to tell any one anything, but once you free yourself of the nonsense that is holiday spending, you get a sense of freedom, and anger that you were set up as a child to believe the nonsense.
if we didn’t allow such ridiculous BS for the infirm among us, education and learning might also be advanced. can you imagine what it would be like if we spent the money of christmas crap on the people that actually need a home? I would trade every christcrap present I have ever received to put a homeless family back into a home.
Marion in Savannah @ 77
Oh yes!
And I almost forgot Tim Burton’s “Nightmare Before Christmas”. I absolutely love this film.
Charities should be makin a list of those who give at Christmas and give em a call in July–they’d probably give- they just don’t think about it then–with the fireworks an all.
SusanD at 76 — I hear you on the need for all year round — but every group that I’ve worked with that got donations at Christmas stretched them out for months afterward, esepcially money and canned goods, which can last for a long time. One thing I’ve learned working as a volunteer or chipping in on the Board of various groups is that any donations of any sort are pretty much always welcome, because most of these groups barely scrape by every month. Mr. ReddHedd and I try to chip in money where we can with several different groups all year round, but the cold here this time of year makes folks a lot more desperate — you can live in a house without utilities in the summer, but it’s not so easy to do in the dead of winter. (And yes, before you ask, I’ve known people who have done that among the neglect cases that I’ve worked with through the years.)
I’m not sure what held up my #13 in mod for so long, but I will venture that one of the charities I give to is probably controversial. NNAF is the fund that raises money for women’s health and abortion providers. Last year when Katrina struck, countless women fled NOLA and went to Texas and other states. The clinics in those states were overwhelmed both by the client numbers and the fact that these mostly poor women were traumatized and were in no condition emotionally or financially to have a baby. Not only that, but many women put off the decision making until they found themselves beyond the 12 week procedure. The emergency funds dried up in no time. Pleas went out all around the country for help and many of us did.
With the new appointment of a member of what Marc Maron used to call the “Christofascist Zombie Brigade,” Erik Keroack to oversee the agency that deals with women’s reproductive health, these funds are going to be needed A LOT in the next two years. Those of us who are strongly pro-choice need to step forward and help in every way we can. This is one way.
For an elderly relative who lives alone I got fruit of the month, so she gets a package often. It’s a thrill. Sorry off topic re buying gifts thru socially good places :o
Oklahoma kiddo @ 74
One of my favorite Christmas movies (loosely defined) is “The Desk Set” Tracy & Hepburn at their best.
I also LOVE the “Claymation Christmas” from back in the late 1980’s. Found and bought the DVD. It’s a seasonal must.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 78
So maybe one of the next Pull Up a Chair episodes will be for holiday recipes? Please?
Here we go for the rum ball recipe:
Emeril Lagasse’s Rum Balls
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup dark rum
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 1/2 cups finely crushed vanilla wafers
1 cup finely chopped, toasted walnuts
Into a large bowl, sift together 1 cup of the confectioners’ sugar, the cocoa powder and allspice. Stir in the rum and corn syrup. Stir in the vanilla wafers and walnuts, and mix well. Place in the refrigerator to firm up slightly, about 30 minutes. (The mixture may appear crumbly and dry; this is O.K.)
Place the remaining 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar in a shallow bowl or dish.
Using a tablespoon, scoop out portions of the chocolate mixture and press into 1-inch balls. Using your hands, roll the balls in the confectioners’ sugar, coating evenly.
Place on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, placing waxed paper between the layers to prevent sticking.
These are best if you give them an extra day to allow the rum to permeate every morsel. I added some extra cocoa powder to mine, to make them fudgy chocolate rum balls, and they were amazing.
For the past few years I’ve been helping out a Lakota family on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. This place is home to America’s poorest citizens. It’s been a really great experience as I’ve come to know this family over the years.
nativeprogress.org (the linky thing doesn’t work for me,my apologies) has all the info on this program and others working to help the families and children of Pine Ridge. You can help buy propane for the cold winters on the Great Plains,beds for those who have none,donate to an arts program for this kids and alot more. All your money goes directly to the people,and in the case of sponsoring a child,you send the things they want and need,no money has to change hands. The people who run all this are so sweet,you can’t help but love’em. The kids there have higher rates of suicide,school dropouts,and addiction issues than even poor inner city kids. Everything you can do to help gives them just a bit better chance of having a shot at a decent future.
My son has come to look forward to shopping for his friends in South Dakota every holdiay season and year round. He’s old enough now to pick out things,he makes little drawings and cards for the kids to tuck into the packages we send.
If I can find them,I was thinking of buying old classic radio programs on CD and giving them to assisted living facilities for the elderly. I’ve seen them before,I just can’t remember where.
One of my favorite Christmas movies is “Scrooge” with Albert Finney. Great music.
Well, I’m glad people do give at Christmas because, as my mom always said..”Some is better than none”.
I retired after 30 years in social work, so I know what poverty looks like. And I grew up poor, so I also know what it feels like. Since I retired I do a whole lot more charity work than I was able to do while employed and raising a family. And, yes, everything received is appreciated and valued whenever it comes.
Oh, and my charity work is anonymous.
RevDeb at 86 — I freed it up. It was the multiple links. And the fact that I slept in and couldn’t get to the mod queue until I got up this morning. We don’t always have someone on duty first thing in the morning on weekends, because they are just volunteering their time after all and sometimes mods need to sleep in, too. :)
egregious @ 86
Fresh fruit and a package and the warm feelings and the vitamins every month? If that’s not socially good I don’t know what is!
Christy Hardin Smith @ 94
Thank you kindly. I wish I could sleep in but even when outer circumstances allow for it (like today) my inner clock won’t let me no matter how I try. And then there are the cats. . . .
Well, I’ve been waiting and waiting for a more political topic, but I hope folks won’t mind if I don’t wait any longer and just post this here.
We are talking about gifts and such, and the reorganization of the Democratic Party is the gift that just keeps giving.
An article by Sara at the Next Hurrah, Backstory on Carville v. Dean, along with interesting comments, shows just how much Dean has accomplished already.
For example, did you know that about 12 State Democratic Parties were in bankruptcy and unable to operate when Dean took over the DNC?
And one of the commenters describes why having the Carvilles of the world try to overturn the leader who was democratically elected by the 500 members of the Democratic National Committee is just nuts:
The election is over, folks.
It’s time to roll up sleeves and get back to work on rebuilding the Democratic Party — in every state, in every community, in the hearts of every American.
(And that’s from someone who, a long time ago, in the mid-years of a prior century was a Young Republican.)
felagund @
50
I work at my local domestic violence shelter and without the three county’s United Ways we wouldn’t be able to exist. It accounts for 1/4 of our revenue.
That said I love Heifer and when my son was in elementary school I always gave his teachers a part of an animal and they always loved it. They really don’t need another ornament or desk item.
An Angry Old Broad,
I just Googled “old time radio on CD” and came up with BUNCHES of stuff. The link to the search results didn’t work, sorry… Good luck!
Went to the San Francisco Green Festival last week and came across Trees for the Future. This group provides fast-growing tree seeds and training to hundreds of villages in the Developing World. Every individual donation (&40)- a tree a day – to help restore sustainable life in barren lands and contribute to Global Cooling since trees take the carbon out of the atmosphere. The website is http://www.PLANT-TREES.org. Sorry, haven’t learned to link yet.
I’m one one those people with Christmas “issues”. If one is not of Christian faith, lives alone, and has a non-ideal family, Christmas can be uncomfortable. It’s the expectations that kill me – one is obligated to feel in a particular way. On top of that, most of my friends go away over Christmas.
I’ve gone back to seeing my family (parents, siblings and nieces/nephews) at Christmas, but with no expectations. I alway breathe a huge sigh of relief after Christmas is over.
That said, for those of us in Northern climes, a midwinter celebration of some sort does make a lot of sense (just think, the days wil start getting LONGER!!!) – already the sun is down by just after five. In the same way, planting/spring and harvest festivals make sense in agrarian cultures.
But for me, it’s a question of proportion – something is deeply wrong when people start to worry about “getting ready for Christmas” by the beginning of November.
Sorry for my grinchlyness – I know that was not the intent of this thread.
SusanD – nothing sweeter than anonymous
at chez cbl, it ain’t Christmas, ’till Chevy hits the sign
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XanJPzFZRw4
I love this place. So many great ideas in one location.
I like to bake, too, but this year, what with moving, working for the first time in ten years (can you say “adjustment period”?) and family-in-town, I won’t have time.
I make soap for Christmas every year. My favorite Christmas scents are Norwegian Spruce, nutmeg, ginger and lime, lavendar and oats-n-cinammon.
I make hundreds of bars and take a big tray to the Maryknoll retirement convent at the end of the block and I leave it on the doorstep every year. I think they know who I am, but it’s a game we play to pretend it’s a secret. It’s also penance from years ago, when I had a crazy dog who chased the nuns when they walked by my home. I also give a smaller tray to my friend who runs a retirement hotel.
It’s a little thing but it’s mine.
Here’s a new one for this year’s Christmas list.
Give to your favorite (local) Blog. As Atrios says:
There’s more
Oh, and speaking of recipes – Christy, you posted a roast pork recipe that I neglected to copy and paste into my recipe file – would you, could you repost? It looked deeply yummy. Thanks!
Thank you.
I have been on disability for 7 years now.
I was a V. high energy person and knew I needed to stay busy so I began to volunteer.
At first I did it to keep busy, but the more I did things for others the happier I became.
I am older and a not so good practicing catholic.
I don’t believe that you have to be religious to be concerned about other people.
I’d like to think that I have left the world a better place because I DID SOMETHING.
Thanks, everyone, for all these suggestions. It’s something I’ve wished for and will use.
I also like the idea of a FDL cookbook or recipe pdf file.
Mommybrain,
The soap making sounds like a FABULOUS idea. I have absolutely no idea of how to go about it, though. Could you possibly point me in the right direction? Perfect gift for women’s shelter, and also the office people. Spruce! MMMM….
felagund @ 50
I hope you will keep an open mind about charities. Sounds like you had some suboptimal experiences.
http://www.russmed.com
Russian Medical Fund has saved the lives of 2,000 children in Russia. Overhead less than 10%. No salaries. No office, the Scottish president works from home. Built an ICU, operating rooms, heart-lung machine; training more surgeons so kids won’t have to fly in from Siberia.
I also like Doctors Without Borders, they are totally independent of governments and fearlessly go into the hellholes of the world.
Gilliard is now doing a separate blog just for cooking:
http://stevegilliardfood.blogspot.com/
for those who face the stove and oven with either trepidation or glee.
Soap— Well if ya called some local grocery supply people- or the corporate offices of a national grocery chain- and said that you were wanting to donate soap to a local group for the needy, they could probably arrange to sell you a few cases at a REALLY good price- maybe throwin in a donation of their own.
For $100 or so- you could probably get a lifetime supply.
An Angry Old Broad @ 91
*** “For the past few years I’ve been helping out a Lakota family on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.” ***
I have a particular affinity for those who help out the poorest. Merry Christmas !
Christy Hardin Smith @ 89
You can do this with bourbon too for a different flavor (obviously). Only eliminate the allspice.
This is the Exact time to do it. Right now your legislative district is holding elections for officers and state committee persons. My county party meeting to elect officers is Dec 12th. In January is the State meeting to elect new officers.
THIS is how you make the party responsive to what you want, you become the party.
And if it wasn’t for Jim Pederson, AZ would not have ANY Democratic infastructure here until Howard Dean.
Being a musician, I will recommend music…
First and foremost, I have to recommend Vince Gill’s “These Days,” a four-disc box set of all-new material. It’s a masterpiece. Each disc has a musical theme.
Disc 1 is uptempo with a heaping dose of Vinnie’s Telecaster pickin’. If you’re an aficionado of the Fender Telecaster, this thing is just an absolute must.
Disc 2 is romantic ballads and I have to say, most country ballads leave me as cold as a dead fish in a frozen lake but these are somehow compelling, every dang one of them.
Disc 3 is pure unadulterated honky-tonk, probably the music I listen to most, even if I don’t play it. I CAN but in the Bay Area, there isn’t much demand for it. Most notable is Vinnie’s duet with the great John Anderson on “Take This Country Back.”
Disc 4 is Acoustic and bluegrass, with guest appearances by the Del McCoury Band, Alison Krauss and the great Jerry Douglas on dobro.
BUY THIS RECORD. At $25 for four discs, it’s a bargain and there is not a single clunker on it. It’s a celebration of American Music that transcends genre. I haven’t felt this excited in a damn long time about any artist’s release.
Oh and Vince Gill is simply the finest guitarist on the planet. Bar none.
good morning FDL! Well, it looks ike Heather Wilson has beat Patricia Madrid for NM-1 by less than 900 votes. Madrid is considering a recount request, but it don’t look good for our side. Sigh. I did go down on Election day and made literally hundreds of calls asking folks to come out to vote, but even with the new updated voter lists (thanks Dr Dean!) I didn’t reach more than 5% of the people on the list and most of them had voted already.
But still, there’s much to be thankful for.
Most of the orgs and shops I use have already been mentioned here. But since we got a nice check that we weren’t expecting until January, and it was bigger than expected, I’ll be doing some shopping after all. (I am struggling to make a knitted scarf for a gift for my honey as threatened when I was giving all my money to our netroots candidates. It’s been 30 years or so since I knitted and purled, so it’s kinda lumpy and uneven).
Here’s a few things I’ll be giving as gifts that may inspire you:
For friends who love jazz and blues, I’m giving them copies of the ‘From the Big Easy to the Big Apple’ concert dvd. This was a great concert, and the profits go to help NOLA musicians. Likewise with several other benefit cds that have some wonderful combinations of artists and songs. For a couple of our librarian friends, we’re making donations to help rebuild the NOLA library system.
For friends who are ‘concerned’ about the environment but don’t seem to have much motivation to do something in their own lives, a copy of “An Inconvenient truth” book or DVD along with fluorescent compact bulbs, rechargeable batteries and the like.
I do most of my ’shopping’ on line or through catalogs these past few years. Then there’s one day in early December, in the middle of the week when the crowds aren’t so large, when I go into the big city and hit the mall for one big shop to get the stocking stuffers, calendars, candies and other trinkets. Then I come home and collapse.
We love Heifer International. A couple of friends ‘gives’ us ‘trees and bees’ every year, and we ‘give’ them ‘a pet goat’.
If you’ve got extra coats and useable clothing, please take them down to your local shelters for the homeless, for victims of domestic violence and runaway teenagers. If you have clean closets, make a donation, even $20 will help when the shelters are dealing with more people needing their help. The holidays are a time of very high stress, and this leads to violence in the family, often our local shelters are filled to overflowing by New Year’s. When you’re fleeing violence and brutality in the middle of the night, it’s not likely that you can pack a bag for you and the kids. Teens are especially vulnerable, so if there’s a local org that helps kids on the street, please, do what you can. It’s tough out there for kids, and most of them are just trying to survive, to escape a brutal home life or have been thrown away by their families. Teens can also use things like sleeping bags, back packs, gloves, socks and sneakers. If you live in any town over 100K, it’s likely that there’s a hidden crisis of ‘throw away’ teens and it’s likely there’s a few good souls trying to do something about it. Find out what’s needed locally, and hit a couple of after holiday sales with the intention of getting a few new items you can donate to a shelter.
We donate throughout the year to our local food back, which can multiply our donations thru bulk purchases. But there’s always big sales of staples and holiday foods around this time of year, so when the budget allows, I pick up those ‘2for1′ cans of veggies, boxes of mashed potato mix, flour, sugar, beans, coffee and the like and fill a few bags of basic food stuffs to drop off at a food drive.
We also are giving passes/memberships to families for the science museum or zoos in their cities. This a great gift for families, encourages and enables them to get out with the kids for a day of fun and experiences they’ll enjoy without having to break the bank to do so.
There’s others who hold back most of the gift-giving until The Feast of the Magi? That is so cool. Me and Mr Tuesday started doing that a few years ago for the gifts between us and a few close friends. Our family and friends include a half dozen denominations of Christians, Jews, Pagans, agnostics and free-range Buddhists. By the time we get through observing and celebrating all the various mid-winter holidays, we’re exhausted. Finishing up with a evening of food and gifts handed around along with a few bottles of wine and lots of laughs is so relaxing.
Here’s to a joyous holiday season for all.
CHS–I bet Peanut can help with more than the sprinkles. At her age she will be able to pitch in with a number of fun tasks for Christmas baking.
Peanut can stuff a turkey– them little hands can get inta all the tight places ya can’t reach!!
Marion in Savannah @
108
Oh, Marion, don’t get me started. I could (and do) go on and on. I love the whole process. It’s a lot like cooking. You mix the lye and water solution with the oils et voila – saponification! No more lye, no more oils – only soap.
THe melt and pour soaps are available at most hobby shops or Target, WalMart (ward-off sign) etc. But for the real experience, ya gotta make lye soap. It’s kind of a commitment, because not all the ingredients are easily available and are bought, for the most part, in bulk.
You can find books, too, at any book store. I highly recommend Susan Cavitch Miller’s The Natural Soap Book or The Soapmaker’s Companion as the most complete discussion of soapmaking out there. She’s also an entertaining writer. It’s from Storey Publishing, http://www.storey.com , also available in most big bookstores. Supplies, including molds, can be found at http://www.herbalaccents.com. I’ve used her essential oils for years, searched around other companies, and always come back for her prices and quality control.
Oops. Too much information. Marion, email me at crayon52 at earthlink dot net if you want more.
egregious @ 117
We used to to Christmas cookie baking parties with the kids at church. Lots of cookie cutters, lots of white icing with the Walton coloring and lots of decorating fun. When we were done we put them on plates to take to nursing homes. Everyone wins.
The only thing missing this Christmas, for the first time, will be hearing “White Christmas” the Crosby classic. That was Mama’s favorite Christmas tune. Sometimes she even played this song in the heat of the summer. Mom passed away last Feburary, and I don’t know whether I can bring myself to play it this year.
Mommybrain,
Thanks for all the great information. I’ll prowl around, and you may be getting an email from mgpaquin at aol about this!
In Phoenix we have an organization that trains women to get back on their feet and they need donations for “Business Attire” clothing so that they can get started.
Since 2002, I have lost 85lbs and kept it off. I just cleaned out the closet and have tons of suits and dresses that someone can use. Monday I am calling them to donate huge boxes of clothes.
Instead of taking your “gently” used business attire to the consignment store, give them a new life by allowing someone to start a new life!
Arizona Women’s Education & Employment
Look to see if there is an organization in your community.
Guitar at 115 — Vince Gill has one of the purest voices on the planet, and his commitment to craft of music is amazing. I’ll bet he’s got a number of other excellent folks backing him up as well. Thanks for the heads up on this — I’ll have to check it out!
Fern at 101, I can give you my reason for preparing for Christmas in November. I have seasonal depression which takes away nearly all of my energy and motivation during December and early January. If I don’t prepare now, it won’t happen.
I adore Christmas – the old-fashioned version of Christmas (spending time with friends & family) not the newer commercial version (buy, Buy, BUY). I used to work at an independent bookstore which was extremely busy each December & deeply resented how much other people’s attitudes (usually bad) about shopping affected my enjoyment of Christmas. I worked really hard to scale down our Christmases so that we could remove ourselves from as much of the frenzy as possible but still enjoy all the things we loved about it. It turned out that what we all loved were not the gifts (though we do enjoy those) but rather all the traditions like decorating the tree, baking cookies & making candy, carol sings, & turning these into get-togethers with friends & family.
The best way (for us) to make time for all of this (besides shopping both less & online) is that we celebrate all 12 days of Christmas. We found that by not trying to cram everything into one day, we have lots more time to do the things we really enjoy – & friends have more time to do them with us, too, which turned out to be an added bonus!
egregious @ 125
Makes sense to me. Mid-winter is not so good for me either.
katymine @ 123
Congratulations, katymine!
Tiny technical correction: we didn’t actually -build- a heart-lung machine :) Tried to collapse a longer paragraph in haste.
Oklahoma kiddo @
121
Namaste to you, OK. I love the movie from whence cometh the song. My mom and I used to watch it together.
For me, the year after my mom died, it was Scotty dogs. She adored her Scottie and for Christmas had all these Scottie decorations, plus her Scottie Christmas apron, which I now wear.
Fern @ 100
I’ve had a few ‘issues’ about the midwinter holidays over the decades myself. Relax. Enjoy the hospitality shared with friends and loved ones. Be the ‘weird’ auntie who encourages the teenagers to find their own way, or just pack up your bags and head to some warmer and brighter place for a week with a pile of books and chocolates.
There’s a song by a Pagan group called Mothertounge that I play over and over again come Solstice, here’s part of the lyrics:
“Light is returning, although it is the darkest hour, no one can hold back the dawn”. It’s a glorious song, with a very powerful chorus. The cd is called ‘This Winter’s Night”.
Having spent the holidays in Ireland, I can attest to how important it is to know that the Light, will indeed, return.
I kept hearing that song in my head on Election day.
1,337 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
rwcole:
I hear ya ABOUT with livin’ and workin’ in GOOPerville, however, I think ya might find a lot more NON-goopers out there than ya think and anywayz if ya organize a lean and mean outfit (kinda like the Spartan army) that is visable and has open doors for common folks you might ta get lucky next reapportionment cycle…now wouldn’t that be a kick??!!!
You have all the tools and, it’s like openin’ a market in a new territory, nobody’s got any great expectations and you ken fly under the radar until you get yer shit tagether. Think about it, brother…you have everything it takes ta create somethin that would benefit a lotta folks.
KEEP THE FAITH AND DON’T LET ‘EM GROW TA OLD AGE WITHOUT A FIGHT!!
Fern — here’s the pork roast recipe:
HERB-MARINATED PORK ROAST
3 1/2 to 4 lb. pork loin roast
1 sm. onion, chopped
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp. cider vinegar (really needs to be cider vinegar, for the flavor)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice (fresh is best)
1 tsp. dried oregano leaves, crushed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary leaves, crushed
1/4 tsp. dried dill
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Place roast in large heavy plastic food storage bag or large nonreactive container. (No metal, but glass or plastic work fine.) Blend together remaining ingredients and pour over roast. Cover dish or seal bag. Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight, turning roast over occasionally.
Preheat oven to 325 F. Remove roast from marinade. Discard marinade. Place roast in roasting pan. Roast at 325 F for 2 to 3 hours (for bone-in roast), or until internal temperature registers 170 F on meat thermometer. Let stand for 15 minutes prior to serving.
Hey Christy – Remember I was talking a few weeks ago about seafood chowder, here’s our recipe….though each time there’s a lot of improvisation, this is the base recipe.
1-1/2 lbs. shrimp, coarsely diced
1 1b. scallops, cut into strips
2 lbs fresh clams
2 lbs fresh mussels
1 cup dry white wine
8 cups fish or chicken stock
beurre manie: made by combining 7 Tablespoons of butter with 7 Tablespoons flour
Bouquet garnie: wrap in a cheesecloth pouch: 2-3 bay leaves, 3 sprigs thyme, 12 white peppercorns
4 shallots, chopped
12 garlic cloves, chopped
4 new potatoes, quartered
1 celery stick, cut into fine dice
1/2 cup finely diced red pepper
1/2 cup finely diced yellow pepper
1/2 cup finely diced green pepper
4 tbsp cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
2 Tablespoons of butter
1 cup half and half
1/4 cup cognac
chopped herbs: parsley, basil, chives & dill to taste
4 bay leaves
PREPARATION:
1. Melt the butter in a large saut� pan over medium heat. Add the shallots, garlic, carrots, celery, leeks, peppers, curry powder and paprika. Cook, stirring occasionally, until all the vegetables are softened.
2. While the vegetables are cooking, add the wine and stock into a large stockpot. Add the bouquet garni and cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat.
3. Tablespoon by tablespoon, add the beurre manie, whisking to combine.
4. After the beurre manie has been incorporated, add the softened vegetables.
5. Stir in the cream and cognac.
6. Stir in the fish and shellfish and simmer in the pot for an hour.
rwcole @75:
I can relate; it’s not much different up here in OC. I’ve had the “privilege” of voting against Ed Royce six times. I’ve been of the opinion that rather than banging my head against the wall at home, my most powerful weapon for change was my checkbook. Starting to re-think that, in the wake of McNerney’s takedown of Pombo. I really think that the demographics in Rohrbacher’s district have changed enough that it would be worthwhile to go after him for real in ‘08.
((((((Oklahoma kiddo))))))
Guitar @ 115:
Have you heard the new Clapton and J.J. Cale collaboration yet? Just downloaded it, will be listening later today. Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh expectations!
we gave up costly gifts some time ago. On Christmas – we watch really bad movies, go to Church at midnight, sleep late and spend the day fixing food that is bad for us. Any of my college age kids who are low on underwear get some for Christmas. We exchange books we have loved (which makes them second hand). Last year the kids picked a couple of global charities and our daughter actually left the day after Christmas to work in a birthing center in Haiti – we had fun filling a suitcase with needed item. This year we’re looking at charities for the children of Darfur and Uganda. What can we do? Christmas is without stress, without obligation, and a lot of fun. The Bush administration has destroyed so many programs for the poor. “are there no prison, are there no workhouses”. Our prison system is a disgrace as is our two tiered judicial system. Contribute to legal aid or a program for children whose parent is incarcerated. We use almost non of the earth’s resources at Christmas. No lights, no tree, just figuring out what our family can do to be Jesus in the world. The thing is – I was the queen of Christmas before it became too much – and now – it’s like being freed from some kind of Christmas prison.
There are a lot of really great movies to watch on Christmas – our favorite is Life of Brian with Dogma a close second. We try to go with silly because life is serious enough. We have babies in the family – and we plan to give them favorite books from our kid’s childhood. We don’t wrap anything. OK, no tree, no wrapped gifts, no lights – so how is it different from any other day. It simply is. We all feel guilt over our inability to do what we need in the world – let me tell you – it feels like Christmas – of course the 35 nativity scenes might be a clue. St. Francis is the one who pulled the two stories together and created these little scenes for the poor. Jesus in a manger with both Kings and the outcasts of the world present – should tell us everything we need to know about Christmas. I collected a few of these little nativities when the kids were little. Now, when they go to Africa or Central America – they bring back a nativity scene.
There are alway shops where fair trade items abound. Try shopping there. This year, we are thinking chocolate might have to be – not eliminated, – but care taken to see where it comes from and who is harmed in its production. I love Christmas like never before. We just gave up the madness.
SadieSue,
I understand what you are saying. Mr. Rev. and I when we first got married started collecting ornaments whenever we traveled. Every year we would have one or two to add to the tree. What this gives us is a concrete tangible way to remember our times together over the years when we decorate the tree. For me, holiday time is story telling time, telling the stories of the faith traditions we hail from and telling our own family stories. THAT is what it really is about along with doing what we can to make this a better world for others.
As our economy becomes more and more centered on “service” industries I do believe that it is important to support local and small businesses, artisans, worker-owned companies like the King Arthur Baker’s Store and other companies shown in the thread above. Society has always lived by commerce and trade and I hope that we all learn how to use our money and resources mindfully. Many businesses need to have a good Christmas season in order to survive. So rather than bah humbugging it all, I make intentional decisions as to how to help those who do well by doing good. If that makes any sense. My mind is wandering a lot this morning.
Fern @ 127
Guess I should be grateful that my seasonal crash seems to come around the fall equinox and leave by early November. Sure gets in the way of Halloween decorations, though.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 124
Christy, the lineup is amazing. Rodney Crowell, the incomparable Bekka Bramlett, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, The aforementioned John Anderson (Of “Swingin” fame), Buddy Emmons on pedal steel, Big Al Anderson co-wrote 40 percent of the songs, and his picking is all over this record, too, Emmylou, Guy Clark, Sheryl Crow, Phil Everly, Diana Krall, the list goes on and on.
All Music Guide Review.
I’ve listened to it three or four times (iTunes playlist just plays from one to the next SO nicely) and every time I learn something new.
I can’t recommend this one enough.
RevDeb at 138 — so funny — Mr. ReddHedd and I do that, too, and now we have a large box full of memories every year to put on our tree. :) I told him last year that I’m going to have to sit down and write out the story of each ornament before old age starts to set in, so that The Peanut will know where we got them when she inherits them at some point.
SadieSue @ 126
Here, we just buy ourselves gifts. My sweetie was working at Appple and got a big discount, and on her last day (She’s moved on) she got herself a acBook Pro, and two 30-gig 2nd-gen video iPods. *Substantial* discount. ;) I got the black iPod. ;)
I bought myself a used but mint dual 2.0ghz G5 Mac. There are a few people who’ll get iTunes gift certificates but we don’t do much gifting.
1,367 GAYZ AND THE KILLIN GOEZ ON AND ON AND..
burnspbesq:
Now yer gettin’ it!!! Orange County is ripe ta take outta the dark side and into the light…the battle for California is gunna be won er lost in SOUTHERN CA. (I graduated from UCI and misspent some a my best youth in Venice and Ocean Park). If the Latino and black populations can coalesce politically and territorially in LA and Orange County, there are already leaders ready ta break out statewide (tell me, who’s the mayor of LA??!!).
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, THIS COULD GET TA BE GREAT FUN!!!
Prof @ 97 -
Thanks for the link. I had no idea the straights the party was in.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 141
I hear you. Some of them are getting vague. A few years ago Mr. Rev. got me a “West Wing” ornament. Now that the show is finished, it has a more nostalgic aura.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 140
PLEASE, please do this for the Peanut. I still have a few ornaments from my grandmother’s time, and boxes of memories from when my mom and I found our “special ornament” each year. Do write out the stories for her, and for you too.
RevDeb @ 138
RevDeb – I couldn’t agree more — & had originally intended to include in my previous comment that I also only shop at locally owned businesses or places associated with charities (& if I must shop elsewhere, I make sure whoever I’m considering is listed on Buy Blue) – but for some reason commenting always makes me flustered so I managed to leave that bit out. I’m really glad you menitoned it.
This isn’t exactly a charitable idea,but it’s important.
Seed Savers Exchange and Seeds of Change are both companies working hard to preserve heirloom veggie,herb and flower seeds. Big agribidness interests have stolen alot of our food diversity. For example,there are at least 50 kinds of potatoes,but you can only find perhaps a half a dozen in grocery stores(Russets,the most popular in the US,are the least healthy). With the laws favoring companies like Monsanto and ADM,we’re in danger of losing some of these heirloom treasures entirely. If you have an organic garden or know and love an organic gardener,gifts from either of these companies would be welcomed and could keep on giving for years to come if the seeds from each year’s crop are saved.
The Organic Consumer’s Union has lots of info on corporate efforts to destroy family farmers and the crap they do to our food.
I can’t get linkies to work for me here,but a quick search on Teh Google will give you links.
RevDeb @ 138
Oh — and yes to this as well! Getting out the ornaments to a chorus of “remember whens” about them, which of course lead to other “remember whens”, is probably my favorite part of the season.
Thanks so much Christy, for the great links. I have been bothered about what to get for my friends and relatives this year. We all have so much but I still feel the need to give something. I found the answer at the links for the free trade gifts. I really loved the many of the items at those sites so I have decided to pick out one gift for everyone on my list. I feel so much better now because I can do my shopping on line and help many in the process. Thanks again. Just one more reason why I love Firedoglake so much!!!!
burnspbesq @
137
I haven’t but I’m not a huge Clapton fan, though I AM a JJ Cale fan. I’ll have to listen to the clips at the iTunes store. I’ll probably cherry-pick it. Thanks for the heads-up.
I love Seeds of Change – although it now owned by one of the big corporations – they have wonderful plants and seeds. Their pinwheel marigolds are a delight. Planted some in a big pot several years ago. Now they just reseed and grow every year without any help from me. This year I barely watered the big pots, (major reconstruction of house made the back yard a zone of devastation), but even now I’ve got a pot full of yellow and gold pinwheels bringing light and color to my eyes). They’ve also got some glorious sunflower varieties in all sizes and many colors.
Try their tomato and corn varieties. Mr Tuesday loves the tomato range, and every year we have 3 big pots each with a different tomato type growing on the back patio so he can just go out and grab a few off the vines. We don’t have much room for corn, but a couple of years ago I grew the hopi blue corn along one wall, and ended up with a couple of dozen ears I used for decorations. The jays and the crows liked the ears wedged into crooks of trees.
I gotta tell you people, since being bombarded with Christmas-themed advertising and “Christmas Tree Shoppes” all over the place since before Halloween here I was starting to feel quite snarkish and grinchish about Christmas this year. However, this thread has changed all that around, and reminded me that I’m not the only person out there who hates to be hammered by the commercialism. THANK YOU ALL!!!
Yep I agree Marion in Savannah, I just might breakdown and put my Christmas music in my Ipod.
Was busy throwing together another article and getting Blue America ready, but I wanted to address the whole “why worry about shopping early” question that several folks had. I have a three year old, and I prefer not to drag her out in a really crowded mall full of germs if I don’t have to do so. We pick up enough from preschool, thanks, and really crowded shopping situations are exhausting for everyone. Plus, I like to take my time and really think about gifts and such, because I do care to find something nice and useful and loving for family and friends…and you just can’t do that at the end of the season amid the frenzied crowds. So I generally get most of my shopping done by October. But not this year, alas, because I was occupied…here. I think I will do a lot of my shopping online this year, if for no other reason than I’m already online a lot anyway, and I can avoid the crowds. I did all of my shopping online the year that I was pregnant and on bedrest, and it was a lot less stressful, other than having to wait on shipping, so perhaps this year, I’ll take a page from that book. And supplement it with some shopping at the little small business boutiques and shops around town during the workday when I can get out and about, but folks at a regular job cannot.
I think if gift buying is a chore, you just shouldn’t force yourself to do it. I happen to love finding little things for folks that I care about — but I tend to do it as an all-year thing most of the time, rather than just a once-a-year frenzy.
Christy Hardin Smith @
156
That IS the point. When I want to get J something, I get it, I sure as hell don’t wait for the December frenzy.
Christy, you’re right about the horrors of post-Thanksgiving stores. I do “Christmas shopping” all year long. If I see something that makes me say “Wow, that would be great for…” I get it then and put it in the closet. Voila! Lots of stress-free shopping done already. For the rest I use The Toobz.
Christmas presents for my mid 80yr old parents are Costco cash cards and postal stamps. My parents can use the cards for gas and co-pays for their RX’s and Mom is the card giver to the whole extended family so now I support the postal service instead of her.
The gifts do not take space, no taxes paid and they are gone before the end of the year. I think if gifts like that. This year I am paying for the auto registration fees for my two college kids . They both are due at this time and ruff for them to pay for after just starting this semister.
Behind? Behind?
I don’t even understand how you can think that, unless you’re making a quilt, or writing a book for everyone, or doing some other time-consuming project for you gifts.
Good grief. It’s not even Thanksgiving. And Thanksgiving is early this year. In fact, this year Black Friday is more than a month ahead of Christmas.
The rush to Christmas shopping right now is exactly the same as half the neocon agenda, and the quality of MSM. Corporatism. Resist.
Now where’d I put that Macy’s sale catalog?
Okay. Okay.
You’re just one of “those” who do everything early. Shop in your brain and online before heading to the mall.
jw at 160 — yeah, I’m irritating that way. But I like to have things done and wrapped and ready, so that I can kick back with some nummy eggnog and read stories or watch The Grinch with our Peanut and relax and enjoy the holiday. And I’m usually close to done by now…but this year, I’m not. Well, I’m doing some internet shopping today and that is all there is to it. *G*
I was a preacher’s kid. Christmas, when I was growing up, was SO stressful I still hated it into my 40s. Of course, I am not alone–MANY people list Christmas as their least favorite holiday and the number of suicides at that time of the year is staggering.
The main problem is that NO ONE’S Christmas can even come close to what is portrayed by the advertising. This is true even IF you have a ton of money–and it is especially true if money is tight.
But lately, I have come to actually enjoy Christmas. The key was understanding the concept of limits. My decorations are limited to candles and flowers. I limit my guests to 10. I only give something I can make or write myself (one year, I compiled a CD of my favorite Christmas music and wrote some clever “liner notes”–discovered that 25 years of singing in choirs actually had a payoff). I refuse to even think about the holidays until Dec 21st. And I only give to local charities I know are making a difference.
But the latest fun Christmas event involves a rural church and a preservation society. The church has been out of “business” since the early 70s but it is on an astonishingly beautiful location and is in the national register of historic places. For a dozen years now, we have held a Christmas Eve “historical re-enactment” (since as a preservation society, we cannot hold a real church service.) This is about great music, singing, candle light, decoration, and too much sweet food. Our Christmas “service” has become so popular, we may have to start selling tickets, we have retired clergy volunteering for at least 10 years, and our music now borders on world-class. And why is it so popular? Because there is NO pressure!–we don’t even pass the hat! We may be practicing religion lite, but I’ll bet there are few real churches where there is so much smiling and genuine joy.
techno at 162 — that “service” sounds lovely. :)
A few years ago, we decided to forego gifts among adult siblings and our parents, in lieu of donations to local charities.
San Francisco Chronicle Season of Sharing Fund
House rule: in exchange for a total ban on Christmas music 11 months out of the year, I grudgingly tolerate it during December. It’s not that I dislike much of it; it’s that we are bombarded with it everywhere in public starting the day after Halloween it seems.
punaise at 165 — it gets earlier and earlier, doesn’t it? SIGH I meant to mention one of my all-time fave movies for this time of year: The Muppet Christmas Carol. Good for a much-needed laugh when the holiday spirit has left you, for whatever reason. Nothing like singing vegetables and a group of rats doing the hula, I always say. *g*
Christy, we must have missed that when the kids were little. sounds like a good one!
I have not gone to malls at Xmastime in YEARS. And I certainly wouldn’t think I was behind before Thanksgiving. Just ask yourself, “Why?”
Yes, yes, I have a family. 3 children, in fact. I am not rich, but neither am I poor.
I do 80% of my shopping online. Yes, I know a FEW things are better bought in person, but almost everything I get for presents are deemed “Perfect” by the receiver. Just THINK all year long what someone would like. My hardest is my mother, who has everything. This year I am getting her something from the Humane Society. Groups like this have a wide variety of gift things you can get. And online.
Easy. NO MALLS!
punaise at 167 — it’s freaking hilarious. We started watching it before we had The Peanut (Mr. ReddHedd and I are really just overgrown kids when it comes to that sort of thing.) Makes me laugh every year at the corny jokes and sight gags and such. Truly, well worth the purchase. It’s so good that we rushed out to get it on DVD when our VCR conked out, so we wouldn’t miss it last year at Christmas. LOL
Oh Christy! it IS lovely (163). Imagine 350 candles and 300 people singing Silent Night in parts, a 30 foot Christmas tree, and 50 kinds of cookies and hot cider in the prettiest place in southeastern Minnesota, and you have some idea how we stumbled on the magic formula. And “thanks” to global warming, it isn’t 25 below zero (F) anymore.
The annual potlatch ceremony at Hoffman House was getting out of hand, so several years ago, we began to exchange far fewer gifts, many of them hand-made, and none very expensive. The meal is still a pig-out to gorging, but the holidays are much simpler and cheerier without the competition!
for “relief” from his syndrome, I recommend watertiger’s banner icon
oops, wrong thread, but it works for this one too!
punaise @ 173
Sorry if it sounded like I was giving a smack to the people who are well organized and get things done early – I was trying to make a point about the sheer scale of what is often expected for Christmas.
Fern — did you see that I did the pork roast recipe for you? It should be above in the 133 range.
Every year, almost everyone mouths the same refrains against the “commercialization” of the holidays, but then they still march (drive, actually) right out and go shopping, because they do accept that it’s what they’re “supposed to do.”
Let’s face it, those holidays are creations of commerce, and are quite successful as such simply because most people buy it into (literally).
Like lemmings following each other off a cliff. It’s comical.
It would seem that the proper way to register true opposition to the whole idea would be to just quit shopping for gifts that other people really don’t need, nor in many cases do they even want.
Why does anyone “have to” do it?
Good question! They don’t! And amazingly, Christmas becomes about 100 times more enjoyable when you ignore / scorn the messages produced by ad agencies!
The oddest thing about human behavior is that people tend to do the craziest things when they are trying to be respectable. And ad agencies are their MOST cynical when they exploit that trait.
http://www.donorschoose.org/
This site matches donors with teachers who need grants for specific classroom projects.
One year, I sponsored a class in getting a new aquarium for some frogs, in my husband’s name (he’s a big aquarist). A few months later we received a nice thank-you note from the teacher, as well as a sheaf of hand-drawn frog pictures from the class. Cute and fun!
JR @ 179
I teach in a public school. May I say thank you on behalf of all kids. Merry Christmas!
A Three-4-One:
1. CHS’s Cookie Suggestion
2. Holiday Decoration PLUS
3. Start in September :-)
Christy Hardin Smith @ 63
Ahhhhh. I found a Sneaky Pete way to do the Cookie Baking thing … on my time clock … and give people a holiday decoration, too.
1. Focus on ball-shaped or cup-like deep cookies. At least 5 different kinds/colors.
2. Set out an 20-inch swath of plastic wrap.
3. Place a cookie at 3/4″ intervals; you should get about 3 repetitions of each. Make sure you leave a couple inches of plastic wrap at each end.
4. Pre-cut about 20 three-to-four inch lengeths of ribbon.
5. Now, wrap the ENTIRE row of cookies in turns of plastic wrap … twisting each one individually until it gets going. You get good at this with practice.
6. Tie off ENDS and between each adjacent cookies with the ribbon.
7. Tie the two ends together and wrap with a large plaid or red or green bow.
(To impress your neighbors — the Joneses? — braid TWO cooking ropes together.)
You can make these suckers before Halloween and, because they are tightly wrapped and if you keep them in a coolish place, they are edible till Valentine’s Day. Honest.
Two-fer-One. Made by your own manos. Decor and Eats.
I have given these to Homeless shelters and Domestic Violence shelters as stocking stuffers or personal cookie stashes for kids.
I used to work for a great organization called Interplast (”Healing Bodies, Changing Lives”), where you can help children with birth defects in developing countries for Christmas. Here’s their fantastic blog: http://interplast.blogs.com/
Thanks for this thread
I’m actually currently working w a youth group on alternative Christmas. Will be showing Equal Exchange’s video (about fair trade coffee) and will serve fair trade chocolate. Have handouts on simple gifts and alternative giving. Time/talent/make your own coupons, that sort of thing. We are hoping for a followup project fundraising (at some later time, not Christmas) for some organizatin.
Agree muchly with whoever said winning the elction was a gift. Hell yeah. (Thanks!) And I agree online ordering helps so much; just remember to shop small local merchants when possible too. Mall or WalMart no way. –feh.
Must say it was heartening to read so many unplugging from the frenzy. Somehow I think the rightwingers who want to “save Christmas” want to save it for the WalMart profit line.
It’s going to have to be a less lavish Christmas this year anyway, given the amounts I dumped into ActBlue this year. Not a problem–I feel a good bit better about my grandkids future now.
I’m late to this talk, and i haven’t read all of the messages, but I haven’t seen much reference to helping out a local artist and buying some original art. There are usually good Quality art and craft shows around this time of year, and it is a great time to take the kids and introduce them to creative energy. I teach art to both elementary school and to adults in my studio. How about a gift certificate to art lessons for either kids or adults? It’s almost nonexistent in schools now.
I wanted to note, about the Hunger Site… and its sister sites, The Breast Cancer Site, the Child Health Site, etc. You can make a donation… or donate for free just by clicking on their buttons once a day… but you can also buy jewelry, scarves, journals, home decorations, etc, that are both a nice gift and support their causes.
It’s also a good catalogue to ask for things from. Last year when asked for gift suggestions, I sent links to a few different necklaces to my dad, and he picked one. I got a shiny chunk of geode on a chain; they donated something like 25-50 cups of food. So if you end up finding something you want, rather than something for someone else, it works out too. :)