Green gift giving

A chilly morning view of the park

Ho! Ho! Ho! We're really getting into our holiday celebrations now. This evening we wrapped gifts with ribbons and bows, recycled bags, and saved papers. It was lots of fun, with holiday music playing in the background.

And now to a reader question: Do you have any suggestions for eco-bargains for green gift giving?

Here's a few:

1) Consider making a donation to a charity in the name of the person or a special gift to your family. We love Heifer International which targets hunger worldwide by purchasing livestock for families. The future farmers have decided on a sheep this year.

2) Consider a gift card to a green supermarket or a CSA subscription so the recipient can have healthy food on hand.

3) Consider making a gift from your kitchen, garden, or crafty hands, using materials you already have at home. One of our favorites is flavored hot chocolate mix: cocoa powder, powdered milk, (sugar,) and a featured flavor. Some we like are nutmeg, cinnamon, and chili powder.

4) Consider finding a gift at a garage sale, swap meet, or thrift store. These can be great places to purchase vintage chic and to save useful items from ending up in the land fills. I recently visited our local St. Vincent de Paul's and found a brand new set of holiday stoneware for four for $10. A coordinating cookie jar was $6. A cute reindeer plate, perfect for Santa's cookies was $3. (Our family constantly needs dish updates, we seem to have a high breakage rate.)

5) Finally, consider giving a gift of an experience. Tickets to movies, plays, symphonies, operas, ballets, comedy nights, etc make fun gifts to share with friends and family.

Tonight was soup night on the family menu. We made a delicious butternut squash (CSA)-potato (CSA) veggie soup topped with chives (garden) and served it up with fresh pumpkin (garden)-spice-wholewheat bread. Many, many thanks to our friend Lisa for roasting the butternut squash for us. Our oven is STILL out of whack.

The storm blew in as predicted yesterday with lots of wind and rain. So far our power is still on. The kids are eagerly anticipating snow tomorrow. David and I are less eagerly anticipating driving in the snow.