Absolutely free fun for train lovers (and snow lovers)

Amtrak has created a lovely snowflake maker that lets you send your creations to your friends as holiday cards. Save a tree, send a pixel!

Conscious Consumption, Christmas edition #5 --Homemade Gifts

The main reason I decided to simplify my holidays years ago was that I wanted to enjoy them in real time, not just when the holiday photos came back. With two small kids and a full-time job, it was easy to get overwhelmed with events and obligations and end up missing the parts that meant the most to me. In no particular order, these were: music, making things and having chill time with friends and family. This is about #2: making things. I love making all kinds of things, all year around -- edibles, wearables, little origami things just to see if I can. Making stuff is way more fun to me than buying them.

Sarah Snow at TreeHugger has a very spiffy, link-filled article on going green with handmade gifts; so spiffy I won't even try to top it. (Love the gourd lamp!!) But I want to add a few personal examples of when this has worked for us.

• a "memo board" of white cardboard covered in clear plastic (Con-tac) made for my mother by my daughter when she was about five. She wrote "Grandma's list" or something at the top and added some decorations before the plastic went on, and we tied a purchased wipe-off pen to it and added a magnet trip on the back. Instant refrigerator favorite.
• mulling spices for cider or wine, made by both kids at various times.
• a box of thrift-store finery from my daughter's godmother, who clearly knows about dress-up magic.
• a family tradition: snickerdoodles from the recipe I learned in Bluebirds in 1955, enough for us, the cookie party at church and Santa.
• origami picture frame ornaments, each with that year's school picture for each kid (I've also made a set of twelve for my brother from old family photos)

Conscious Consumption, Christmas edition #4 -- Fair Trade

If fair trade consumption is a priority for you, the options for ethical gift-shopping have been multiplying. Much as I love making things, I can't always spare the time to make all my gifts. (Besides, my friends and family can only use so many mittens, socks and scarves.) The next best thing, for me, is to support local craftspeople or entrepreneurs in developing countries whose work is fair trade. (By fair trade, I mean fairly-paid, clean and dignified work.) Some of my favorite gifts have been either local products (soaps, bath salts, a lovely hand-woven scarf) or imported fair-trade items (recycled paper earrings from Ten ThousandVillages -- a gift to myself!!!).
As promised, here are a few links to get you started:

Alternative Gift Fairs (Washington, DC area)
WorldofGood.com by eBay
Ten Thousand Villages
SERRV international
Etsy

Sometimes these are bargains (those $10 earrings!), but often they cost more than mass-produced items, as they should!

Conscious Consumption, Christmas edition #3 -- Buy Local

If you shop at a farmer's market or belong to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), you know the benefits of buying local. Not only can you support small, local businesses, but you often have access to unique products. When you are planning your holiday gift-gifting and celebrations, think local as well. Support your local yarn shop, or independent book store. Look for craft fairs that feature artisans from your area. Give gift certificates for performances by local arts organizations. For years, I've done at least part of my holiday shopping at a craft fair sponsored by my university. I bought some of my most cherished ornaments from a vendor there, one of my former students. Beats mass-produced from Hallmark, any day!

Conscious Consumption, Christmas edition #2 -- It really is the thought that counts!

The best present I ever gave my dad cost me less than a dollar in 1964. It was a tough Christmas. We didn't even have a tree that year, so my mother and I made one with string and our holiday cards. For my dad, who was the sort of person who bought what he needed and hated practical presents, I hit upon what turned out to be sheer genius. There was a picture my mom had taken of him, my brother and I, when we were on vacation in Colorado. We were standing together on a riverbank, all looking relaxed and a little tired. It was a black and white photo, but he was clearly wearing his favorite bright green cardigan sweater (the one he was eventually laid out in in 1994). My brother and I were on either side of him, sagging against his legs, and his hands were resting lightly on our shoulders. No one was looking at the camera or saying "cheese". My eyes are closed and my face was turned up towards my father, almost as if I were purring. It's a beautiful photo, and a rare one, because Dad was usually on the other side of the camera.

I took the photo to the local camera shop and had them enlarge it to 8 1/2 by 11, then put it in a frame from Woolworth's. He was speechless, and little teary-eyed.

Principle: Gift-giving is about expressing love and connection. One great way to do that is to rescue something truly precious from the box of jumbled keepsakes and souvenirs and let it speak.

Conscious Consumption, Christmas edition #1 -- Giving what people need.

My life has been very busy since I wrote the precursor to this series, and my mind has been full of ideas for posts. I've decided to go very personal with this, since there are so many great sites out there about simplifying the holidays. No Impact Man Colin Beavan's great article, which inspired this series, is a good place to start, and I will share others as we go. But I decided that what will work for me is sharing my own favorite Christmas memories and best gift experiences and use them to discuss underlying principles. (Oh, how pedantic! But that's what you get from a professor!)

My family was never well-off, but my mother was a great manager, so as kids we really didn't notice. I am sure economics lurked beneath one of my favorite traditions: pajamas. Instead of getting new pj's when it got cold (in Nebraska, that would be early October), we got ours on Christmas eve. It seems rather comical now,like something out of "A Christmas Story". We always opened all of our presents -- except the pajamas -- on Christmas morning. Christmas eve was reserved for reading the St. Luke version of the Nativity and attending a candlelight service at our church, often with my father singing "O Holy Night" in his beautiful tenor voice. When we got home, the silliness began: we would beg and wheedle for "just one present" to open, knowing very well what was in them. Wow! Brand new pajamas! Then we would put them on and head off to the coziest sleep ever. In the morning, we would all be splendid in our new finery, adding to the specialness of the event.

Principle #1: Necessities can be wonderful gifts. In fact, receiving them as gifts can make them special. My brother-in-law used to get several pair of black socks from his wife every year, which was obviously a well-loved inside joke. I used to buy my mother things she needed, but get nicer or prettier items than she would have bought for herself. In tough economic times, if you can only afford necessities, put them in the spotlight.

Caveat: Giving necessities can be tricky, so you need to know your giftee. This is not a great option for adults who enjoy shopping and who prefer to pick their own socks or pajamas. It is also not a license to get people things YOU think they need (example: the anti-frizz hair products my mother used to put in my stocking). It does work for the people who consistently minimize their own needs, and for kids at the stage when anything in wrapping paper is a present, and if they get to open it early, it's a bonus.

Christmas with no presents?

On of my favorite bloggers, No Impact Man, had a post on Buy Nothing Day entitled "Christmas with no presents". My heart sank, because despite the earnestness and good sense of the post itself -- about having a great holiday without going into debt -- my inner seven-year-old was trembling. My outer 59-year-old was not so happy, either. After all, folks in the voluntary simplicity movement have been trying to convince their friends and relatives that less can be much, much more for decades, and "Christmas with no presents" seems to undermine that message with grim images of deprivation.

So I'll be posting quick -- perhaps even daily -- ideas for holidays with GREAT presents. Watch this space