Amidst all the decking of the halls
(can we pause to discuss this thorny issue for a moment? have you ever tried to decorate with boughs of holly? it is not jolly. holly is plentiful out here on the West Coast and seems to thrive with an ornery vigor in spite of our rainy climate. holly’s tough green leaves and bright red berries are festive indeed but in reality, give me hives wherever the nasty sharp leaves penetrate my skin)
and being jolly,
(also stressed. very, stressed. up until all hours packaging homemade truffles and knitted scarves over which you have laboured and must now wrap and send before the post office cackles expensively in your flushed face about mailing deadlines stresse.)
there is the ‘Yuletide treasure’ to be considered.
While the lyrical ‘treasure’ in Deck The Halls is certainly the season’s gift of intangible moments of true delight, in truth a great many Yultide moments are the ohmygod sinking feeling variety when you realize that you have forgotten a hostess gift or something for the amazing tutor who helped your child through a particularly hard science term.
I had one of those moments this past week; I needed a solution and a present and I needed both right away. That afternoon I had many phone calls, chores and appointments to fit in, along with the school run and then an extracurricular event. (did I mention it was also bucketing down rain? not jolly). The gift was an important one to give, how could I have forgotten? But forgotten I had and so I pushed, soggy and frantic, through the doors of one of my favourite go-to stores when I find myself in a must buy crunch.
I hate to buy stuff for the sake of the buying, and if I must buy stuff, or have stuff to bring, stuff to offer, stuff with which to say ‘thank you’ or ‘I appreciate all you do’, then I want the buying of that stuff to do as little damage to our collective society, environment, and more selfishly perhaps, to my holiday-strained bank account as possible. I feel better about shopping for the must buy stuff at a place that does the kind of good that touches on every one every one of these reasons and more. Which is why the bells on the door at Ten Thousand Villages jingled to announce my frazzled arrival.
We call love to give luxuries like tea and coffee and chocolate and though I feel a little like the holly pricking at your conscience as I type these words, unless you buy fairly traded, shade grown, organic, and/or small scale farmed, each one of those items does tremendous harm to people, animals and the earth.
I want the little babes with makeshift shelters, the partridges and the pear trees, even the damn holly to last for all the Christmases to come so I am always delighted that Ten Thousand Villages sells delicious luxuries that also support sustainable industries, spare children from forced labour, and foster collectives and cooperatives which in turn do good in local communities worldwide. I also want to cope with the last minute present OMG I NEED IT NOW, RIGHT NOW moment with a scrap of dignity leftover.
Here are just a few ideas which do just that: beautiful beaded necklaces which look extravagant but are in fact affordable glamour, (have you seen Oprah’s fund raising bracelets and necklaces? beautiful. have you seen the price tag? totally out of reach) coffee and hand made ceramic mugs, tea and exquisite teapots, chocolate, wallets made of recycled materials perfect for holding for gift certificates, community building sponsorships like schoolrooms across the world (hello teacher present), hot chocolate and pretty spoons, scarves, ornaments, jingle bells, angels, (to thank the angels in your daily life) candle holders, (find a nice beeswax candle and help out the bees instead of the petroleum industry), notebooks (can a person ever have enough notebooks?), stationary, music.
Other win-win must buy stuff options are not-for profit shops in your community like local museums, (dinosaurs! space! ) the art gallery, (notebooks and stationary, really, never enough) or a gift shop attached to your local botanical garden or ecological center (the bees, honey for sweetness, calenders, seeds in winter). Go to the craft sales, many have charitable components or are affiliated with community centers. (while decking the halls I was given just such a gift: an angel in support of Grandmother to Grandmother Campaign of the Stpehen Lewis Foundation. she made me happy & looked so pretty with the other angels.) Stock up at the school fundraisers.
Give, and give back at the same time. It’ll put the fa in your la la la.
In these fuzzy times of sponsored blog writing, I should add that this is not a sponsored post. These words are my small sprigs of conscientious holly, judiciously snipped and carefully placed along this little lintel in the ether.)
* Do you have a fabulous holiday solution to share? Join the chorus in the comments below.
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