'Tis a Green Christmas

'Tis the Sunday before Christmas, and all through the US, the shoppers are crazy to find the best.  Now only six days left to find the perfect gift, you can't disappoint or you will hear a rift.  So settle down and don't risk your life, just go green and dismiss the mall hype.  With a list of how too's and magic in the air, create lots of jolliness without any despair.  Now I am done with my poem and have no more to share, consider the list of greenness that is more than fair.  And Merry Christmas to all from here, until I email you again in the new year!

Done with driving, fighting traffic, no available parking, long lines?  Why do we do this to ourselves every year?  I am working on going green, and I will admit its hard.  In line with gardening and recycling, I tried to incorporate some greenness (and not in a Scrooge way), into Christmas.  Instead of creating more pollution, here's how we can take advantage of America's love for over consumption while giving great gifts. 

1. RE GIFTING.  Admit it, you probably have some really nice things that you will never use, do not like, or have no clue how to put them to use.  They are taking up space in your cabinets.  Or maybe you are a hoarder.  Stop hording and give a little.  I would be willing to place a bet that even Queen Elizabeth has re gifted.

2.  JOEY'S GIFT EXCHANGE.  My cousin Joey must have full credit for this idea, and I think it is awesome.  Have a Christmas party and exchange.  This is not necessarily a gift exchange or white elephant.  It is where you bring unused or unwanted and unwrapped items (you are not re gifting) from your house.  Everyone sets them out.  Some people will find things they can use others will not.  But the point is that the unused items in your house will be appreciated.  You spend no money on buying gifts, but yet you make someone else happy, and potentially find something really cool that you want.

3. BUY PRODUCTS WITH LESS PACKAGING.  There are lots of products on the market, including toys, with a lot of unnecessary and environmentally unfriendly packaging.  Buy products with the least amount of packaging as gifts, like toilet paper.  People always need it and will always use it!

4.  SHOP ESTATE SALES.  Real estate sales are a treasure trove of stuff.  When old people die or are moved off to a nursing home, their stuff is often sold off.  A true estate sale can contain 50 years or more of stuff including gifts they never re gifted that their own families do not want.  You can find silver, china, sports memorabilia, and doilies.  All good choices for someone on your list.

5.  MOVIE EXCHANGE.  Have a movie exchange with your friends or family.  Now is your chance to get rid of all those movies you have watched over and over or those porno flics you have been hiding in the closet.  Come on guys, you know you have purchased some tacky movies from time to time.

6. MAKE SOMETHING.  Think you can't make something?  Wrong, you definitely can create something.  I have been to several art studios to with lots of expensive "art" that looks like a 5 year old put it together.  You can compile a bunch of crap, glue it all together, and call it a masterpiece.  Give the gift of art that will never go away.  Make sure you use materials that will not compost and can be sealed so it will stand the test of time.  This will truly test how gracious the recipient is, but also recycles materials that would otherwise be sitting in the garage, the shed or the trash.

Over the next six days, one of the six ideas above will help you have a Green Christmas.  I think I will make this a tradition!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

p.s.  On a more serious note, if you do not have a Kindle or cannot afford to purchase one, you can download the Kindle software for free on your PC.  So if you receive or giving the gift of Amazon, remember to share the free Kindle for PC software.

Carpe Diem

Go Straight to the New Year

I'm skipping right over Christmas as if Rudolph spooked and flew over North America.  Every year I hear disheartening comments decrying the Christmas holiday.  For a lot of people, 'tis the season of stress, overeating and credit card abuse.  And if you don't submiss to advertisers pleas to lavishly spend on your children, buy a diamond ring or a Lexus, then really, whats the point?  So this year, I am giving Saint Nicholas a vacation, and I'm letting go of the stress caused by a never ending cycle of seeking out the perfect gift that does not exist.  I'm pulling the plug on Christmas.  (Not really, I love giving gifts and visiting with family over the holiday, but for this blog, I'm throwing in the towel.)  It's time to just let go.  If the Christmas holiday brings you down, then you should pull the plug too.

The Christmas lights are out, but the new year is being pulled around the corner by eight white horses.  To smooth over the loss of a major holiday, and to provide rejuvenation, I came up with a fantastic idea for new year's eve.  Instead of the usual party horns and champagne, or the burying of deep thoughts in the yard to dig up next year, or the destruction of bad thoughts by burning them in a bonfire in the middle of your living room, ask the people around you for help.

How do we do that?  We allow our loved one(s) to write our new year's resolutions for us and we write theirs!  That's right.  Your project for the next two weeks is for you to have the person closest to you write your new year's resolutions.  Here is the example for women to write for their husbands and boyfriends around the world:

1.  I will always pick up my dirty laundry
2.  I will help with cleaning out the litter box
3.  I will go to the mall with my girlfriend at least three times next year
4.  I will plan more vacations
5.  I will actually go grocery shopping
6.  I will learn what to put in the recycling bin
7.  I will remember that when I am nagged it is because I am not doing items 1-6.

See how easy that is?  I'm sure my boyfriend's new year's resolutions for me will look something like this:

1.  I will stop nagging him to clean
2.  I will stop nagging him to clean the litter box
3.  I will not ask him to go for a walk with the dogs
4.  I will not ask him if he is mad at me
5.  I will not ask him if I look fat in those jeans
6.  I will go or watch the equivalent of 200 baseball games with him
7.  I will love the catchers mitt he bought me for Christmas.

I would love to share your lists on the blog.  Hope to see your lists soon.  Just click on "Post a Comment" link to post a comment below. 

Namaste, Carpe Diem and Merry Christmas anyway!