We need to be conscious this time of year of how deeply commercialization of this season has prevaded our society and we need to try to steer away from some of it and make the holidays more of what they should be. A time for being together, for sharing and for loving. And that does not have to mean breaking the bank or hurting our planet. Here are some ideas that I hope help us all.

Keep it simple. One thoughtful gift means much more than a pile of wrapped packages of unwanted gifts. Draw names or share the cost of a gift with a relative or friend.

Make your own gifts: knit, sew, paint, crochet, bake or make recycled art.

Look for gifts that are: durable; not overly packaged; reusable; energy efficient; recyclable; and not made from tropical woos like teak, rosewood or mahogany.

Look for gifts that are made of natural components, like sustainable harvested woods, natural fiber, or glass.

When choosing toys for children, choose items that won’t impact their health.

Purchase gifts from local vendors or that were locally made.

Give a membership or donate in the name of friend to an organization they feel strongly about.

Give a gift certificate of your time for babysitting, housecleaning, meal preparation, pet sitting.

Help someone start a garden. Give them seed and tools. Help plant, weed and water.

Plant a tree in someone’s name.

Create a recipe book from your favorite collection.

Create a photo book or make a calendar for the coming year using your own photos.

For Children

Box of dress up clothes

Makings for hand puppets

Homemade bird feeder kit.

Teach a child knitting or some other favorite craft of yours. (This will last a lifetime!)

Write and illustrate a story with the child as the main character.

Create a photo album of the year with photos of the child doing fun things.

Remember the good ol’ days? A clothesline in everyone’s back yard? Or maybe not. Maybe you’re much younger than me and clotheslines are just something you hear about or see when driving through the countryside. (Embrace that youthfulness!) But take a moment to think about it. Those clotheslines are inexpensive to put up, it will save you money each time you use it, it’s great for the environment, your clothes will last longer because they’re not being subjected to the rough and tumble of the dryer, you get some much needed fresh air as you hang out your clothes, you get to snub your nose at the electric company, and the smell of line dried clothes is unbeatable! Could you ask for much more?

Every year, on average, a household uses 900-1200 kilowatts hours of electricity drying their clothes. That’s 5-10% of residential energy consumption! Didn’t realize that, did you? If you even just start out small, say hanging out just ¼ of your laundry, you could save $30+/year; probably more as the cost of energy continues to skyrocket. There are some people who just can’t deal with line dried jeans or towels. If you are one of those, then don’t hang those out on the line, but do consider hanging the rest of your clothes out there. There’s nothing like walking into your bedroom after you’ve put your outdoor fresh clothes away and having the smell permeate through your whole room.

We are all looking for ways to save money, reduce energy costs, and do something good for the environment. Using a clothesline on a regular basis is one of those things that covers all three bases. If you’re like me, you have a special memory of helping your mother or grandmother hang out her family’s clothes. You can create that same heartwarming memory for your children, too, for the same and different reasons.

The term of going “green” or being “sustainable” is a new definition of an old concept.   We, in our human arrogance, tend to think that if we go green, we are doing what the rest of our society is catching on to.   In fact, our depression era grandparents and great grandparents were probably more sustainable than us, but they never wrapped it in green.  They used all three of the concepts of going green in their purest forms; Reduce (didn’t/couldn’t satisfy their desires), Recycle (they would re-use about everthing such as bread bags, clothing, etc.) and Renew (always giving back to what they took).  Through effective conservation, they can be one component of our model in going green.  Think about your own conservation practices that are already green for the next week.  It will be an enlightening moment!

The past 10-30 years, we, as a country, have lived high off the hog and well beyond our means, or what has sustained us as a civilization for hundreds of years. But, maybe, just maybe, some good things can come out of this economic mess. I hope that as a people, as a country, we get back to what is truly important. Instead of the spend like crazy, have more and more stuff, run around like chickens with our heads cut off, I hope we get back to family, community, taking care of and supporting one another in times of need, sustaining our households with food grown with our own hands, spending time with those we love, battening down the hatches and slowing down a little. It is time to reconnect once again reality. We’ve gotten so far away from all that is important, all that is natural and real.

For this reason, if we relearn the real meaning of life, family, community again, this economic crisis will not have been for naught. Instead of looking at the scary, negative side of what is going on right now, let’s try to take a look at the bright side and what we CAN achieve.