I am happy to report that this year was our greenest Christmas ever! And not because we didn't have any snow, but because we are learning to make better choices. Here are some of the things we did to have our greenest christmas ever.
We used last year's wrapping paper to wrap up gifts. We found environmentally friendly gifts for my parents: for Mom some pure beeswax candles (that way no petroleum products or nasty off-gasing) and for my Dad bamboo socks and organic/natural marzipan stollen bread. For my brother and his wife we got gift cards- which is a lot better than getting them something they don't want and will just throw away in a few months!
We also received some great gifts: stainless steel measuring spoons, the green parent magazine, organic fair trade chocolate and dried fruit, and a used astronomy book.
The boys received a crane by Plan Toys (www.plantoys.com) all wooden and made by decently treated workers in Thailand, who use organic rubberwood, as well as some organic cotton clothing from MEC (www.mec.com).
The best thing of all, since we've been trying to trim down the amount of stuff we have, was that no one seemed to get anything they didn't want and there just wasn't a whole lot of excess. We loved giving compassion gifts- The gift of chickens to a family in Africa, and dental care (www.compassion.ca) and receiving in our honour, a fruit tree given to a family in a developing country (world vision).
With some money I received I discovered a wonderful Victoria based store called Hemp & Co. There I got myself some hemp and wool slippers to keep my feet warm now that we have hard wood floors!
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