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Hallmark, Eat Your Heart Out! 6 Consumer-Conscious Christmas Gift Ideas for the Holidays 
While I'm all for the glitz and glitter of Christmas, there's something
about the season that I have found rather overwhelming in the past.
It's the feeling of obligatory gift-giving, excessive spending and the
fact that kids are too often left out of the "giving" part of Christmas
and get all out of whack when they get presents dumped on them in mass
quantities just because they're cute! Being single makes things easier, but as a divorced mother with divorced parents and having had a boyfriend with divorced parents meant an obscene quantity of gifts coming in and going out. At one point the grandparent count was 10! UGH! Christmas can be a very unsettling time for children, too. Unless they are actively involved in the creation and preparation of gifts themselves, Christmas puts them WAY out of exchange with others. I am really careful to stretch the gifts out over several weeks and make sure they have to time and space to honor and appreciate each gift. I also get them actively involved in making gifts to give to others as much as possible, though it's admittedly hard to keep up with. Unless given opportunities to reciprocate the exchange, whether consciously or not, it can be extrememly overwhelming to receive, receive, receive. I mean, most of us know that feeling intimately. It doesn't feel good to only be on the receiving end of things. It's not any more comfortable for children, though their discomfort may manifest itself in different ways. Watching relatives race to shopping malls to get last minute, obligatory tokens of exchange sorta put me off of the whole thing, too. I've not officially boycotted Christmas, yet, but I've definitely voiced my choice to participate according to my interest and capacity. So, I actually don't go out and buy Christmas presents. I mean, I just don't do it anymore and I like that. I have been known to indulge in some moderate spending at a local craft store, however, and put together some gorgeous gifts that come from the heart. Here are some of my favorites that have been tried in the past and for the most part, were received exceptionally well. Homemade Christmas Ornaments (About a $20 investment for an endless supply of decorations.)  One of the things we love
to do as a team (the kids and I) is make holiday Christmas ornaments.
These are a great gift to give annually if you have children, because
you can date the decorations and observe the evolution of their
creative contributions over the years. People love looking back over
the box of decorations and talking about the history of each one.
You can find just about everything you need for this at your local dollar store. I recommend, craft paint (red, green, blue, gold/yellow, silver and white). At this time of year, you can usually find sparkles in these colors, too, and all kinds of bells and whistles you can add to your decorations. You'll need some Christmas-shaped cookie cutters. We used a Christmas tree, gingerbread man, a star and then made lots of little balls, like standard Christmas decorations. All you do is whip together a batch of standard salt dough (salt, flour and water) recipe below, stamp out cookies and bake them in a 250 degree oven for 2-3 hours. You can also use air-hardening clay found in most craft stores. Make sure you leave a hole in them for the string before baking. (A small drinking straw makes the perfect sized hole!) For the balls, you want to put in a hook before you bake them. We found official Christmas ornament hooks at the dollar store! Loads of them for $1. But if you don't have any, unfolding a decent sized paper clip should do the trick. Once baked, paint and decorate your ornaments with sparkles and whatever else your creativity inspires you to do. You can get a coat of craft varnish to layer over at the end for a gorgeous finish! Wrap them in stlye and they're a gorgeous treat to give and receive! Luxurious Bath Salts You can pick up a big jug of epsom salts or dead sea salt at most drug stores or health food stores. If you want to shop around for a bulk brice, you can do that, too. If you've got some essential oils kicking around, then mix them in. Salt is a perfect mediums for absorbing essential oils, and when placed in a bath, it diffuses them into the water evenly! Plan on a maximum of 8 drops per bath. Put in the desired about of oils and salts and write up some instructions so the receiver knows how much to put in. Mix up your salts and oils, and pour them into a gorgeous bottle, or jar. You can find little treasures like these in second hand stores pretty easily. Get creative and be willing to try stuff. It's best if the container is glass, as essential oils will dissipate if left in breathable containers. You can play the part of a professional perfumer as you blend a soothing or stimulating combination of essential oils together. If you'd like more tips, contact us. I have a very extendsive background in aromatherapy and loads of tricks tips and even blending supplies to pass on if you're interested! Homemade ToothPowder If you haven't read my blog entry on toothpowder, check it out here. Anyway, it would make for a cute little stocking stuffer, if covered in a pretty ribbon! I've not tried this yet, myself, but if you wrapped it with a handsome toothbrush and some dental floss, I think it would be a fantastic stocking stuffer! Homemade Candles This is a bit more complicated, maybe, but not impossible. Home-dipped, beeswax candles are a gorgeous gift to give and a really fun activity to do with kids! Home-decorated Plates, Napkins, Glasses and T-shirts! One year for Christmas we went to an old restaurant wholesaler and bought loads of beautiful white plates and bowl for a great price. Then we went to our local craft store and bought ceramic paint. It's super cheap and so much fun. The come in little plastic bottles in every color imaginable. We printed with the paint onto dishes and then gave sets of dishes to people for Christmas that the kids had decorated! You can also buy paints for fabric and decorate napkins, table cloths, or T-shirts! There are great tubes of paint for glass that you can use on mirrors, mugs and wine glasses! Just spending about $20 on a few colors of any of these paints, and hitting your local second hand store for some handsome bits and pieces of dishes, glasses, etc. and you're in for an endless string of personalized, creative Christmas gifts that will be a sure hit with just about anyone. A Heart-felt, Hand-written Letter  Some
of the best gifts I've given have been letters. Just taking the time to
thoughtfully or creatively express your thoughts and feelings for a
person is a tremendously valuable gift. Especially these days when
everything is electronic, getting a beautiful, hand-written letter is a
real treat! Taking the time to recall fond moments spent together, and
to really validate someone who has contributed to your life, is an
extremely valuable thing to do. For both you and the recipient of your
letter.Reconnecting with someone you've not written to in years is also a marvelous gift to give! Apple Butter! I know, I know! This isn't a raw food recipe, but it's so easy to do and a much healthier alternative to what most people put on their plates, that you can't go wrong. Here in Quebec we have LOADS of apples at this time of year. You just put them in a pot and cook them until they make a thick, caramelly butter! Pop them in some jars while they're warm, let them seal by putting them in the fridge, then decorate with a cute little, appley label, Christmas ribbon and give with love! It's just apples and it's totally yummy! Okay, here are a few others... A Raw Food Recipe book, filled with stickers, pictures and hand-written notes! A fruit basket with recipes inside! All the ingredients a person needs to make a particular raw food recipe, with ingredients and maybe a little kitchen tool (vegetable peeler) included!
An Evolution in Conscious Eating:
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