Photo Courtesy of Clipart Heaven
Article Courtesy of Organized Christmas
Is your holiday giving only about "stuff"--or is it a
reflection of your heart? To express your deepest holiday values, plan to make
a gift of yourself this holiday season!
This week in the Christmas Countdown, we've focused on gifts and
giving. 99% of the time, we've seen this effort in terms of "things."
Stuff. Boxes and parcels and bags. Stocking stuffers. But have we considered
making a true gift: a gift of ourselves?
In the days to come, we'll begin planning the American Thanksgiving
holiday. Will we also begin to ponder those things for which we are thankful?
Out of gratitude comes grace, and from abundance comes true giving. How will we
reflect this gift?
To Do Today
Plan family service projects
Challenge yourself and your family to make a difference: to make a true
gift of yourselves. Today, plan service projects or volunteer activities.
Service doesn't have to be regimented. Even small efforts can reap big
rewards.
Teach someone a new skill. Tackle a service project as a family. Visit
an assisted living center, or take part in a church ministry.
Don't just share your stuff this season: share yourself! The real
secret? When you give of yourself, you are returned blessings tenfold!
Complete holiday scheduling
Calendar in hand, review holiday season activities and events.
Consider adding a no-event "family night" to the calendar to
provide stress relief during the height of the season.
Schedule family service projects, or sign up for church charity
efforts.
Reserve baby-sitters for December's nights out.
Keep tabs on the holiday budget
As you shop, record expenditures on your holiday budget. Keeping your
budget in the front of your mind helps prevent impulse purchases and
over-spending.
Clutter-Free Gift Solution:
Think Consumable!
Simplicity. Frugality. Great holiday gifts. Find a way to serve all
these values with clutter-free consumable gifts:
Gift-giving. Seldom do we engage in an activity that invokes so many
conflicting values.
On the one hand, we hope our gift will entertain, educate, and amuse.
We dream of seeing our special gift proudly displayed in the home of
the recipient.
We hunt and search and shop, trying to find just the right gift to
stand for the relationship we're celebrating.
On the other hand, gift-buying brings us up against our limitations.
While our emotions urge extravagance, our wallets counsel frugality.
The desire to delight a child with the year's hot toy runs smack up
against the knowledge that the toy is question is shoddy, lacking in play
value, and composed of 374 tiny plastic parts (most of which will become food
for the vacuum cleaner by January 15th).
We squander precious time to produce a hand-crafted decor item, yet
suspect it will never see the light of day in the recipient's precisely
decorated home. The sheer drudgery of slogging through a lengthy gift
list--never enough time, never enough money--takes the emotional component of
gift-giving and stands it on end.
There is a strategy that can cut through the gift-giving conflict. A
strategy that will ensure each gift is appreciated and enjoyed. A strategy that
serves the values of frugality, simplicity, and freedom from consumer
mentality. And, not at all incidentally, a strategy that makes gift-buying
much, much easier: think consumable!
A consumable gift is one that will be used. Used up, not stashed in a
closet for the next yard sale. A consumable gift is something that can be
eaten, sent, read, or enjoyed by the recipient. A consumable gift is the gift
of an experience, not a thing, a "keepsake", or another piece of
clutter.
How does it work? Start with the small fry. Forget the "Mrs. Fields
Baking Oven", a pricey piece of kiddy work that purports to bake cookies
using a single light bulb. Instead, bundle a few cookie cutters, a rolling pin
and a box of sugar cookie mix together with a certificate for "cookie
lessons". Child in question learns some baking skills and has a memorable
afternoon with Grandma or Auntie. Consumable!
That teen-aged nephew? Sure, you could try to figure out which video
games he has, which he doesn't, and which of the store's supply he might like
to own (to the tune of $39.95). If you guess wrong? Too bad.
Think consumable. Delight the young man in question with a selection of
three or four video gaming magazines, the flashier, the better. He'll pore over
them for game cheats, information on new games, and tips for power players.
You've simplified gift-buying, saved money, and given a gift you know will be
used. Consumable!
Your parents? Forget more decorator junk to add to their overstuffed
house. Give them tickets to a play or a certificate for dinner in a restaurant.
Give Mom a big supply of note cards, greeting cards and stamps. Give Dad a
basket full of car wax, windshield treatment and tire cleaner for his beloved
classic Mustang. Consumable!
To think consumable, think "experience". You won't be buying
things, so much as buying an activity.
Many consumable gifts are very direct: passes to a movie theater, fast
food gift coupons, magazine subscriptions. Others take more imagination: give a
group of women friends the same book, and invite them all for a Book Night
party in early February. Give a teen-aged daughter a set of hair brushes, some
styling aids and two or three hairdo magazines (and be prepared for a locked
bathroom door).
The Christmas gift industry knows the appeal of consumable gifts. Where
would Swiss Colony be without them? Try, if you can, to pass up the obvious
"I'm in despair" choices. Have you ever truly enjoyed the stale and
salty offerings of those "gift packs?"
A better, more frugal strategy: use commercial consumables as models
for your own gifts. Send special children "cookies of the month"
throughout the year. Model a gift basket for a gardening friend on the
commercial variety--but spend far less by buying gloves, trowel, herb seeds and
a garden bucket and packaging the gift yourself.
Think consumable as you buy your Christmas gifts. Think consumable to
fight clutter, to save money, and to bring the holiday spirit back home. . .
and get Organized!
Today's Recipe
apricot bread recipe
Apricot Nut Bread is a sweet addition to holiday gift baskets. One of
Cynthia's specialties!
To make ahead, bake this quick bread recipe in small loaves, then
double-wrap with plastic food storage wrap. Place wrapped loaves in a freezer
storage bag; they'll stay fresh for up to 2 months:
Apricot Nut Bread Recipe
Looking for a different holiday quick bread recipe? Try Apricot Nut
Bread!
Tangy dried apricots give a pleasing taste and color to this succulent
nut bread.
Bake it in mini-loaves for holiday giving.
Ingredients
1 cupdried apricots, snipped in 1/4-inch cubes
boiling water to cover
2 cupsflour, all-purpose
1 cupsugar, granulated
1 teaspooncinnamon
1 1⁄2 teaspoonbaking powder
1⁄2 teaspoonsoda
1⁄2 teaspoonsalt
1 cupwalnuts, chopped
3⁄4 cupsorange juice
1⁄4 cupvegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoonorange rind, grated
Instructions
Place snipped dried apricots in heatproof bowl or measuring cup; add
boiling water to cover. Let stand for 5 minutes; drain well.
Stir together in a large bowl: flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder,
soda and salt. When well blended, add walnuts and dried apricots. Stir to coat
nuts and fruit.
In a separate bowl, stir orange juice, vegetable oil, egg and orange
rind with a fork until well blended.
Pour over the dry ingredients; stir just until dry ingredients are
completely blended into wet ingredients.
Pour into greased 9x5 loaf pan or 3 mini-loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees
for 60-70 minutes for large loaf, 45 to 60 minutes for small loaves.
Cool completely on baking rack before wrapping individual loaves with
plastic wrap.
Notes
To freeze, wrap individual loaves in plastic wrap, then place wrapped
loaves in freezer storage bag. Freeze for up to 6 weeks.
