For my birthday this year, a friend gave me a clear glass teapot. I love it because I can actually watch the giant leaves of my favorite green tea dance and swell when the almost-boiling water hits them. It is a ritual I love, especially in December when the pace of the season threatens me. I wait for the water to heat; I wait for the leaves to steep; then I sip slowly.
I’m not much of a baker, but years ago I developed one specialty: Christmas biscotti. Apricot, spice, and chocolate-orange marble were my favorites. But biscotti making is labor-intensive and time-consuming—mix the dough, shape into loaves, bake, cool, slice, bake again, cool again, drizzle with chocolate—so eventually I lost my one specialty. But I just completed a biscotti grocery list. Tonight I’m going to play some Celtic Christmas CDs really loud and revive my baking tradition.
Each morning I read a daily selection from Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas (Orbis Books). It’s an anthology of wisdom and spiritual nourishment from a wide spectrum of classic and contemporary writers. I read most of it last year, but couldn’t wait to start through it again. It’s a book worth reading year after year.
Another book I’m going through this month is Women Empowered: Inspiring Change in the Emerging World, by photographer Phil Borges. The book is “a celebration of remarkable women in developing countries making extraordinary differences in their worlds.” No, it’s not a typical Christmas book. But the haunting stories and photos of women standing up against the practice of female genital mutilation, or fighting for fresh water in their villages, or rescuing little girls from the sex trade which exploited them, draw me back toward some of my deepest held values.
The book reminds me that you and I are more than consumers caught in the cogs of a mad marketing machine. We are mothers and sisters and daughters and wives and friends who are grieved by what’s gone wrong in this world. And we know there’s no better time to try to make it right than at Christmas, when we celebrate the God who came to earth wrapped in the same kind of flesh and blood that wraps us—the God who embraces, loves, and redeems the creatures he calls Human.
For me, part of honoring this God is to become a more intentional consumer. I’ve never been much of a shopper, so I’ve always rather dreaded this part of the Christmas season. But this year it’s become downright fun because I’ve discovered a way of doing it that honors the family and friends I love, while at the same time fights injustice in our world.
- I’ve discovered some wonderful companies that donate proceeds to organizations that serve people in need.
- I’ve purchased fair trade gifts whenever possible. Fair trade companies use spending power rather than donations as a means of bringing jobs to the poorest of the poor.
- I’ve done more “alternative giving,” funding humanitarian projects in a friend’s name. I know that some people are afraid recipients of such gifts will be disappointed, but I’ve discovered that few of my friends are longing for more “stuff,” and most people welcome more meaning in their lives.
Rather than traipsing through the mall, I decided to see if I could do my intentional shopping online. Here are some of my favorite discoveries:
Companies that Donate to Worthy Causes
www.jedidiahusa.com
Since Kevin and Sherri Murray first started Jedidiah, 1 percent of all profits have gone to support humanitarian causes. But their new Hope Collection goes way beyond that. Hope Collection t-shirts sell online for $24, but $10 from each sale is donated to the humanitarian organization represented by that design. I am a huge Jedidiah fan!
www.artbymarg.com
Two friends of mine—painter Marg Rehnberg and photographer Al Buschauer—collaborated to create a stunning 5 x 7-inch painting on wood. The $25 price tag pays for a goat to be donated to a needy family in Africa. I recently heard of grade school kids pooling their resources to buy one of the paintings for their teacher. On the back of each painting is information explaining the goat project.
www.rosaloves.com
My daughter Shauna told me about Rosa Loves after she ordered some shirts for gifts. Limited edition t-shirts fund specific individuals in need. This is a beautiful example of grassroots innovators getting creative and making a difference.
www.tomsshoes.com
When you order one pair of Tom’s Shoes, another pair is automatically donated to a child in need. Don’t tell my grandson Henry, but I ordered him a pair!
www.iamapeacekeeper.com
This is a great option for stocking stuffers. My favorite product is the Unifem Lipgloss. All after-tax proceeds from this product go to the United Nation’s Development Fund for Women, supporting programs around the world to end violence against women.
Fair Trade Online Stores
www.brighthope.com
I’ve purchased many items from the Bright Hope Store throughout the years. The products are high quality and help the poorest of the poor to earn a living wage.
www.tradeasone.org
The home page for this organization says it all: “There are two worlds. One where people are poor. The other where people have money to buy things.” This website brings the two together.
www.agreatergift.org
I’ve ordered organic, fair trade chocolate to give as hostess gifts.
www.puravidacoffee.com
We sell this organic, fair trade coffee in the coffee shop at Willow. It’s a great company, with all proceeds supporting charitable work in the developing world.
www.globalexchange.org
I recently received a great birthday gift from Global Exchange: beautiful, hand-carved salad tongs.
Alternative Gifts
www.ijm.org
What could be better than the gift of freedom? International Justice Mission brings freedom to the oppressed and is an organization that I love.
www.brighthope.org/seasonofhope
Ten dollars buys a basket of chickens to provide nourishment and economic opportunity for a poor family. Eight dollars provides a mosquito net to protect kids from malaria. Seventy-five dollars funds a small business enterprise.
www.worldvisiongifts.org
I especially love the gifts that provide hope for women and girls.
www.heifer.org
You can give anything from llamas to bees to water buffalo!
www.altgifts.org
Just reading the Alternative Gifts project catalog is an educational experience!
For a free, downloadable pdf with creative ideas for simplifying Christmas, go to www.simplifytheholidays.org.
One more tiny thing: Experts estimate that Americans throw away 25 percent more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day than any other time of year. This extra garbage amounts to 25 million tons of trash. One very simple way to eliminate some of it is to forego the accumulation of shopping bags. I now keep canvas bags and totes in my car throughout the year, so I always have them available. I’ve had sales clerks thank me for bringing my own bag!
Often in past Decembers, when people asked me how I was doing I responded with a pitiful sigh of resignation which everyone knew to mean, “Why do you even bother to ask? It’s December. Life is crazy.” Not so this year. I didn’t make the biscotti I was planning to make last night because the day just got away from me. Maybe I’ll make it tonight; maybe I won’t. But here’s the thing. In my Advent devotional this morning I read these words: “God has been here once historically, but as millions will testify, he will come again with the same silence and the same devastating humility into any human heart ready to receive him.”
Whatever Christmas preparations I do or do not accomplish, however intentional or unintentional my Christmas consumerism becomes, the bottom line is that I want to wake up every day this month with a heart that’s open to the living Christ who wants to fill me with his peace, his goodness, and his love. If I do that, it’s going to be a beautiful, magical, God-blessed Christmas.
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