Comments on: Depression Holidays: Thinking About Presents, Ecology and Hard Times

By: A Quiet Simple Life » Blog Archive » link-o-rama 8

A Quiet Simple Life » Blog Archive » link-o-rama 8 — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:00:55 +0000

[...] Depression Holidays: Thinking About Presents, Ecology and Hard Times from Casubon’s Book [...]

By: Heather Gray

Heather Gray — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:45:58 +0000

Just finished up the first day of Ashfield Fall Festival (I’m a craft vendor and L makes maple cotton candy). Part of the proceeds go to a local scholarship fund, which is cool.

Anyway, just wanted to note that it seems like there were a lot of people out and about, socializing, etc. I did all right in sales although I suspect profits may be somewhat uneven — people are choosing more carefully what they’re purchasing. Interestingly I’ve been selling more of my more expensive items than usual this year, including two scarves. I think I’m hitting a mix of people who want to support local artisans and people who want to get nice, durable gifts without having to pay an arm-and-a-leg for them. Will see what tomorrow brings.

Oh, and for anyone who lives near here, the library is having its annual book sale — lots of interesting books for reasonable prices!

By: AnnMarie

AnnMarie — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 21:16:47 +0000

Me again! As you might have noticed, I’ve been reading a lot of old posts this week. Some things came to mind later on that I hope you might answer in future blog posts:

1. Could you tell us more about the unheated porch you use for cold storage? I’m intrigued, as I thought our unheated porch would be too cold for this. I struggle with using our basement as it isn’t cold enough for most things and probably too damp (we run a dehumidifier almost 24/7/365 due to dampness). If I could use our front porch instead….

2. Regarding storing water: Can (home)canned juices count in place of drinking water? I have lots of grape, apple and tomato juice we’d happily drink. Especially since we have almost no stored water at this time and it’s really hard to justify buying water in this day and age. We hope to go the route of filling up pop bottles, except DH has been drinking from cans lately. He’ll switch, but not till he finds some on sale.

thanks for the fantastic blog! If nothing else, it got me to buy a first aid kit the other week and start a bug-out bag. Oh, and buy some BOGO solar flashlights. Probably more as the days go on, but that’s pretty good so far.

By: Maeve

Maeve — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:53:52 +0000

Thanks for the idea about using cherry pits! We’re well past cherry season here, but I’ll stockpile pits next year.

By: ~ home made presents ~ « ~ Urbania to Stoneheads ~

~ home made presents ~ « ~ Urbania to Stoneheads ~ — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:30:47 +0000

[...] Thinking about Presents, Ecology and Hard Times [...]

By: tasterspoon

tasterspoon — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:53:42 +0000

For what it’s worth: when I was very small, my family moved overseas bringing very little with them. For my third Christmas, my parents took one of those square cardboard moving boxes, put in some cardboard dividers, and MADE a dollhouse. They cut in little windows, used carpet remnants and wallpaper samples, made beds out of boxes, mirrors out of aluminum foil and tables out of wooden spools and matchboxes. I cannot overstate how much I loved that dollhouse. When we moved back to the States, my parents bought me a real wooden dollhouse, and I have to admit I never really cared for it, it never felt homey. In fact I can’t think of any bought present I enjoyed so much. When I think about it now, I realize they must have spent HOURS creating it. I’m 35 now and it’s still one of my favorite presents of all time.

If I were to do this for my daughter, I might even consider giving her the component parts for her present – and then creating it with her.

By: WOW Trainee

WOW Trainee — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:10:20 +0000

Fern, I hope full bookshelves against outside walls count as insulation. Especially, when there are green plants on top! If nothing else, these are insulation for the inner me! Helen

By: Ailsa Ek

Ailsa Ek — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:15:09 +0000

We’re Jewish, so no Christmas here. When I first started celebrating Chanukah, I gave my daughter eight small stacks of presents tied together with ribbon, and she got to choose a different one each night. Since then, I’ve had it pointed out to me that this is not at all traditional, so I’ve cut way back. One gift a night (everyone still gets to choose), grownups as well as kids, but the gift might be flavored hot chocolate or a batch of homemade cookies as readily as a DVD (and if it’s a DVD, it’s from half.com). Birthdays, I like to get everyone a present or two, but again, they’re not likely to be lavish. My son gets excited about gifts of clothes, so that’s when I give him his new sweater for the winter.

By: Fern

Fern — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:37:32 +0000

We don’t do a lot of gift giving – well, *I* don’t do a lot of it, I’m trying to break my husband of the habit. I’ll get long underwear for his mom and her boyfriend (both are in their 90’s and chronically cold), I’ll have fruit delivered to my mother (who is in her 90’s and pays for college for my son, but doesn’t eat each fruits and veggies), and for my husband and son I’ll get them some needed clothes “oh boy, underwear!” and some sort of expensive favorite foods – wild rice, or vanilla beans, or mallomars, or Lindt chocolates, or blood oranges, etc. But most of the gifts will come from a used book store.

Full bookshelves against outside walls counts as insulation, right?

By: Molly Dove

Molly Dove — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:52:00 +0000

This year I want to buy handmade things. Hand made once-removed? I applaud creativity and want to give my $$ to local (or regional) artists, craft people, and entrepreneurs. I am not quite crafty enough to think up these things and do them myself, though I have made a few modest successes that way. This year I plan to attend a craft fair and do it all at once. Then I will cruise through the rest of the holiday season focusing on the other elements of the holidays that I enjoy–music, lights, good food.

Last year holidays had a complicating factor–my husband’s injury, disability, and illness, and a major surgery in November and again in December. Looking back, I’m amazed I managed with all the stress and extra work. How I did it, sadly, was to treat it like a work project, and not expect or seek any joy or pleasure in it, except the pleasure of getting the job done.

The thing I take from that is the satisfaction I felt in getting the gift part done early.

Molly