Christmastime, Mistletoe and Wine!

Listening to the radio this afternoon, I hear a segment on Christmas gift giving. It seems that we're moving away from the tradition of giving gifts, as 'everyong has everything they need.' How wonderful! They interviewed economists and people on the street. The experts said that buying someone a gift for 100 kroner (£10) when it is something the recipient would only spend 50 kroner on, is a loss of 50 kroner.

The people on the street spoke about the amount of times they'd received gifts that they really didn't want, or that they had no use for. It's all a waste of money. The solution they say, is to give money, or nothing at all.

I like this trend. I hope it takes off and Christmas reverts to being a time of joy and feasting as it was traditionally.

This year, I decided quite early on that I'd send cards to people instead of gifts. Then I thought about the cost of paper - both fiscal and ecological - and that it will sit on a mantle for a couple of weeks, before being thrown away. The cost of the stamp, the environmental cost of transport... I'll make digital cards, use my creativity and my time to convey a big virtual hug to all my loved ones.

I do really and truly believe that this is the way forward.

Something I do believe in, is making gifts, or giving gifts of things that are of real value and use.
Books, for example, whether they're appreciated or not, they ought to be. Book reading needs to be encouraged at every level, from parents reading to pre-schoolers to the older members of the family finding new joys between the pages of books they might never choose for themselves.

Candles are also a good choice. Whether they're appreciated or not, they can be burned or passed on.

Then there's gingerbread! 

Here in Norway (where it's called pepperkake) and the rest of Scandinavia, gingerbread is synonymous with Christmas. I scoured the net for a good recipe, then made my own version.

The recipe I relied on most heavily, I actually found in a free recipe magazine!

As the dough needs to be set in the fridge overnight, I'll post the full recipe and the resulting yield in another post.

I like this idea, too. Place lace over the dough and roll with a rolling pin. The image has a click throught link to the source.

Until then, eat drink and be merry!

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