Green Gifts: Day 3

There was a "Friends" episode in which the girls were broke, so they baked for everyone as the holiday tips. Of course, zaniness and hilarity ensued. Their newspaper guy tore up their newspaper and their mailman smashed their mail and Ross blamed their "bad" gift as the reason their Super wouldn't fix their heater. The joke of course was that the super LOVED the heart-felt-ness of the gift.

Baking some yummy treats show that you took time out of your life to put love and care into the gift. Put them in a cool reusable container or tin or basket, again with those nice cloth napkins. Baking doesn't have to be a big bad chore; make it fun and involve the family too. Warm up the chilly home! There are all kinds of benefits! You can control the ingredients, in case anyone has allergies. You can go to the farmers' market to get local ingredients. (That's a two-fer!) For those people that just love cookies, and maybe do not have the time or wherewithal to make them themselves, this is a GREAT gift.

They don't have to be cookies. Do cupcakes. Do banana bread, zucchini bread, whatever. Make it your signature. Make it something the recipients look forward to! There is a lot to be said for the homemade gifts. It's time we got back to things like that. Let's make this mean something again. It's what the holidays are about, or used to be anyway. Let's turn it around, and make life a little greener at the same time.