On Gift Giving

Our family often touts homesteading as a way to experience an authentic life, one filled with real food and real work. We like to spend our time making and doing, not accumulating. But this time of year, the winter holiday season, we struggle the most with balancing thriftiness with giftiness, like so many people. Even though we don't subscribe to cable TV, newspapers, or magazines, we feel inundated with the advertising message to 'buy, buy, buy'. Lil, who only knows TV shows on Netflix and PBS, can still somehow sing a dozen current advertising jingles at any moment.

Consumer Counter Culture

Alex and I see through the commercials that equate stuff to happiness and we help Lil investigate ads. We talk with her about how a house filled with stuff is not necessarily a house of fulfilled people. We evaluate our own desires carefully - do we want new clothes because everyone else has them or because there's something ill-fitting or worn with our current clothes? Do we need a particular item or do we just want it because we heard about it somewhere?

Choosing to surround ourselves with good folks who share our anti-consumer ideals is the biggest threat to the Consume More Monster. We exchange, borrow, and barter with friends who do more with less. We frequently allow our kids to hear about what we're saving for and our tirades about inappropriate and ineffective advertising.

Gift Giving Alternatives

We could opt out of gift giving entirely, but that's not our family's way. We cherish the opportunity to think about what a person would really love. So how do we build our gift giving list?  We focus on what a gift recipient might use and appreciate in their day to day life. According to a recent survey by Kenmore,  '79% of Americans prefer a practical gift that they could use in their home over a trendy novelty gift'.

Most of our gifts this year are homemade and will be eaten, drunk, or otherwise used until they disappear in a few weeks or months. Does that mean the recipient will forget about our appreciation of them? We hope just the opposite - they will think of us every time they use spice rub or cocoa mix until the jar is empty. If all goes according to plan, we'll reconnect over a meal to exchange the empty jar for a full one, a true 'gift that keeps on giving'. Handmade gifts say "I thought about you while making this."

Another focus of our gift giving is experiential gifts - paper promises, games, trips to a special place, and memberships. The Kenmore survey also found that '85% of Americans have avoided making a certain food because of the cleanup associated with it' - maybe a gift certificate for party cleanup would fit someone on your list? Experiential gifts communicate "I want to spend time with you, not spend money on you".

Last Minute Gift Ideas

There are still ten days until Christmas during which you could can some apple butter or craft a handmade stainless steel straw or even make a quick liqueur. But  holiday gatherings and work projects to wrap up can limit gift-making time. Instead of shopping for stuff, consider one of these experiential gifts, local to Columbus though your area may have similar options:

• Columbus Brew Adventures or Columbus Food Adventures tour - I still need to write about our Granville area beer tour in detail but in short it was crazy good times and I have fond memories of the several Columbus Food Adventures tours I've attended.
• Green BEAN delivery gift certificate - Weekly deliveries of organic produce are a true boon for people who have trouble getting out, a couple who car share, or anyone who appreciates cooking whole food. I wrote about our experience with Green BEAN a couple years ago.
• Cooking or Gardening Class - I love teaching friends or couples who come to my The Seasoned Farmhouse and City Folk's Farm Shop classes. I hear them murmuring plans to practice together the skills I introduce, a true gift of partnership.

How do you handle gift giving in our highly commercialized consumer culture? 

Handmade Gifts On A Snow Day

Our Christmas wasn't white but the sky dumped a fine layer of sleet and five inches of snow on the homestead today. We decided not to take the travel risk and drive seventy miles to my aunt's house for a handmade gift exchange and dinner. Instead, we took a snow day.

We let the chickens out to exercise before the heaviest snow fell. They don't seem to mind the cold stuff on the ground but when visibility lessens they run for the coop.

Alex and I shoveled the ice from part of the driveway. Our lengthy drive allows us some privacy but we're realizing that our responsibility to clear it is a bit of a downside. And we're wishing that just one of the three garage bays was organized enough so the car wouldn't be out in this weather. Soon we will get around to unpacking the garage.

Inside, we are enjoying generous gifts from our family. Alex received this clever army guy bowl from one of my sisters and the handmade leather bolas from another. I unwrapped this painstakingly painted birdhouse by Lil.

We also received a dedicated meat grinder, Le Crueset (our first!), books, toys, earrings, food, drinks, and more. Lil's big present was a trip to Disneyland in early January! We'll be accompanying Alex on a business trip and make a trip to the mouse while we're there.

We're discussing where to hang our new handmade artwork. I crafted the bacon and eggs piece from remnant wood in our garage and egg tempra from the yolk of a backyard chicken egg and Alex's home made charcoal. My sister made the Ohio nail art - she says it's not nearly as time consuming as it looks.

While we miss extended family, this day to decompress and enjoy each other was most welcome. How were your holidays?

P.S. I just realized that my comment spam filter was marking all comments as spam. I approved about a week's worth of real comments this afternoon. There could be more that the filter deleted before I could approve them and if this happened to your comment I sincerely apologize. I do appreciate discussion and will be more attentive to the spam filter from here on out!

Gingerbread: House for the Kids,Crisp Cookies for Adults {Recipe}

A few days ago, I shared some of our holiday crafts. I told you that my pastry-chef sister Heather baked gingerbread house pieces for Lil to decorate. Our kitchen remains sticky from the amount of frosting and candy used on that house. What I didn't reveal are the ridiculously good spoils from the house-making: Heather gave us all the trimmings from the gingerbread walls. Rough in shape, but generally slender, these perfectly crisp cookies beg to be dunked in coffee or tea. I eat a few pieces a day for a mildly sweet, spicy, crispy snack.

Sugar-coated house for kids and refined cookies for the adults - what a sweet holiday tradition!

Crisp Gingerbread

Yield: 1 # 12 oz (enough for a good-sized gingerbread house or approximately 4 dozen cookies)

4 oz (1 stick or 1/2 cup) unsalted butter

4 oz (~ 1/2 cup) brown sugar

6 fl oz ( 1/2 cup) molasses

1 whole egg

12 oz (~2 2/3 cup) all purpose flour

1 teaspon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground cloves

parchment paper

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
2. Add molasses and egg, beat to combine well
3. Stir together remaining ingredients in a separate bowl
4. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet, beating until just blended (Dough will be very wet.  If making for a gingerbread house, you may want to add extra flour to enable an easier roll out)
5. Gather into a disk, wrap with plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour (for easier rolling, freeze dough and then roll out as soon as pulling from the freezer. It will still be a wet dough, but easier to roll out)
6. Roll out to ¼ inch, using as much flour as necessary for easier rolling
7. Cut with floured cutter, or bake for gingerbread house **see note
8. Bake on a parchment-lined cookie sheet at 350 until lightly browned and feels barely firm when touched

**To get clean lines for gingerbread houses:

•  First make a template out of cardboard or firm paper.  After freezing and rolling, bake before cutting out the pieces (this will work well if you roll the dough between pieces of parchment.  You can then just pick up the parchment paper, rather than trying to move the fragile dough).
• Bake partially, until the gingerbread is golden, but still slightly soft to the tough.  Pull from the oven and let cool for 3-5 minutes, or until you can cut the dough without tearing it.  Place the template on top of the dough and deeply score the desired shape with a very sharp knife (I like using an exacto knife).
• Let the dough cool entirely, then remove the excess gingerbread from the shape you cut out (wall, roof, etc.), you may have to cut the lines again, but it should be fairly easy to remove the excess gingerbread.
• After removing any excess, return the shape to the oven to dry out one more time.  You will want the gingerbread to be very firm before taking out of the oven.
• Let cool entirely and then assemble the house with a very thick royal icing (1 egg white whipped with enough powdered sugar to make a thick spread; add a splash of vinegar, or lemon juice, to help it to harden easier).  Decorate as desired.

PS. If you want to see some professional creations, I recommend the gingerbread house display at Easton Center on the second story of the mall near the AMC theater. Heather worked on The Pearl recreation with the Cameron Mitchell Catering group, pictured above.

PPS. I finally have a new laptop! After two months of scavenging time on shared computers, I have one of my own! It's taking a little time to set up all my preferences, but my first impressions of the Lenovo Twist are excellent.

Crafty Holidays and #STEMchat Thursday!

Our house is like Santa's toy shop with handmade projects day in and day out this month.

On December 1, Lil ran downstairs and opened the first day of this cute muffin tin advent calendar my mother made. Mom saw the idea in a magazine and found scrapbooking paper with the numbers already written and adhered them with rubber cement to top the tins. Inside each is a little gift that Lil can't wait to open each morning.

I invited friends over to see our new house and make hand-rolled beeswax candles, one of my favorite activities of the holiday season. I order wax from Knorr Beeswax; this year they even went out of their way to rush my order.

Lil decorated a gingerbread house using cake pieces made by my pastry chef sister Heather, recipe on Facebook tonight. I view gingerbread decorating as a 'process not product' activity - we will eat it rather than display, not that the pets would leave a display in tact!

Lil and I designed, sewed, and lettered new stockings for our food-motivated animals. My favorite craft has been these felt star ornaments for gifts. I printed a template from AllSortsMakery, reduced and copied for the inner star, and embroidered Lil's heart illustration. She stitched the smaller heart to the outer, stuffed the inside, and we shared stitches around the outside. I love that we made this together and hope I can talk her into creating one more for us to keep.

#STEMchat

I'll be talking (typing?) DIY tomorrow night at 9 pm EST on Twitter with Kim Moldofsky, the Maker Mom. She runs the monthly #STEMchat, a time to tweet about creating, hacking, and making. This month, the chat is about Hack-y Holidays - exploratory gifts, making open-ended presents, and gifts that keep on giving.

Kim asked me to share this about the sponsor, littleBits:

"littleBits, invented by a woman, are (cute!) little electronic modules for prototyping and play. The bits snap together with magnets, so you can't mess up with them. These colorful bits take crafting projects to a new level allowing people with little or no electronics knowledge to add lights, sensors or other bells and whistles to their projects. Ayah Bdeir set out to put the tools of engineers into the hands of artists and she's succeeding. Seriously cool stuff, people.

littleBits is hosting a creative holiday challenge. It's kind of like Design Squad for adults- dream up a creative project incorporating littleBits, sketch it out and submit the sketch to win. How easy is that? "

What are you crafting and making for the holidays? If you're a twitterer, I hope you'll join the #MaketheHolidays #STEMchat conversation tomorrow night.

Hosting a Dinner Party? Tips for Low-Stress Entertaining

I love to host dinner parties. This time of year, many people are entertaining family and friends in their homes. Here are my a few tips for lessening the stress of hosting:

1) Set the table first. It always puts me in the mood and is one task that is perfect to complete far in advance of the dinner hour. If children are around, I always ask them to help with setting out napkins and silverware.

2) Place water glasses and a pitcher on the table. This prevents thirsty folk from occupying the kitchen and leaves the hostess ready to serve other drinks.

3) Clean and put away all possible dishes before guests arrive. If you have an empty dishwasher or sink, plates can be whisked out of sight during courses and clean up later will run smoothly.

4) Establish 'stations' in your kitchen and dining area. You may need a drink station, buffet line, dessert station, or serving station. Be mindful of what utensils might be necessary at each station and lay out hot pads, silverware, drink glasses, etc.

5) Consider your menu carefully to please guests and make life easy on yourself. I err towards the side of simplicity and quality, usually serving one or two hot dishes and several prepared-ahead courses like salad or dessert.

6) Prepare (or ask someone to bring) an appetizer to occupy guests as they mingle before the meal. Think simple, fresh vegetables, cheese, or charcuterie that can be eaten without utensils or serving dishes. A make-ahead finger food tray frees the hostess to finish preparing the rest of the meal.

7) Assign roles if you are sharing host duties. Alex and I usually have a pow-wow an hour or so before the event to decide who will greet guests and who will staff the kitchen.

8 ) Once the guests arrive, take a deep breath and enjoy yourself! Plans do not always go as you wish but so long as you keep the spirit of the party alive, guests will never know if little details go awry.

How do you do to prepare for a dinner party?

PS. These pictures came from the 'It Couldn't Be...' dinner party we threw in July. I needed a reminder today that someday it will be light and bright again.

Added to Simple Lives Thursday #74.

Making a Meaningful Holiday {Friday Five}

Truthfully, I become a little kooky around the winter holidays. My perfectionist tendencies and the dark days put me on edge. Excess time on my hands because I'm not gardening and canning allows me to try to craft the perfect experience, cookies, gifts, and meals. But life isn't perfect. Rather than be disappointed when my plans don't work out, this year I am trying to focus on being fully present to enjoy the most meaningful parts of our holidays:

1) Columbus Holiday Events - I don't like crowds but do enjoy the decorated spaces around Columbus. This year Lil and I will go to the Nutcracker, Franklin Park Conservatory, Zoo Lights, and the train at the Main branch of the Columbus Metro Library. We're going during the day before school gets out, naturally.

2) Crafting - Lil is at the age where she can be occupied for hours with a few quality art supplies. We are hosting a friend once a week to make holiday crafts and I love watching what their hands create. The gingerbread ornaments pictured are Freddie Mercury and Lady Gaga, by the way. We like to think they would have been an awesome couple.

3) Solstice Sun Bread - I posted our sun bread recipe and book recommendation last year. I truly cannot wait to welcome the sun's return and make this bread again in a few weeks.

4) Mailing Cards - As much as I often occupy a virtual world and disdain waste, I cannot resist paper mail. We printed postcards with Zazzle this year. Next week will be filled with writing messages and hopefully receiving cards in exchange. When we complete a few homemade gifts, we will send holiday packages to our friends in Japan too.

5) Xmas Eve Dinner - Other holiday meals are hosted by my elders so I claimed Xmas Eve as ours. We decorate the table with linens and crystal, shine Alex's inherited silver, and cook a luxurious meal of goose, mushroom pie, popovers, cranberry sauce and more. This meal is something I look forward to amidst the more materialistic aspect of the holidays.

What do you do to stay sane in December?

Holiday 2011 Gift Guide

Need a gift for a person who appreciates the provenance of presents? Here are eleven fun, unique ideas from central Ohio:

1) Little Alouette makes the most beautiful baby gifts, period. This holiday they offer personalized teethers, rocking horses, and a stunning nativity set.

2) I picked up a Zeroz Wallet for myself this fall and I am totally in love with the ultra-simple, sleek, handmade-in-Columbus design. It seems unreasonable that someone could improve on something as basic as a wallet, but Zeroz has done it.

3) A week ago, Tulane Road Pottery delivered an invitation to their holiday open house. We walked all of four blocks to the backyard studio and admired the earthy, architectural ceramic ware. A Tulane Road handmade plate, bowl, mug or piggy bank would make a handsome gift.

4) Thurns Meat Samplers - This year Thurn's Speciality Meats, 530 Greenlawn Ave., is offering gift packs for the holiday season, all under $20.00. Your choice of bacon, smoked sausage, jerky, or party sampler will include meats vacuum packed for easy transportation and packaged in a gift bag.

5) Did you know that central Ohio is home to a nationally recognized handcrafted stoneware manufacturer? Hartstone Pottery in Zanesville creates freezer-microwave-dishwasher-oven-safe dishes from USA clay and adds lead-free hand-painted details. I use my tall mug for coffee or tea every day. Visit their location for factory tours and a complete store or shop online with 30% off through next Friday.

6) If don't receive a pair of foodie earrings from Sweet Stella Designs this xmas, I'm buying them for myself. Amy makes miniature confections out of polymer clay that look almost good enough to eat. Find a Sweet Stella dessert accoutrement at What the Rock?! and Wholly Craft, or the MAC Holiday Sale, see below.

7) Igloo Letterpress and The Hills Market collaborated to make a touching, limited edition, Hand that Feeds You poster. Pick yours up at either location for just $25.

8 ) For the sweets lover, grab a Sassafras Bakery Gift Package of handmade from-scratch cookies, brownies, or bars. AJ will be serving up her holiday menu through December 23 for pickup in Worthington or Gahanna or you can pick up individual treats at Bexley Coffee Shop, Market 65, or The Hills Market.

9) Anyone who loves dining out in Columbus needs Nick Decker's book, Breakfast with Nick. In it, he profiles breakfast joints and places that serve coffee and eats all day.

10) Family and friends who appreciate fine drinks will certainly enjoy the best of central Ohio's spirits. I suggest Watershed Gin, Brothers Drake Apple Pie Mead, or OYO Whiskey.

11) For the person who has everything, try a gift certificate to North Market, Franklin Park Conservatory,or Columbus Food Adventures or a gift basket from Celebrate Local or Hills Market. If you are feeling charitable instead of material, try a donation to Local Matters, Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association, the Mid-Ohio Food Bank or Slow Food Columbus.

What local gifts are you giving this year?

HanuSolMas

What do we believe?

What do we celebrate?

Why?

This are important questions, and ones that contribute to winter holiday stress for many.  Some find strife when family members disagree on the reasons for the season.  Others lament a general lack of meaning, or the transfer of moral significance to commercial gain.

Our Winter Holiday History

For the first few years of our marriage, Alex and I celebrated whatever we wanted to, picking and choosing mostly based on which holidays had the most yummy food and drink traditions.  As committed atheists, we were disconcerted with religious meaning but we threw some great parties.

At the time I taught at the Orthodox Jewish school and bought a beautiful hand made menorah.  Better observe Hanukkah to make use of the menorah, right?

In 2005, Lil came along.  It struck us that a string of meaningless dinners and decorations might confuse the child.  More importantly, we could mold her young self with moral lessons dictated through holiday stories.

Given our rejection of diety, miracles, and the like, just what might those moral lessons be?

Hanukkah

The Hanukkah story of the Macabees is our chance to share the value that everyone can believe what they want and stand up for that right.  We also share the story as an example that a dedicated group of individuals can indeed make change or even defeat a king.

We celebrate Hanukkah by lighting candles at sundown as is the Jewish tradition.  We give Lil one piece of gelt per evening and play dreidel.  At least once during the eight nights, we cook up latkes and dough nuts in a fry feast.

Winter Solstice

Lil helped us discover a Solstice tradition earlier this year.  She picked up the book Sun Bread from the library shelves.  It doesn't mention Winter Solstice but does tell a sweet story of an animal city welcoming the sunshine back in midwinter with a rich yellow sun-shaped bread.

In a few days we will share the sun bread recipe.  We're making it again on the shortest day of the year.  On Solstice we share all the things we look forward to enjoying on sunny days.  The sun is, after all, the currency that allows us to grow our garden and feed our family.

Christmas

Honestly, Christmas is the most difficult celebration within which to find non-religious morality for me.  I can almost make myself believe that while Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, I honor the unique birth and life path of all my friends and relatives.  Alex is satisfied to just carry on family traditions on December 25th without applying any lessons or reasons why.

Christmas is the holiday with the most secular traditions in our extended families.  We exchange gifts, we bake cookies, and host a semi-formal Xmas Eve English goose dinner.  We joyfully sing carols and watch classic Christmas movies.

The Holiday Mash

So far, Lil has shown extreme flexibility in understanding our traditions.  This should not be surprising, considering the plethora of stories that swarm through a kid's mind.  It's part of preschooler development to define what is fact and fiction.  They do this best in a community of family and fun, just what we intend to cultivate around the holiday.

How do your holiday celebrations relate to your beliefs?  How to do share these with your family?