Book Review :: A Greener Christmas

A couple of days ago I went on a long overdue walk through the craft aisle at Barnes and Noble. Much to my delight there were many new fabulous books for me to flip through. I picked up A Greener Christmas, by Sheherazade Goldsmith with low expectations. I mean come on, the title is a little cheesy and screamed greenwashing. I judged a book by its cover and was dead wrong. Do not be put off by the cheesy title my friends, this book is oh so good!!!

Here are a couple of quotes from the introduction to give you a feel for things:

"This book is the antithesis of that instant last-minute Christmas Eve dash through the crowds to the stores."

"Relying on chain stores for all your Christmas needs and throwing all your garbage out in one bag will save time over the festive season, but choosing presents without much thought seems, to me, to contradict its meaning."

"This book is about having a simpler, more home-spun Christmas. It's about giving home-crafted presents, making your own decorations, and festive baking. It's about rethinking and changing the way you consume and recycle..."

Yes, yes and YES! I couldn't agree with all of these quotes more!

I've discussed my feelings about the holidays here on the blog many times before, but I'll recap a bit anyways. Most long-time readers will know that I've been striving to make nearly all of my holiday gifts by hand for about four or five years now, (EEK - I can't remember!). If I don't make it, I try to buy handmade or local goods. The only person that I break the rules for and spoil is my husband, because it's the only time of year, besides our birthdays, that we ever spend money on each other.

Over time my mom joined in on the game with her sock-making, my sister with her delicious wine and scarf-making and even my brother Mike got in on the hand made fun last year by making me a sock-blocker.

What began as a solution for not being able to afford "real" Christmas gifts has become a tradition and the way that I celebrate. To that end, Goldsmith shares so many lovely ideas in her book that fit in with my way of celebrating. The book is divided into five sections: Welcome, Christmas Tree, Giving, Table and Food. It's crafts, decorating, making and cooking. It's an anthology of Christmas fun and tradition.

So it's awesome. Got that? Good. Check this book out!