Holiday Gifting, Winter Music, & the Hush

Celebrating the best of the season

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want more stuff. (Ummm…books and yarn don’t count, do they?) Each week, I spend an hour or so decluttering, placing the debris from a previous life into several boxes and bags that will be donated to thrift stores and my local library. I described my difficulty with this ongoing process here.

Still, I like to gift small and practical things: homemade raspberry jam, cookies, and herbal cold care tea kits (sage-infused honey for sore throats, cold care tea {elderflower, peppermint, yarrow flowers, elderberries}, elderberry tincture).

This week, I want to offer sustainable gift ideas for the curious people in your life.

For the Family Storytellers

A digital recording device that allows them to record family history, funny stories, etc. Their recordings can be downloaded and shared with other family members. I wish I had done this with my mom.

A membership to Story Circle Network can provide classes and support for the writer who wants to tell her story. Story Circle recently joined Substack - check out their stories.

Susan Wittig Albert’s book Starting Points: A Year of Writing Prompts for Women with Stories to Tell offers weekly journal prompts. It’s the ideal gift for the storyteller who likes to journal.

For the Frugal Foodie

The Zero Waste Cookbook by Anne-Marie Bonneau

Recipes and good ideas for dealing with waste in the kitchen

For the Nature Lover

• Regional field guides

• Annual membership to a state’s native plant society

• Annual membership to Project Feederwatch

• An online course about birds from Cornell Lab

For the Gardener

• Gift certificate for seeds or nursery plants

• Annual membership to Seed Savers Exchange

• Gift certificate for an online permaculture course with Permaculture Women’s Guild

For the Pet Lover

Vet services are expensive, and many seniors with fixed incomes can’t always afford annual check-ups and vaccinations for their beloved pets. Buy a gift certificate from a local vet or add a credit to their account.

For the Reader

One of the best gifts for an older person is an electronic reader like a Kindle. I still read traditional books, but my Kindle is my preferred medium because of these benefits:

• Font size and brightness can be easily adjusted

• Light and easy to hold

• Can access many affordable books through purchases and library loans

• Can highlight quotes and sections

• Can look up definitions of words by simply pressing the word on the screen

For the Artist

• Certificate from a local or online yarn store

• Gift certificate for community art classes

• Annual membership to an art museum

For the Family Genealogist

Purchase a one-year membership to Ancestry.

Other Ideas

• Pay for a house cleaner to wash floors and clean bathrooms (My knees have explained that cleaning is for the young.)

• Gift certificate for a massage or facial

• Gift certificate for online exercise classes or gym membership

• Promised time together: buy a calendar, and identify one day (or more) each month for you to get together, go out to lunch, meet for a hike, etc. Wrap and give.

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Genetics and Your Musical Tastes

Have you experienced a deep connection or a clear preference for a specific type of music, like classical or folk music? Several recent studies indicate that genetics can help explain our music tastes.

Here’s my story:

In 2001, I was listening to my once-favorite radio show, Prairie Home Companion, and it featured a women’s voice ensemble called Kitka. An American group based in San Francisco, these talented women sing traditional folk music from Eastern Europe. I still remember how moved I was by their performance.

I swear I could feel it in my bones.

Two decades later, my DNA profile from Ancestry indicated that more than a third of my DNA originated in the Central/Eastern European region. This surprised me because I believed all my ancestors came from Germany. I located a second cousin I met once as a child through Ancestry. She shared her genealogy research, confirming that our maternal ancestors were likely from Poland or Bohemia (a historical region in the Czech Republic).

My bones had recognized their ancestral music.

Here’s a hauntingly beautiful performance by Kitka.

Oj, jak že bulo izpreždy vika (Live) - Ukrainian Creation Carol

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Another Gift of Music

In 2009, musician Sting performed 90 minutes of traditional European seasonal music in this video.

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My garden entering into its own Hush.

In Beth Kempton’s book and podcast, A Calm Christmas and a Happy New Year, she introduces the “Hush”—the days between Christmas and the New Year—as a time to “wrap yourself in the cloak of late December.”

I love this idea and have adopted the practice of savoring the Hush by resting, writing, reading, organizing, walking in the snow, crafting, and planning during the last weeks of December. So, this is my last newsletter for 2024. I will return to your inboxes the first weekend of January, and I am excited to share new writing about the journeys we travel as we age. And I will have a new offering for 2025 that I am thrilled to be developing.

As I write this, light snow has been falling for two days, blanketing the land and frosting the branches of the tall conifers. It’s cold, but there’s a toasty fire in the wood stove. The bird feeders are busy. It’s a gentle way to enter into winter.

Wishing each of you a festive season and a relaxing Hush.

Sue

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Do you have other ideas sustainable ideas for gifts? Please share in the comments.