By Shawn Dell Joyce

Thanksgiving week, the major news in our country is shopping, and if retail sales will top last year. Judging from our media, you would think that Americans made the holidays specifically for shopping.  We spend an average of $856 per person on the holidays, according to the American Research Group.

Most of those hard-earned dollars will go straight to China since more than 70 percent of the goods on store shelves are from there. If we multiply that by the current U.S. population, that’s $257, 775, 794, 632 dollars leaving home for the holidays! I was surprised that shopping wasn’t an Olympic event this year considering how skilled we have become at sending our money overseas.

If you shop for the good of the economy, keep in mind that buying products made outside of your community means that your money also leaves home for the holidays. Instead, feed your local economy by making your own gifts, and buying what gifts you can’t make from local, independent stores and artisans.

On average, we spend between 20 and 40 hours shopping for holiday gifts, and waiting on long lines. You could easily make most of your holiday gifts in that time, and have the added bonus of time shared as a family. Climate writer Bill McKibben, in his excellent book; “Hundred Dollar Holiday” says; “I can remember almost every present that someone’s made for me since we started doing these Hundred Dollar Holidays. And that’s testimony in itself-I have no idea what gifts came in all those great piles under the tree in previous years. They didn’t attach themselves to particular faces, particular memories.”

Holidays should be about time well spent, not money. “Give things that are rare; time, attention, memory, whimsy,” notes McKibben. In the land where we have plenty of food, noise, gizmos, stuff, those are the things we cherish.

               Here are a few ideas for adding more joy to your household and community this holiday season:

• Spend less time shopping and make gingerbread men with your children one afternoon. Put the gingerbread men on decorative plates, and drop in on each neighbor to spread cheer.
• Pump money into the local economy by making donations to the food bank. That money will help families in your neighborhood more surely than spending it at a national chain store. Montgomery’s food bank is feeding over 100 new families this holiday season, let’s lend a neighborly hand.
• Ask young children to pick out a toy to buy and donate to one of the “toys for tots” programs.
• Have a family meeting to decide on a spending limit, and figure out what imaginative gifts you can make together. 
• This time of year is craft fair season, and most churches and community groups offer at least one. Craft fairs are great opportunities to directly support local producers and keep your holiday spending local. Dec. 4^th, 12-8pm “Handmade for the Holidays” local crafter’s bazaar at Wallkill River School, all sales directly benefit local artisans.

Shawn Dell Joyce is a sustainable artist and activist and founder of the Wallkill River School in Montgomery. Shawn@zestoforange.com

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