Editor’s note: A Durango Herald reader clipped and saved this story we published in 1999 in a former magazine we owned, Cross Currents. The reader, who found the story to be helpful, suggested we reprint it. Karen Brucoli Anesi, a longtime Herald freelance contributor, wrote the original story. We asked her to freshen it up with contemporary ideas. But you’ll see that gift-giving from the soul is timeless. By the way, the reader who brought this to our office did not leave his name. If you are that person, contact Senior Editor Amy Maestas at 375-4539 to get the copy of your story returned.
By Karen Brucoli Anesi
Special to the Herald
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
The “S” word – as in sustainability – seems to be a regular part of Durango’s pop vocabulary lately, uttered even among circles where it has little to do with green energy, organic farming or recycling.
“Social sustainability” wasn’t around in 1999 as far as I can remember. Now it is cited to shape even land-use code and policies.
If you lived in Durango in 1999, you didn’t dream about raising chickens in your backyard, never mind marijuana. Gas was $1.22 a gallon. A dozen eggs could be had for 89 cents. A Christmas card could be mailed farther than the eye could see for a measly 33 cent stamp.
Was life better in 1999 when the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent? The Y2K bug was lurking right around the corner while millennial theorists warned about pending Armageddon. There was a presidential impeachment trial that year. Fifteen lives were lost in a Colorado high school shooting, stunning the collective psyche of a nation, sure that something so horrific could never again happen here.
Was 1999 the year we recognized we might be decking the halls with too much fa la la?
Maybe the same thing that ailed us then, ails us now: The fear that there’s not enough time, money or opportunity to gift our loved ones as we’d like.
Humbug! There’s nothing to fear except Black Friday itself.
Seriously, if you are reading this newspaper, you are among the very rich top 5 percent of the people on the planet, with a roof over your head, clean water to drink and probably enough food to waste.
Be resourceful with all those riches. Do something special for someone this season.
You have a magnificent gift to share. You just need to recognize that. And then take the time to share it. Here is the original story:
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Looking for something “green” – something environmentally benign? Want something that lets you maintain a healthy bank account, yet allows you to give generously? Ready to streamline your holiday, simplify your shopping effort and maximize your time with loved ones?
First, take a few minutes to decide what’s important and what you really want this holiday season. Then find creative ways to go after it. Time shared with loved ones is a gift that can be tailored to fit your gift lists.
Time to play
Rather than exchange gifts, pool your pennies for a family sleigh ride. Some horse-drawn sleighs will carry up to 20. Plan a potluck before or after. Combine families. Add cross-country skiing or snowshoeing. Take photos and share the adventure with family members living in other parts of the country. If the holidays are too hectic, plan the event for mid-February – about the time winter starts looking long and dreary.
Winter fun isn’t your idea of fun? Consider Christmas in July. Contact a rafting company and plan a trip down the river, followed by a picnic. Create a Christmas in July I.O.U., frame it and display it as a reminder that the gift is on its way. Add swimming, hiking, softball, rock climbing, whatever. Keep the day noncompetitive.
Grandparents just too old and cranky to go rock climbing? Rent a movie classic (maybe two), pop some corn and turn it into a regular monthly feature. Rotate who gets to select the flick and make the rules.
Buy season tickets to high school or community theater or get a book of movie theater passes, hot springs passes or even massage gift certificates. Keep your eye open for special events, music festivals or traveling exhibits that come to your community. Create a card or handwrite a letter explaining why you’ve selected this gift for your loved one.
Time to learn
Take your talent and offer to teach someone how to paint, dance, swim, sew, cook, snowboard or garden. If you can’t teach him, someone can. Find out what your loved ones want to learn and track down a class or instructor. Consult adult education or continuing education classes, city recreation programs, schools, colleges, senior citizen centers and churches. Be certain to follow up on scheduling the class, even if it means a monthly reminder that your loved one “hasn’t redeemed” his coupon for the class of his or her choice. The trick here is to find out what someone desires to learn, not what you think they need to know.
Offer to read to a child. Teach him how to play cards, Scrabble, chess or backgammon.
Offer to learn something with someone. Struggle together.
Time to make the Earth a better place
Who wouldn’t cherish a month of lawn service? Offer to fertilize, weed, rake or clean up once or a dozen times. Offer to spade a garden next spring. Attach your promise to a pack of seeds you’ve gathered or offer labor coupons to be redeemed as necessary. Contact local nurseries or seedling providers and reserve a tree to plant on Arbor Day. Better yet, make a promise to pick up the tree and all that’s needed to plant it and make a day of the adventure.
Buy a living Christmas tree. It can be planted when conditions, including moisture, are right, but realize all trees, shrubs, bulbs and bushes provide food or habitat for birds, bees and wildlife.
Go to your own garden and decide which perennials can be divided and shared. Send a decorative card with a gardening I.O.U. to plant your “gifts” next spring.
Note on your calendar when the city does community cleanup and promise to prune trees or clean out a garage that week.
Time to help make life easier
Set aside one day a month to drive someone to visit a cherished friend or attend a meeting.
Pick up groceries from a prepared list, wrap Christmas presents, make deliveries, wash a car.
Drive a child to sports practice, hair appointments or to a sitter.
Offer a book of mother’s “night out” coupons to be redeemed for baby-sitting.
Offer to pet-sit for a weekend or to clean up after a party.
Bake cookies for Christmas and deliver them the day before a house full of guests arrive. If you don’t bake, find someone who does. A loaf of homemade bread once a month is a cherished gift.
Freeze a half-dozen casseroles for working parents or high-octane workaholics who don’t take the time to cook. Label and date them for later use.
Commit to shoveling a sidewalk for an entire season. Do it first thing in the morning.
Time to help the community
Consider bartering or purchasing goods with Community Cash – a local currency offered by the Durango Women’s Resource Center to stimulate the local economy and support local businesses.
Purchase recreation packages, restaurant gift certificates, etc., at auctions or fundraisers that benefit nonprofit organizations and programs in your community.
