Christmas is coming...

I know some of you groaned when you read that title, but now really is a good time to begin planning Christmas gifts if you are making them. I see a lot of little crafty gifts people make, but honestly, many of those just end up adding to the clutter (I REALLY don't need homemade potpourri, pinecone ornaments, etc. etc.).

The kind of homemade presents I like are practical and usable/consumable. This Christmas, my sister and I are making each other gifts. Like me, she is a practical person and hates clutter. She asked me to make her flannel reusable baby wipes (I sew, she doesn't) and soap dishes (one of the classes I teach is ceramics). Not only does she get things she needs, I like making them because I like to sew and work with clay.

In return, my family is getting one of her fabulous apple pies! I don't cook/bake very well, but she does. It may not seem very Christmas-y to some, but we're thrilled! We get exactly what we want without spending a lot of money. We also are avoiding all the packaging trash that comes with store bought gifts...at least for each other. I do have a 7 year old and we're going to run into some Christmas trash there. But the way I look at it (I have mentioned this before), it's NOT all an or nothing thing when it comes to living greener. So we may have some toy packaging trash, we're reducing that by giving some homemade presents.

I'll post later more ideas (for kids too) that are cheap and don't produce all the packaging trash. Meanwhile, what ideas do you all have?