What keeps on giving each year? Creating traditions that help nature.

A potted fir tree brought inside to decorate, used yearly; growing side by side with us all.

A candle lit every Xmas eve.

A cactus passed down through generations, nourished and watered throughout the year to flourish and bloom for family and friends during our holiday season.

Traditions are passed along, picked up and tweaked to fit as families grow and change, collecting culture with each new addition, protecting culture with each loss.

These family ways produce no “unused leftovers,” no over-flowing garbage bins, no waste and no trips to the dump at the end of the year.

Give experiences as gifts: pottery or piano, dancing or drumming lessons.

Give a gift wrapped in a pretty piece of cloth, or your child’s latest Picasso piece

Donate in your friend’s name to their favorite charity.

While having fun these holidays and showing love to each other, let’s be kind to our planet.

Here are a few local ideas; what a surprise to receive a gift certificate from Cafe Demeter for a dozen “peace pastries” from your activist friend! How about an opportunity to speak to your creative side and learn to throw a beautiful pot in January from Alchemy Arts Center? The best of all perhaps: a table for two at Duck Soup from your lover.

Transitions San Juan Island Waste Management