Crafty Yogi

With our hard economic times, many people, myself included, have decided to scale back on how much they spend for gifts during the holidays. Maybe for the adults and children in your life you can give them something simple, beautiful and from the heart.

If you are seriously wanting to live like a yogi during the holidays, then applyAparigraha to your gift giving. Aparigraha means non-coveting or GREED. If you are always wanting, more, more, more than take your cue from the current times and simplify. Here are some ideas to start:

For the Baker or Chef, you can make a gift of assorted homemade cookes, candies, or fudge. Create a cookbook or recipe cards of your favorite foods and give them as gifts. Create a soup, pasta, or cookie mix that you "jar" yourself and give those out. A nice blend of teas is always nice in the winter time.

For the Crafty, you can make scented eye pillow, beaded jewelry, blankets, scarves, etc, or handmade photo album with scrapbook supplies.

For the yogi in your life, a gift series to some classes is nice, as well as a new mat or mat bag, yoga book, dvd, or cd is awesome too.

For the children in your life, this is a tough one but maybe this year Santa can bring them one "big" special gift and the rest be smaller toys, books, clothes, etc. Check out some the toys that came out when you were a kid. Toy companies are manufacturing them again. You can also shop at antique stores too. Many vendors sell great things from yesteryear.

For the rest, how about choosing a name and spending only a certain amount on that person, or buying a grab bag gift. One of my students says her family chooses a name and they buy that person a book they think they will love. Could be used or new. Now that's pretty simple and great.

Just some ideas to make it simple yet beautiful this year. You can always flip through catalogues or online sites and find great gift ideas for any type of interest and scale it down so you are not breaking the bank.

The point is you don't have to spend a fortune, just be a little resourceful. Who are you buying for and why? If you take just a little time to think about what that person really loves, you can find something lovely that won't run your credit card up. And isn't the peace of mind of no bills waiting for you in January the best gift of all?

Love and Light,

Susan