The LORE of gifting

I am definitely not one of those sanctimonious people so keen to tell you how to live, they irritate the life out of me, but would like you to know that I have made a special effort this year with my Christmas shopping.  All the gifts I have bought have had to meet at least one of the following criteria

L local  I have tried to support local independent businesses of which we have many around us

O organic clothes of organic and sustainable materials 

R recycled new items made from recycled products or used items from charity shops

E ethical items from companies that respect the environment and treat their workers fairly

It’s taken much more effort than an online order to Amazon, which I wouldn’t consider given the hideous warehouse they built not so far from us in Italy that contributes nothing to the street scene and forces workers to travel out of town to their low pay jobs. There has been a lot of useful information with links on other blogs and in the press that helped me take this route.

I’ve also used recycled wrapping paper and ribbon and made all my gift tags from old Christmas cards. 

Now all the shopping is over, phew, I am pleased with the effort I made.  After the disappointing non Christmas we had last year I have managed to resist the temptation for over consumption, except for mince pies that is. I’ve already eaten enough of those for 2 Christmases and I’m not finished yet.   And in case you are wondering, despite rising prices MrFF and I have kept to our £5 budget for gifts to each other.