tuesday moo and gifts that keep on giving

Had a brilliant weekend (it was darn cold, but also a reasonable amount of sun which made it so so pretty), which I had planned to show glimpses of in a photo cavalcade today. But as I'm too tired for that I'll just say that I'm most pleased with the MOO cards that arrived in the mail today - well apart from 20% of the business cards that had a crap finish, which wasn't my fault. let's see what the MOO guys have to say about that... - let the Christmas card-writing begin!

Which is pretty much the only thing I'm fussy about when it comes to this time of the year -

the older I get, the less I enjoy Christmas, at least the commercialized consumeristic overindulgent meat-eating alcohol soaked state too many people spend it in. It's just such an incredibly tiresome part of the year I think. Because even if you're free to spend it anyway you like, one can't completely (unless living on a deserted island) escape the whole hullabaloo everywhere.

As I've probably mentioned before, we've long since stopped exchanging Christmas gifts in the family (if one doesn't feel like giving magic socks and such handmade things of course). Sometimes there's some small token of appreciation to friends. But other than that. No unnecessary shopping of gifts for us.

This year I've discovered the most perfect of gifts over at Action Aid though. Gifts to help people, especially women and girls who usually are the ones most in need of help, create better lives for themselves and their families. Now I'm looking at goats, beehives, chickens and trying to decide on what gifts will do most good. Gifts that keep on giving, they're truly the best!

If in Sweden you'll find gifts against poverty here, but I'm sure this is available in most countries. I also very much recommend becoming a sponsor for one or more orphan children in countries that perhaps are not as well-developed as your own. Myself I've been sponsoring a little girl in South-Africa for some years now. I hope that she'll grow up to become a good human being that will make a positive difference in this world -

and baking lussekatter of course. When ordering the Christmas cards I like to get a mix of the year that was. So now I'm looking at my new cards and taking a wee stroll down a short memory lane. Spring, summer, autumn, winter, a year.