As We Dream by the Fire

There are times when the holidays just get to be too much, even for me. It’s easy to run ourselves ragged with the shopping, the parties, the decorating. Even seeing family and friends can start to feel like a chore. There’s too many people to catch up with, too many places to be.

This month, I was overscheduled, running late to everything and still trying to fit it all in. Take it from me: trying to do too much is not a recipe for holiday cheer. There were moments I felt like an absolute Scrooge.

Last Saturday, I went from the farmers market to the East Bay to babysit our friend’s hilarious 2 year old and then came back into the City for a friend’s cookie-baking party. I hadn’t had time to make cookies for the party. I hadn’t even had time to shower. But I hoped in a cab even though I felt tired and crabby.

I sat in silence in the dark backseat of the cab. I looked out the windows into the lit-windows of other people’s apartments and houses, all decorated in some small way. Some had lavish light displays and ornate trees, but my favorite places were those that had done just one simple decoration, like stringing colored lights over a houseplant.

It was a good reminder that celebrating doesn’t have to be anything big. Some times, the most meaningful moments are the quiet spaces in between work parties and family visits.

Driving to the airport to pick up my sister last weekend after yet another busy day, I turned on the radio and spent an unexpectedly blissful 15 minutes listening to the soothing tone of Ira Glass’s voice on NPR’s This American Life.

I’m trying to hang on to these random moments of solitude and quiet, especially in these last few day before December 25^th and remember that it’s perfectly festive — in fact, it’s about time — to let go of the shopping, the baking, the decorating, and start spending some quality time sitting in front of the tree. Maybe sipping a warm cup of tea, maybe listening to holiday music, or catching up with friends and family, or maybe just sitting in the glow of the lights, in silence.

Now Bring Us Some Piggy Pudding

It’s getting a little late to order a gift and have it arrive in time for the holidays, and we’re all sick of stores by now. So why not treat yourself to a visit to the farmers market? You deserve a terrific breakfast at Primavera and while you’re there, you might as well get some locally-produced food and drink to give as gifts.

First stop: The Fatted Calf for salami (they’ll have wild boar salame this weekend), their NY Times-touted beef jerky or any of their tasty sausages. Since Fatted doesn’t ship any of their products, they make particularly good gifts for people who live out of town.

If salami alone doesn’t seem gift-worthy, wrap it up with a copy of the book Heat. Heat is a great read, especially for the description of famed Tuscan butcher Dario Cecchini, and Taylor, owner/meat-maker at the Fatted Calf, is Dario-trained.

Vegetarians getting you down? I feel you. Turn to Rancho Gordo for a sack of heirloom beans or posole. Or just load them up with chocolate and coffee (and get a little Fatted Calf bacon for yourself!).

To the left of The Fatted Calf is La Cocina where you can find Kika’s Treats. Kika’s milk chocolate-covered graham crackers are one of my very favorite food discoveries this year.

To the right of The Fatted Calf is Blue Bottle Coffee, and who couldn’t use an especially delicious cup of coffee?! Oakland-based Blue Bottle coffee sells fair trade beans that are super freshly roasted. It brings joy to my world every day.

If you can’t make it to the Saturday farmers market, head to their handy little kiosk in Hayes Valley (a stone’s throw from Miette Confiserie). Boulette’s Larder at the ferry building also sells Blue Bottle beans.

Do you know one of the insane people who don’t drink coffee? Buy them some herbal tea. Juniper Ridge’s tea is definitely worth seeking out (and the tea is hard to find anywhere but the market or their web store). The Douglas Fir Tip tea is like no other tea I’ve ever had. It literally tastes of the forest floor. If tree tea is too out-there for you, there’s always White Sage and Mint instead. (If tree tea isn’t out-there enough for you, Juniper Ridge also sells sage “smudgesticks”, for the Julia Butterfly’s on your list.)

Nuts are healthy, right? The nut people (in front of the market under a purple awning) offer roasted, salted, plain, or candied nuts. They also sell a remarkable brittle — which they insist you try, and then try again — and a great trail mix. If you are traveling this year to see family or friends by all means pack this trail mix.

Inside the Ferry Building, Stonehouse has olive oils, vinegars or a bottle of dirty martini mix (a martini is guaranteed to make the season bright). Just next door is Rechuitti. A jar of the delicious burnt caramel sauce fits just perfectly in a stocking.

You might as well buy a handful of Miette’s waxed paper wrapped caramels, although you’ll probably eat them all before the holidays (perhaps even before you leave the market). The gingerbread caramels are particularly delicious, and I believe they are only available this time of year.

Of course, California is perhaps best known for wine and there’s plenty of good wine shops. We joined the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant wine club this summer. It’s a reasonably priced monthly wine club (the two bottles — of red, white or one of each — costs a maximum of $40 month). If you’re local, you can pick up your wine at the store and avoid shipping charges.

Come on Y’All, It’s Time to Get Nice

It’s up to us to take back the holidays from the marketers and make it about something bigger. The whole idea of the holiday is to give. While most of us are pretty good in giving gifts to friends and family, don’t forget that this is also a great time to give to charitable organizations.

Last year, I set a personal goal to give 1% of my salary to charity. (If you are looking for a New Year’s Resolution, I highly recommend it, providing you can afford to live without 1% of your salary). I’m not Bill Gates so I simply gave little bits to a lot of different organizations throughout the year. It surprised me that it was so easy and so much fun to decide what organizations to support.

I kept a list so I’d remember who I’d given to and how close I was to my 1% goal. Here are some of the organizations that I choose to support and why.

Food-Related

Heifer International – You know the phrase “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime”? Heifer aims to put this into practice.

You can give a needy family in a developing country a flock of geese that will provide eggs for the family to eat or sell. Or you can give a goat (or a goat “share”). A goat thrives on dry land where crops don’t grow, and a goat’s milk can provide needed protein to hungry people. Needless to say, this is probably the most fun shopping possible because you are buying farm animals online.

Chez Panisse Foundation – I love the restaurant’s philosophy of celebrating food that is produced locally with care and eaten seasonally, and their foundation brings the same food-focus to schools, supporting better school lunch programs and edible schoolyards.

Food Runners – In SF, when restaurants have extra food, they can call Food Runners to get their food delivered to those in need.

Writing-Related

InsideOUT Writers – Read True Notebooks and see if you don’t end up donating to this writing program for those in Juvenile Hall.

826Valencia – 826 connects students who need help with writing with actual writers. Some volunteers even go into local schools to help out. 826 began in San Francisco but there are now 826 programs in many major cities. They all operate out of incredible storefronts. 826 San Francisco is a pirate supply store, for example, while 826NYC is a superhero supply store.

Human Rights

Valentino Achak Deng Foundation – After reading What is the What, I was ready to move Valentino, a Sudan survivor, into my apartment. Instead, I found he had a foundation which contributes funds to war-torn communities in Southern Sudan.

Political/Legal

Midnight Law Collective – An amazing group who provides free legal assistance for those who are, say wrongly arrested for simply standing up for what they believe in.

Education

DonorsChoose – This is one of the best ideas: teachers post what they need for their classrooms and donors can choose (hence the name) what they want to support. You can choose fund as much or as little of a teacher’s request. I tend to support reading and food-related curriculum.

I received a package a week or so ago from the teacher of a 4th grade class in a very poor school in Richmond, CA. I had helped buy copies of Sadako & the Thousand Paper Cranes for her classroom through Donors Choose. In return, the teacher sent me photos of the class with the book and handwritten letters from the students thanking me and telling me how they liked the book. This was SO rewarding.

Time for Living, Time for Giving

I’m always surprised at how many people loathe Christmas shopping. And those that hate the shopping tend to be the people who put it off to the last minute and thus making the experience infinitely worse than it has to be. They end up in stores crowded with other crabby, panicked shoppers.

Although I resent the call to shop this time of year, as if buying things is all the season is about, I do like holiday shopping because it gives me an excuse to walk the City’s neighborhoods and visit my favorite local stores. By shopping this way, I get a little exercise, I get to take some time for myself, and I get my shopping done.

Local stores provide a lot of gift-giving inspiration. There are gift ideas in even the most unlikely places: we went to Miette Confiserie recently to pick up a few treats for ourselves (bergamot caramels for him; nougat for me) and realized that exquisite candies would be a good gift – especially for people who seem to have everything.

Local stores are also particularly great sources for gifts that are made in in the Bay Area. These are my favorite gifts to give because it gives me the chance to introduce someone to something I happen to love and something that they may not have in their area.

Here are some of my favorites SF-made items (or Bay Area-made items). I’ve also noted if there is a local store that carries them but you can, of course, always order online.

Heath Ceramics
Heath is a legendary Bay Area operation. They’ve been in Sausalito for over 50 years, and their stuff is beyond classic. Their most affordable item happens to be my favorite: a $20 bud vase. Available at Heath, The Gardener (in the ferry building), and I spotted the bud vases at Spring.

J. Mendicino
These vases are easily one of my favorite made-in-SF gifts, and I even received one for my birthday this year! They’re sweet but still modern. And vases are something that everyone needs at some point and few people bother to purchase for themselves. (Picture from Three Potato Four). Available at Doe, Lavish and the ArtistXchange.

FluffyCo
FluffyCo is my go-to for gifts lately — whether they are gifts for myself or others, I can’t get enough of their printed hoodies, nighties and t-shirts. There’s more than just clothing here though. Every traveller could use one of their bright colored luggage tags. No one really wants to use those silly luggage belts to find their bag after a flight. Fluffy’s painted bottle openers (perfect for the beer-drinker in your life) and printed throw pillows also make useful and unique housewarming gifts.

FluffyCo has their own tiny little store on 14th St that is open Thurs – Sat, 12pm-7pm only during the holiday season. Also available at CandyStore, Curiosity Shoppe, and Rare Device.

Jill Bliss – For the nature jerks on your shopping list. This local artist’s work is great on so many levels: it’s is ecologically sound. She uses recycled papers and vegetable-based inks. Her work is botantical and her focus is local. Her illustrated posters are of local herbs and flowers. And for someone like me who grew up in a house full of nature posters, the color and vibrancy of her work is particularly exciting. Herb posters, journals and cards available at Doe.

DutchDoor Press – Letterpress is such a great art form, and happily, one of my favorite letterpress sources is located in SF. One of my favorite purchases this season is Dutch Door’s calendar ($15) — it’s girlier than I usually go for, but I found it completely irresistible. Available at Etsy.com.

Dutchdoor also made the latest 60/40 print for Rose and Radish. When you buy a 60/40 print, the proceeds are split between the artist and a charity of the artists choice. Dutchdoor’s 60/40 print makes for a gorgeous locally produced gift and you’ll be donating to a good cause, too!

Lastly, these are not made in SF but they are all about San Francisco. Ork’s poster of SF neighborhoods (available only online as far as I know) and the SF maptote (available locally at CandyStore. I’ve bought at least three so far!) both confirm my belief that the City is only as strong as its neighborhoods.

Look for a future post on local foods that make for particularly delicious gifts.

Have Yourself a Handmade Holiday

What could be more meaningful this time of year than something that is made by hand?

It’s easy to mistake “handmade” with an elementary school project or the sort of gifts only a parent could love, handmade these days is often quite refined. Many handmade items now are as nice nicer than what you’ll find in stores (and they aren’t made in sweatshops).

I like to buy handmade goods all year round, but the holidays are an especially good time to support independent art and design, since most handmade holiday items offer a truly fresh take on the same old holiday staples.

Consider this terrific silk-screened Happy Holiday print by Pacifica-based Small Stump. It’s festive and there’s not an elf in sight, plus it’s art and holiday decor in one affordable purchase. (The pic, at left, is from the Small Stump Etsy shop).

Christmas cards are another way to send art and good cheer this year. Mr. WholeHog is making our Christmas cards for the second year in a row, but even you don’t have a super crafty guy in your life, you can still send Christmas cards that are works of art. Etsy has lots of options. (These cards, by local SF artist Lisa Congdon, are gorgeous in person. Check them out at Rare Device).

The Christmas tree is my favorite holiday decoration and there are lots of ornament options. You can hang snowflakes, a moose, recycled records, or if you’re like me, you may find bacon and egg ornaments the perfect holiday addition to your tree.

Everyone wants their presents to stand out and independently designed gift wrap is sure to be unlike anything Santa wraps. This year, I’m considering wrapping gifts in recycled newspaper, but adding these gift tags.

There are also lots of great handmade gift options (it will have to be another post). In the meantime, check out the handmade gift guide at Design*Sponge.

Whatever Happened to Christmas (Music)

This time of year, we are subjected to often horrific Christmas music. (I especially hate the “Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up let’s go!” one. It’s so ugly and it inevitably gets stuck in my head).

Terrible holiday tunes are hard to escape. They’re piped into most crummy stores — and we’re all spending more time in stores than usual. We even heard it on the Amtrak bus back into the City shortly after Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately, I even hear it at work. The receptionist at my workplace insists on playing syrupy renditions of Christmas carols at her desk as part of her battle in the make-believe “War on Christmas”. (You learn quickly not to talk to her about it because she becomes rabid).

Contrary to popular belief, there is good Christmas music out there.

Now I know it’s controversial (and probably just flat out wrong) to mention “good music” and “John Denver” in the same paragraph but I’m not afraid to admit that I am devoted to John Denver & the Muppets, “A Christmas Together.”

John Denver & the Muppets has been my family’s Christmas album since I was a kid and, as far as I’m concerned, Kermit is as essential to Christmas as Rudolph.

For Mr. WholeHog, it’s not Christmas unless crazy-haired Phil Spector’s Christmas album is on, and now I, too, look forward to hearing Darlene Love belt out “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” this time of year.

Low’s tremendous Christmas album is a classic in our house. It also makes a great gift, because no one should be without Low’s song, “It was just like Christmas”. It’s everything Christmas music should be: joyful and wistful at the same time. Low also has a dreamy version of Elvis’s “Blue Christmas”.

Other notable Christmas albums include Aimee Mann’s One More Drifter in the Snow (I particularly love her take on “Whatever Happened to Christmas”) and there’s Sufjan Stevens’ 5 CD (!) box set of Christmas music, Songs of Christmas.

Let’s Make Christmas Mean Something This Year

So much about Christmas is uninspiring.

The decorations are often atrocious – particularly the combination (common in the area where I grew up) of plastic Santas and snowmen, logically placed next to a manger (!) on the front lawn. The music can be excruciating. And, of course, what would Christmas be without hitting the mall at 5am?

But despite all the things that frustrate me about Christmas, I still love it.

I love it for the unexpected quiet and peaceful moments, like taking the time to sit in the dark in front of a lit Christmas tree. I love having a reason to celebrate during the darkest time of the year. I love the idea — no matter how unrealistic — of setting aside time each year to give to others.

The challenge of Christmas, in my opinion, is to fight through all that is trite about the holiday and do as James Brown suggests in one my very favorite Christmas songs: Let’s Make Christmas Mean Something This Year.

So I’m going to use this next month to share some of what makes for a meaningful Christmas to me – sort of like an online advent calendar (but without the daily dose of crummy candy).

Police Blotters – November 2007

• 9:34 a.m. – A caller reported a parked vehicle that had been running for 15 minutes with strange sounds coming from the back end.
• 1:21 a.m. – A caller reported getting attacked by a dog and was “on top of a school bus.” Contact was made with a woman at a nearby address, who said the caller is disabled and bedridden. The man had awakened from a dream and was disoriented earlier, but was OK now, the woman said.
• 2:03 p.m. – A caller reported hearing someone in the neighborhood banging around on something. Responding deputies discovered the neighbor was setting a crib up for a baby.
• 8:29 p.m. – A caller from a restaurant reported a drive-through customer who smelled like marijuana.
• A 10:21 a.m. – A man dialed 911, hung up, and upon callback was very upset over a bear in the area.
• 2:15 p.m. – A caller reported a homeless person camping inside a green garbage container behind a store.
• 9:27 p.m. – A caller reported an X-Box had been stolen and switched with the neighbor’s broken X-Box video game system. Deputies contacted both parties and determined the accusation was unfounded. Neither X-Box was working.
• 6:32 p.m. – Officers responded to a call about a man who was found dead in a tree. The man appeared to have died of natural causes. Once his death was confirmed, the Mortuary was informed.
• 3:21 p.m. – A boy reported a girl at a local middle school touched his backpack and he wants her arrested.
• 1:56 p.m. – A man reported finding a spinal cord. He took it home with him and was not sure if it was human or not.
• 3:58 p.m. — A caller reported dogs attacked her emu.
• 3:58 a.m. — A caller reported a half naked man trying to sleep in the lobby. The man was admonished before he returned to his room.
• 12:20 p.m. – A man went into the police station lobby to turn in a knife he said he no longer wanted.
• 10:26 a.m. – Someone called 911, then hung up. Dispatchers determined a dog accidentally made the call.