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A year at a glance…what a fun year it was. Thank you for sharing all these moments with me!

Here is a video message for the New Year. Sorry about the quality, I compressed it to make it smaller for viewing times. But comment below and tell me about what you resolve to do this year. Personally I resolve to spend more time outside, to be more eco crafty this year, and to manage my money better so I can spend it in the most ethical places. How about you?

I recently discovered a CUTE new toy for the holiday season…only this toy isn’t so much a gift but a fun new holiday tradition. It is the Christopher Pop-In-Kins doll and book. As we read in the adorable book that comes with this doll, Christopher is one of Santa’s little elves and even though he loves making toys for boys and girls he desperately wants to visit the children in their homes the way Santa does. So he has a talk with Santa and it is decided that Christopher can play a game with children during the Christmas holidays. He will pop into their homes and hide someplace up high where little fingers can’t grab him and take his magic away. Then every morning he will hide someplace new and delight as the children go searching for him.

It is an adorable book and game…kind of like a Christmas version of Where’s Waldo. The adorable red headed elf is eager and ready to “pop” in to your home every year. It could make for a very fun holiday tradition as parents hide Christopher and kids come looking. He is a plush doll with some plastic pieces but he since the idea is not to let kids touch him (cause then he just turns into a regular doll) he should last for years and years of fun and then perhaps become a part of your grandkids holiday fun.

My kids are having a great time “playing” with Christopher. The set comes in a nice box with the doll and book for the affordable price of $24.95. Make sure to check out this funny Flickr photostream of all the places people are hiding their Christoper Pop-In-Kins.

If you had to shop for some gifts for a family that is near and dear to you what would you choose? Would you buy mom and dad and all the kiddos separate gifts or maybe buy them one big one they can all enjoy?

I was thinking about this today when someone close to me asked me what I wanted for xmas. My response was the same as last year…uhm…something for the kids I guess. Then I pinpointed a gift that an entire family could really use. It also happens to be a gift that is has minimal impact on the planet and it is one that will enable a family to spend quality time together. What gift could be better than one that promotes family togetherness? So, I think my top pick for gifting a family would be annual passes to a local art or science museum or the city zoo. In my experience you can get an annual pass to one of these establishments for around $75 and they are such a wonderful thing to have. If you had to buy gifts for your sibling, his spouse, and their kiddos for instance you would probably spend more than that buying separate gifts.

When the weekend rolls around and you want to do something together but money is tight you can always pack a lunch and hit the zoo (or museum) with your annual passes. Seasonal events like Boo at the Zoo, Christmas Lights, and new exhibits are easy to attend when your admission is already covered. So you may want to consider annual passes to kid friendly places when doing your shopping this year for family and friends who have kids. These would even be a great gift for your own kids.

Happy Holidays!

I just finished reading the book Green Christmas - How to Have a Joyous, Eco Friendly Holiday Season by Jennifer Basye Sander and Peter Sander. It is a small book but packed full of great info on how to green your holidays.

The beginning of the book discusses all the reasons that our conventional Christmas celebrations are so UN-green… rampant consumerism, hefty energy usage, lots of garbage, etc. Yes not only do we have to worry about the massive debt that this season can cause, we also need to think about the lasting effect we leave on our planet. The book goes on to explain how we can make Christmas and the whole holiday season an extension of our green values. It has lots of great tips and suggestions. It is truly a book with practical answers.

My favorite part of the book was about eco friendly family time. Many seem to lose track of what this time of year means…I don’t mean the religious significance, as that isn’t a factor for everyone. It is a time for families to spend all important time together and the book has several eco friendly, quality family time ideas and activities. There is also some great info and charts on how to choose a Christmas tree and what is better…the old fake versus real argument. It was VERY clear on which was better and why. And of course it had great suggestions for reducing energy usage because Christmas can create pricey energy bills….pricey for us and pricey for the environment.

This book even had a great chapter on how to green your holidays when you travel as well. Overall a great book with some great ideas. I would recommend it to all.

The winner of the $100 Plan Toys Giveaway is….. commenter #39…amom. She was chosen via random.org. Congrats!!!

If I had to pick my two favorite green and natural toys of the moment they would be from Plan Toys and from Haba. I imagine these are going to be pretty hot Christmas toys this year and they have something in common…a little click, clack.

The Click Clack is an instant classic for natural toys. It features vibrant colors and a soft click clack sound, that delights children as they watch the ball roll down the front of the board. Like ALL Plan Toys this particular toy incorporates thoughtful design and age-appropriate challenges to empower children, encourages social interaction, promotes natural learning, creative play and rewards discovery. It is made of recycled rubberwood and painted with non-toxic dyes. You can purchase via Amazon.com for $35.00. And slightly cheaper at KangarooBoo.

The Click Clack Ball Track is from Haba. The red ball zips down the Click Clack turbo track, the blue one takes the chatter track. Click-clack they drop down a level! On the way there are things to watch and hear: kaleidoscope, mirror and little bells. A classic game with fun castle-like center pillar. Made of untreated beach wood. Colored parts are nontoxic water-based paint.

If you are looking for more, check out my Top Green Christmas Toys guide.

My kiddies recently got to be testers for several different kinds of Pure Fun Organic Candy. It was a hard job but I think they managed to do just fine. These candies are made exclusively in Canada and the US and have built a fine reputation for what is NOT found in their candy: NO Gluten, NO GMO’S, NO FD&C Colors, NO Casein, NO Dairy, NO artificial flavors, NO dyes, NO Synthetics, NO Pesticides, NO preservatives…nothing but Pure Fun.

BUT they do have good stuff IN them to: organic cane juice, organic brown rice syrup, and natural colors derived from great stuff like red beet concentrate, alfalfa extract, red cabbage, annatto, and other yummy fruits and vegetables.

So now that we have established that they are a pretty safe option as far as candy goes they also have many different flavors and candy types….fruit rocks, pure pops, fruit pinwheels, citrus slices, chocolate meltdowns, candy canes, and root beer barrels, to name a few. Honestly I will admit I was not a huge fan of the flavor…I am not real big on candy, especially hard candies anyway but these tasted a little “off” to me. My kids, however, noticed nothing and were happy to eat them. They didn’t go nuts on them either…they just had one or two a day, so it seemed they were better able to self regulate on these.

If you are giving away candy for Halloween these would be good but a bit pricey for that. They would also be good for pulling a switcheroo on your kids Trick or Treat baskets…maybe grabbing a handful  or two of snickers and peanut butter cups and throwing these in there instead.

Here is to a greener, healthier Halloween!

Welcome to my first ever podcast!!! I am happy to bring you the Natural Family Living Podcast, a talk radio podcast for the natural mom and environmentally friendly parent. I hope to make this a semi-regular occurrence from now on and cover a variety of topics including green family values, environmental concerns, natural parenting, organic and sustainable living, and natural health and wellness.

My guest this week is Lynn Colwell who is one half of the mother-daughter team whose passion is to help people green up their celebrations. This is the amazing duo that brought Green Halloween to us and they have recently written a WONDERFUL book with information and tips for greening all of our celebrations and special family traditions. It has ideas for Easter, Christmas, Mother’s Day…all the celebrations that are so near and dear to us…that perhaps aren’t so green. I have read the book and it was amazingly helpful and think all green enthusiasts should have it.

Lynn and I discuss why we need to green these occasions, what celebration is the worst offender and what we can do about it, why food choices are big part of it, and we discuss one of the common gifts that really bothers me…conflict diamonds. Have a listen and let me know what you thought!

Also make sure to visit the Celebrate Green website for some tips not found in the book and you can buy the book on Amazon.

Enjoy!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Has the talk of Halloween started yet in your house? It just started over the last few days here. The stores are already setting out all their Halloween props and such and we have a date at Michael’s next week to buy some Halloween crafting supplies. Of course we are thinking about how to keep things green too. My daughter will wearing the same costume from last year (Tinkerbell). My youngest son will be wearing a mask we got for $1.00 at a yard sale last week and I will make him a black cape to go with it. My oldest son though needs a new costume or one that I make because the one he has worn for the last 2 years (a dragon) is now too little. It will be saved for his brother. I asked my oldest what he wants to be this year and he said a shark. Oh man….he would have to choose something hard to sew.

In doing some initial window shopping online I found this crazy, kinda scary, makes me a little ill just looking at it…shark costume from Moon Costumes. My son loves it but I don’t know. It is an over the body shark costume, with legs sticking out of shark’s mouth. The wearer’s own arms can manipulate the legs so that person being eaten appears to be kicking. Ewwww! I think I would prefer oozing eyeballs and fake blood to this. The medium would probably fit for 2-3 years so I would have to look at this yucky thing for several years and then my youngest son might want to wear it down the road. And I wonder how a kid sees out of this thing…I don’t see eyeholes or anything. Is it an accident waiting to happen?

What do you think? Is it too gross or reasonable for Halloween?

Also share your green Halloween tips below…I am working on a future post!