Bezmars-o

 Everyone at work has already been talking about Christmas shopping.  Maybe it's because we're a reeeeally long way from true metropolitan shopping.  But they are talking about getting the orders in quickly.  The mail will be slow.  There's a shortage of everything.  And then, they say they are ordering from Amazon early.

Don't do it, I said.  Remember the great toilet paper panic buying of 2020.  Do we need to collapse the fragile supply chain ordering this year's equivalent of the furby.  But more importantly, Jeff Bezos just went to space.  The ultra rich are so damn rich they can have their own rockets.  What happens if Jeff Bezos DOES get to Mars?  And if he's the first one there, does he get to plant a flag and claim it as his own colony?  Would we have to call it Bezmars?  It would be werid.  Bizarro...or shall I say, Bezmarso.

That said, I still love Christmas, and Christmas shopping....I am just going to try very hard to not fund an intergalactic takeover by the billionaires.  To be clear, there is a very good chance that everything I purchase will further spread the wealth gap between me (the poor consumer) and the merchant...but I can feel reasonably good about it if there are no space ships in the employee parking lot when I go to peruse their wares.

The other bee in my shopping bonnet this year is related to climate change and finding smaller sources, possibly sustainable gifts.  Yeah, I am going there.  Climate change is real  (and so is COVID but that's another post for another time).  Back in the 80's and the school days, and all the scary stuff they talked about is happening.  To be fair, we thought it was going to be from our hairspray (and even more so Bon Jovi's hairspray) and freon, so it wasn't completely accurate (nor did my choice in music truly lead to the decline of the western civilization as was also theorized at the time).

So, I have come across some reasonable products that I like that may make their way into gift bags this year, and all of them check some of the boxes as well -- none are perfect and carbon footprint free.  Heck, even when I washed ducks, I burned fossil fuels to get to the duck scrubbing location.

1st up -- Blueland products.  I got this for me for my birthday this year (that and I adopted my re-used shelter cat Mr. Muffins).  This is the glass bottles for hand soap where you add water and a soap tablet --  bottles are re-useable, recyclable if you ever break or get rid of, and, the tablets are small so you save save some carbon footprint by shipping small tablet refills, rather than giant bottles of soap (which are mostly water anyway).  

The best part is the two entire houseguests I have had in the last 3 months in COVID surge-land up here have both commented that they LOVE my foaming hand soap and bottles, and both wanted to know where they could get them.  They look nice, and they are a guest pleaser, so these are making somebody's gift this year.

As an aside, there are several other companies doing similar product lines, including Doterra.  I fully expect some of the Doterra hand lotions to end up in some gifts this year as well.

Another cool product I have fallen in love with is Prose haircare.  It costs a bit more than your standard drug store haircare...probably about the same salon care, but it's really good.  You fill out an online questionaire and get a formula tailored to your hair needs.  When it's time for re-order, you also rate the product on how it met the needs you asked for...and will tweak the formula to improve with each order.  My hair has gotten curlier as I have gotten older...also drier and fuzzier.  What I notice is my hair is sooooo soft now.   And less fuzzy.   I love the fragrance I picked, and have to say, so far I am smitten.  Yes, the bottle has your name on it.  And they let you opt out of the plastic pumps on refills, because, every bit reducuced counts they say on their website, and me (and the global turtle population) agree.  I wish the bottles were glass as well, but they are plastic.

So this year, as I look to smaller companies, more eco-friendly options, I am also reminded of one of the hit gifts from last Christmas.  Jerky in a box, from a small company in Drake, Saskatchewan (population 250) -- you know I have a soft spot for small town Saskatchewan.  This gift was definitely a winner!

And a local Eagle River favorite spot -- Alaska chicks.  Gifted someone a wool beanie the other day and it was so cute I went back and grabbed another for me.

Advertising?  Not really, because I don't get paid for these recommendations.  Just thought I would give a shout out to some of the little(er) guys who make great gifts, without creating space junk  and rocket fumes off the profits.