This post is a part of A Greener Christmas Guide, a series of posts dedicated to celebrating the holidays with a lighter impact on the earth.  For more of this series, please visit A Greener Christmas Guide.

Every year at this time, my hometown in the United States starts a huge campaign that urges citizens to BUY LOCAL with five exclamation points.  I’m not really sure what that means, and everyone in town seems to have a different idea.  So is it:

I’m pretty sure the city’s reason to urge local shopping is the economic benefit of a few bucks, which is good.  They don’t really mention the green effects of shopping locally… which makes any of the above answers even better.

When you buy locally, you’re reducing vehicle emissions and your carbon footprint because it’s more efficient for huge semis and trains to transport our stuff than for all of us to drive 60 kilometers.  When the products you buy are made locally, you’re saving hundreds (probably thousands) of shipping miles.  Bonus points when the products you buy are actually grown and produced locally.

Buying Local Food

Unfortunately, you can’t find local products very easily in the grocery store.  I’m not really sure why.  Our family is puzzled and way too frustrated by the fact that our local chain grocery stores back in the US doesn’t sell tortillas made 30 miles away or ice cream made 90 minutes away.  Instead, their tortillas and ice cream come from factories over a thousand miles away.  Products that are shipped so far usually have more chemicals, additives, and preservatives, so they’re already not as eco-friendly as local foods before they even load the truck to start their journey.

Most of my neighbors have no idea that they can find the exact same food sources so close to home.  It’s like citizens of big beef-producing states don’t even get hamburgers from local cows.  Shop locally?

That’s one of the greatest benefit of organic and locally-owned grocery stores.  They’re more likely to carry these local items or be open to considering them.  Martin and I ask every US grocery store we shop at to consider local products.  Only two have responded – they are family businesses.

Want To Give Some Local Yummies This Holiday?

Finding Not-Made-In-China Stuff

The paintbrush I coated our house in yellow with was made in Germany.  So was our level, and I think the screws were, too.  Germany works hard to carry the “Made in Germany” logo.  But short of Nalgene water bottles and Maglites, we don’t see much “Made in USA” logos.  That’s why we started looking locally for our US holiday gifts.

Want some local ideas?

Ready to Take the Local Challenge?

So instead of buying a poinsettia this year  consider thinking a little locally (any idea how many miles those things travel?  I have no idea  UPDATE: A local nursery two miles from my parents house grows its own poinsettias in green houses).  Buy local gifts and Mother Earth will thank you.  I’ll thank you.  And best of all?  the recipient will thank you.

Now spill it.  Any local gift ideas up your sleeves?  Won’t you leave us some ideas and spread some green holiday cheer?

(Images from SparksChamber and MySmallBusiness)

Raise your hand if you’re drooling over the thought of tasty Thanksgiving food.

One… two… three… (Martin!  You can only hold up one hand.  Put that other one down.)  I guess we can’t help it.  Thanksgiving makes us giddy.  Things were a little crowded.  I think we had ten people squished into our 250 square-foot living room/kitchen.  The table filled the entire room.  Martin sat on the step stool, and I’m not exactly sure what it was I was sitting on.  We barely noticed with these cool made-from-scratch yummies:

 
Here’s a shot my father-in-law took.  Thankfully, my plate didn’t make it to the table yet (otherwise I might not be sharing this picture!)

So good luck with all of the tastiness at your house.  May Thanksgiving be filled with blessings, great people, and good food.

(Image for Making This Home)

The thought of shoving a Thanksgiving turkey into this oven gave me shivers:

So you know what?  I didn’t make one for our Sunday Thanksgiving in Berlin.  In fact, we fed ten people and didn’t have any meat at all.  I know, I know.  Sound the Thanksgiving police alarms.  What kind of Americans skip turkey at their own Thanksgiving party?

I guess… us.  We completely messed with this tradition, but it was during this vegetarian meal with ten friends and family members from around the world that we truly felt the meaning of Thanksgiving.  And it had nothing to do with cranberry sauce or turkey.

Thanksgiving is pretty much the only American holiday that focuses solely around gathering with family and friends.  There are no presents and costumes to distract our attention away from people.  We dine together without the rush of the Next Activity, and I never truly realized how beautiful the feeling is of a holiday that focuses around the dinner table until now in Germany.

I kept a list of things to take care of, just as so many of you suggested. (thank you, thank you!) And then when the time for our party approached, I kicked back just like you said.  I imagine the lack of turkey-cooking-stress had a lot to do with it.  Vegetarian Thanksgivings aren’t all that hard.  One guest told me, “I don’t even miss having the turkey,” and she wasn’t even one of the vegetarians.  (big grin)  There are so many side dishes and other foods available at Thanksgiving that I don’t think anyone missed it.  Plus we had no room on our countertop, anyway!

Where’s the turkey?

Tomorrow, I’ll slip you a few of the most popular recipes from our party.  I know it’s probably a bit late for all of you preparing for Thanksgiving parties of your own.  But the lovely ladies at our party made everything from SCRATCH.  We had no option of pre-made pies from the store or mushroom soup for green bean casserole.  Those things don’t exist in Germany.  And at least all of us are anxious for the know-how secrets of making stuff without all the (not-always-so-healthy) shortcuts.

So stay tuned!  Meanwhile, do tell… what are your favorite recipes at Thanksgiving?  And maybe a tad more important to us this year… are you loving the idea of a holiday centered around the table as much as us?

(Images from Making This Home and The Akumalian)