Holiday time is creeping up on us, so the retailers like to remind us.  For my money anything that's so much work for the elves and so much cleaning isn't a real holiday.  Okay, maybe it is because the key ingredient is caring.  

We gather with those whom we love. Sometimes with those we love just enough to see on an occasional basis, or a galaxy of other options that takes a collective stock of our hearts.  We think to give thanks for the food and for life.

Ignoring perhaps the date that your sister's friend brought, the food you share with them is given with love.  It has been on a long journey from the lists and the grocery line the hauling and handling the storage in bins and on shelves.

By the time the cook book comes out and the space is set with tools to prepare, you've got a lot invested in the meal. Many others have also made an investment along the way.  Like a long domino line each dollar sets in motion the next. 

This has been a record breaking year for recalls.  Everything from toddler toys coated with lead paint to date rape drugs in beads for a little older child, antifreeze in toothpaste probably for the whole family and a chemotherapy drug in the pet food.  Government can not watch because too many years have passed chipping away at protections.

The answer is to go back to basics and think about everything we absorb into our environment and what the bigger impact is.  If we buy the sodas, we feed the kings of cola, to pump out high fructose corn syrup cocktails, that do as much damage for the planet as they do for a human. 

If we buy local apple cider, we support someone who appreciates the busines and who is making sure that when we are hungry, someone has been tending the food.  We hope to help to protect the orchards so our children will climb and take fruit from the tree and know that as a society we value those who feed us. 

Giving food has a longstanding history and if you gift foods maybe check for Fair Trade or Rainforest Certified, choose something from Local Harvest or a local market or craft fair.  Think about some of the things we all throw out. 

Beyond what should be passed along there are the things that go to waste.   Everything we throw away comes back somewhere in the global environment and we toss so really nasty stuff.  See, you can't win if you use it or not!  Isn't that how it goes for the one who usually gets licensed to use the sponge!

The point is a lot can be done with plain water, every wipe of a drip doesn't need a luxurious shine with a scent created from who knows what.  Try a pot of boiling water with a tablespoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of nutmeg instead of a scented anything. 

Give the counters and things you normally spray a final wipe with a 1/2 cup of white vinegar in a quart of water and run the sponge through the dishwasher every time.  Think what you save in your pocket and impact on the planet. 

Never fret over what you can't do, just sit down with the ones you love and remember that there are so very many who help to give us what we need to make use of out pots and pans, or for this hopeless New Yorker, a phone.

May you have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving; eat well and enjoy!

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