Wrapping paper and Christmas cards are part of the tradition but how about being even more creative and environmentally friendly? Sending online Christmas cards isn’t the same but it’s an alternative. If you buy cards get them in a box, buying a single card will cost a lot more. Plus you will have enough cards rather than going out again for anyone you forgot. Of course, look for cards and wrapping paper made with recycled paper.

Wrap presents in fabric: dish cloths, towels, blankets, scarves, pillowcases and clothing. How about giving presents in other containers such as lunch bags, travel cases, laundry baskets, cookie jars, food storage containers, tool boxes, knapsacks and other things people can use again. It’s a present in a present that way. You can also wrap presents in drawings children have made. Pages from comics, magazines, newspapers and books too dog eared to reuse (second hand bookstores) are crafty ideas too.

Skip the bows and ribbons and go with other reusable things like strings of beads, knitting yarn, garden twine and mittens on a string for kids. Decorate the top of the package with Christmas ornaments, fridge magnets, hair clips, seed packages, sample packs of coffee, photos from Christmas past, anything small and useful or just small and pretty.

Furoshiki - a type of traditional Japanese wrapping cloth that were frequently used to transport clothes, gifts, or other goods.

Tomorrow is the Autumn Equinox. I should be doing something, celebrating the changing seasons. But I'm not. I'll be at work from 9:00am till 8:30 at night. By the time I'm done I will be too tired to drive myself home. But, I have to do that so I'll manage somehow. Times like that I'm so glad it's the car that does all the work!

Anyway, real life does interfere with how Wiccan or Pagan we would like to be. That's ok, it's reality. If I was to skip work and the big meeting after work, that would be living in some unreal imaginary world of my own creation. I have to work to make money to pay for my car, my rent and the clothes I wear while I do all those other things. Now and then I even treat myself to a new book, a fancy coffee or a day of window shopping.

It's ok to live in the real world. It's ok to miss a Pagan celebration. It would be nicer to not miss it. But, really as long as I'm alive and still on this planet I'm not missing a thing. As I drive I'll be looking at the darkened forest I drive through on the way home. I'll be watching for deer and foxes who sometimes show up along the roadside in the evenings. I'll be listening to the sounds of the night as I drive with the windows down to let in all that cool night air and the scent of crisp Autumn leaves.

You may not light candles, perform rituals or chant pretty rhymes but that doesn't mean you're not celebrating along with the rest of the world. It's what you have in your heart, mind and soul that matters, even if you only express it to yourself. You don't have to prove how Pagan you are to anyone but you.

Merry Spring. That's what I say and celebrate instead of Easter. Now it's just past Beltane, also known as May Day (especially if you're about to crash in an airplane).

How do you bring the Pagan holidays into your own life? Do you light a candle at midnight and recite something from a book? Do you go outside and contemplate being skyclad if only it wasn't so cold out? Do you put some dried herbs on your altar and make new notes in your Book of Shadows? Or do you make it personal?

I wasn't in the mood to celebrate Beltane on May 1st. But today I was and so that's what I did. Today, was the 333rd birthday of the company I work for. Yes, The Hudson's Bay Company is 333 years old as of Friday, May 2nd, 2003. The company handed out watches to every employee and there were several kinds of cake, fresh fruit, coffee, muffins and other goodies. It was nice. Not because it was elaborate but because we were included.

So, today on the drive home I felt in the right mood for Beltane, the celebration of Spring. I took advantage of that. I created my own ritual on the spot, impulsively and used what was at hand where I was. Those are usually the best rituals, the ones that aren't planned and mean so much more than something taken from a book or plan.

I had my new watch as the altar, set up on the dashboard of my car. It was dark outside by the time I finished work tonight, the darkness itself became an element, I opened the car windows to let it in. I had picked a bloom from the forced bulbs for sale in the garden centre and that was another element in the ritual. Plus it smelled great. That was all I needed. I waited, enjoying the quiet as everyone else left the parking lot. Two people stopped and asked if I was having car trouble. I just said I was taking my time, enjoying the quiet.

I didn't have a lot of words. I talked about Spring, renewal, the garden, spring flowers, rain, all the things I like best about this time of year. Mostly I just enjoyed the quiet, darkness of the night and the smell of the hyacinthe bloom in my car.

Originally posted to 'BackWash: Where the Wild Things Are' newsletter, May, 3, 2003.

Getting tired of winter? Then haul out some Spring!

Rake in those seed catalogues. Start your Spring cleaning. Get into craftiness. Find new unique ways to reduce, reuse and recycle and be generally thrifty.

Many companies will send you free seed catalogues. You can look for your favourite flowers, herbs, vegetables online and find someone shipping seeds. You may have to pay for a catalogue but most of the time that's just a way to coax customers to order. If you make an order you get your catalogue money back. Just imagine, you could have sunflowers in your mailbox!

But, why be satisfied with pictures? Here and likely wherever you are, there are tulips, daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, miniature roses, cyclamens and so on available in a grocery store near you. I've already bought one white cyclamen and 2 pale roses. One is cream coloured and the other blushing pink. Very pretty sitting all together on the kitchen table. Usually I would have bought a hyacinth, but the last few years those just seem to look sadder and sadder. The blooms are so low on the stem they hardly have room to bloom at all. So, I've gone to roses instead. They can also be planted outside in the Spring. I have a few from last year. I'm eager to see how they will do in their first Spring as an outdoor plant.

Spring cleaning. Not my favourite thing. But, it does make you feel better to get rid of the clutter. It's so easy to build up piles of stuff over Winter. But, don't sit back and settle with stuff around all around you, packed in every available space and under that table you hardly ever use. Instead, pack it all into boxes, recycle the papers, ship off whatever is usable to GoodWill and toss the rest. Think how much better you will feel to have all that clutter out of your life. I'm not saying it's easy, I'm a huge clutter bug myself. But, I know how much lighter I feel when I do manage to get rid of some excess stuff.

It's a good rule of thumb to look at how often you have used something in the past month. Don't think "I might need that someday..." That's just a way of hanging on to everything. Have you really used it? If not, why give it space? If it's not paying rent, just collecting dust, toss it.

Do you feel Springy already? Well, get working on it! Personally, I feel warmer already. Of course, it could be that the heater is finally kicking in.

Happy Groundhog Day!