Kemosabe’s Christmas Shopping Guide
Christmas is one of my favorite celebrations. It’s almost as wonderful as my birthday. I love the smells in the kitchen from baking and cooking, especially the scraps and crumbs that hit the floor. I love the Christmas songs wafting through the house, although I can do without Buckaroo’s sing-a-long. After the annual round of Christmas shopping, it is very amusing to watch my human wrap packages. She inevitably misplaces the scissors or scotch tape, which results in swear words I cannot quote here.
Traditional holiday shopping:
What I find challenging at Christmas is buying presents for the pack and my humans. My “go to” store has been Tractor Supply because I can get everything in one place. The clerks also give me dog treats when we check out!
I shop for my fellow pack members, knowing full well I will steal them away after Christmas. I give Peter gloves every year because he tends to leave his gloves within my reach. I dutifully carry at least one glove out to my treasure-trove stash outside, which he can never find until spring. For Tigger, I shop for horse items like a lead rope or wormers.
A new place to shop:
This year I am Christmas shopping at Changing Tides. All year long I have sat in the weekly Changing Tides meetings at BioStar. This has given me an insider view of products, their amazing stories, and what everyone at BioStar thinks about each item.
What’s important to me is the fact that Changing Tides donates a percentage of profits to the Ocean Conservancy. I personally do not like salt water, you can give me a muddy creek any day; however, it is very sad and concerning to me that so many sea beings are affected by the plastic and trash floating in the oceans.
My Picks for Gifts this Season
For the pack:
The Absolutely Pawsome Goodie box. Naturally this box was my idea, which I telepathed from under the conference table during a meeting. I paw-picked each item. The Training Treats are for Buckaroo because he will do anything for a treat, including helping me on my major human slipper and glove-heists. The climbing rope dog toy is for Thunderbear because he loves anything attached to a tennis ball. The Paw and Nose wax is for Crockett to aid his dry nose that he gets in cold weather. Finally, the First Aid Salve is for Wookie because she is tom-boy that gets nicks and cuts as she blazes around the farm.
For the man in my life, Peter:
It’s a toss-up between the Coffee in the Park Goodie box, and the Recycled Bottle Hats made out of recycled plastic bottles.
Peter could not get through the day without at least two good cups of coffee, often more. He is very particular, which is why he was one of the coffee testers for the roasters chosen for this collection. I might get extra treats if he finds this under the Christmas tree!
However, Peter also wears hats all year long. He has quite a collection of winter hats, summer hats, blustery-day hats, and working-in-the-hot-sun hats. He is very cognizant of the environment and reducing waste. I know he would appreciate the up-cycling of plastic water bottles to make headgear instead of polluting landfills and the ocean.
If I give him both the hat and coffee, maybe he won’t mind if I abscond with one of his winter gloves or a slipper?
For the woman in my life, Tigger:
Christmas shopping for her is easier than for Peter because she likes so many things.
The hand-loomed cashmere scarves from a weaving cooperative in Nepal would be a good choice because she loves warm, pretty, sustainable clothing and accessories. She always complains about being cold, and Wookie can always borrow it for her nest on the couch.
Tigger also loves tea, so the Tea in Wonderland Goodie Box might be the perfect gift. It has some exotic teas that she fell in love with during the Changing Tides tea testing marathon this summer. It also includes a small ceramic teapot with bunnies on it. She loves bunnies…but not for the same reasons I do.
Then there is also her massive sweet tooth. Give her chocolate and she will follow you anywhere. I’m leaning towards the Adventurer Sweet Tooth Goodie Box with four infused maple syrups, bittersweet chocolate sauce, Alaskan sea salts, and raspberry peach champagne jam. My human can put away some French Toast on a weekend morning, as well as ice cream at night. She also likes to pair cheese with jam on rice crackers. If she finds this under the Solstice Tree, she might designate me Best Dog EVER!
There are of course her aches and pains to consider too. The Keep On Moving Goodie Box could be what she needs on those days she overdoes it and zigs when she should have zagged. This goodie box contains selected full spectrum CBD products from hemp infused with botanicals. She nearly went into ecstasy when she tried the Relief Lotion on her knee during product testing because it worked so fast. She also loves baths so the Bath Salts could be just the ticket for the pack and I having a contented human at night. It also could mean more treats…for me of course.
Which one do I choose?
I could splurge. I have royalties coming in from my book The World According to Kemosabe. I am also saving up for a deluxe dog bed with an orthopedic mattress. Maybe Santa will bring that for me?
Wookie says she will chip in for Christmas shopping gifts with her hoard of assorted treasures: her stuffed squeaky bear that is missing its ears, one of Tigger’s socks, a gnawed tennis ball previously the property of Thunderbear, and her small Star Wars Chewbacca pillow that she frequently whacks me in the head with when she wants to play.
Gifts with purpose and meaning:
For the pack and myself, we are very attuned to climate change, species extinction, and environmental stressors.
Personally I love that Changing Tides donates a portion of their profits at the end of year to the Ocean Conservancy. This makes me feel good about my purchases. The gift is larger than the actual present itself, helping the oceans long after the tea or coffee is consumed.
On behalf of all creatures, let us make this Christmas a win for the oceans!
