11-11-2011 Richard Crowson’s Commentary

A New Idea For Your Annual Holiday Spend-A-Thon [Listen]

Yikes. It’s mid-November. You’ve barely started your annual over-spendathon. It’s time to get out there and spend more money than you have on gifts for people who already have more stuff than they could ever possibly use. Fortunately for you, I’m here to help.

Here are a few items from some catalogs that came in my mail recently. You may want to make some notes:

Rhinestone back pocket skinny jeans. It’s a five-pocket stretch jean with rhinestone-embellished back pockets and narrow leg. Cotton-poly-spandex denim. Imported. $39.50 from Delia’s.

Or there’s the Squall Parka with tough nylon shell, fleece-lined collar, adjustable cuffs and drawcord waist, plus 2-way zipper. Imported. Sizes Small – XXL. $129.50 from Landsend.

Or perhaps the Go Pro HD Helmet Hero Camera which is shock and waterproof, mounts easily on helmets, gear, bikes or vehicles and can be submerged up to 180 feet underwater. $299 from Eddie Bauer.

Or how about this one: One book for a school or library in Nicaragua, the 2nd poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, where more than 2 million children attend schools that lack library or reference books.

There’s an event at Grace Presbyterian Church called the Alternative Gift Market, where you can buy things in honor of whomever you like for some of the world’s poorest people. If you’re ready to put some real meaning into your gifts, why not put a planted orchard tree for Haiti, or a water pasteurization indicator for a village in Tanzania, beneath your Christmas tree this year?