Why Shop Locally

Believe it or not, I actually had a great shopping experience this weekend - even amidst the dreaded Black Friday. My plan for the long weekend was to get the house decorated for the holidays and I had a few small things I still needed to find. Wanting to avoid the malls, I visited local stores instead.

What a refreshing experience! On Sunday, in search of a tree skirt, I stopped by J. Matheson in Everett and found the owner outside hanging lights on his store. Although the sign indicated they were closed, I inquired anyway since there were a few lights on inside. Saying he never liked to turn customers away, he offered to open the store up for me and his wife met me inside. I found a beautiful and unique skirt in a few minutes, and even my boys didn't mind shopping because the store comes with a cute dog that loves to play.

I also shopped at Christmas Gifts on Broadway and was instantly transported back to another generation. Each room of the old home is filled with decorations and classic gifts for children (books, Madame Alexander Dolls, wooden blocks, tea sets). You can nibble cookies and drink hot tea while you wander through the rooms. There was no hustle or bustle and my boys were amazed to see a shop owner who actually used her math skills to total up the purchases. No calculator, no computerized register, just pen and paper!

With the economy still hurting, I love the idea of keeping the money I do spend in my community. While the items I bought weren't necessarily made in my local area (which would have been even better), research shows that local businesses reinvest in the community 3 to 5 times more than chain or "big box" stores. In the end, they were both great shopping experiences that warmed the heart, rather than leaving me tired and jaded.

What about you? What local stores do you support and why?

Which is Better: Real vs. Fake Trees

Thanksgiving has passed and, if you celebrate Christmas, it is on to the decorating. Which do you favor - a real or fake tree?

I was a big believer in real trees until I finally gave up the romantic vision of our family trekking off to the woods to chop down our own. More often than not, it was me and two children standing in the rain in The Home Depot parking lot trying to figure out how to wrangle the tree home. My husband appreciates a lot about the holiday season, but buying and decorating a tree are not on that list.

Putting the tree in the stand was another issue all by itself - one that was complicated many years by a persistent pug who liked to knock the tree down. If you think getting the tree straight once a year is bad, try doing it several times! Of course, if you ask our children, they'll tell you the biggest reason we switched was because our male dog kept confusing the Christmas tree with some of his favorite outdoor trees. So, for a variety of reasons, we are now an artificial tree family.

Better for the environment? I thought so at the time, but it turns out that's not necessarily true. The book Celebrate Green covers this subject and points out that fake trees take a lot of energy, chemicals, and petroleum to make, package, and ship. The box that ours came in says Made in China, so it is definitely no exception.

A live tree supports your local farmers, and helps the Earth while it is growing (by making oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide). While it may be better to leave it growing, keep in mind these trees were usually grown with the intention of being cut down after several years. Still feel bad? You can always buy a potted tree and then plant it in your yard when you're done with it.

Since I already have an artificial tree, I'm going to keep reusing it, but the real trees do seem to be the better choice. Celebrate Green mentions that most trees are discarded after four years, but we're planning to keep ours as long as we can.