you are everything

December Is For Cynics - an Anti-Christmas Playlist


( December Is For Cynics )

That's a narrowed down list of favorites. I have more. Bah! Ha ha! Anyone have any suggestions for additions to the list? I do enjoy happy holiday music too, but songs like these usually fit my mood better at Christmastime. Meh.

I'm having trouble uploading a zip with all the songs in it. Giving up on that for the moment, unless someone really wants it.

I was just doing my daily clicks on the 6 'click to donate' sites (links below) and ended up looking through their online stores. If you need ideas for Christmas gifts, especially for those people who are hard to buy for because they have everything or you aren't quite sure what they would need, you really should check out these stores. There are some absolutely amazing items, many at unbelievable prices, and each purchase generates a donation to the charities the sites are partnered with.

Their Christmas items are rather awe-inspiring, IMHO. Everything from Rwandan Basket Ornaments to Peruvian "Surprised Angels" Ornaments to knitted wool snowflake hats with ear flaps made in Tibet. Lots of less foreign-sounding things too. LOL

Being a bird lover, I think the plush Audubon Birds - complete with accurate bird sounds - are adorable. The sandalwood vases (style 1 and style 2) are beautiful, and the detail on the hand carved Peruvian llama earrings (not as weird as they sound) is fantastic. The Bolivian Mother & Child sculpture is rather perfect in its simplicity. They also have amazing jewelry, clothing, housewares, calendars, coffee and tea, all sorts of decorative items and lots of pet toys and pet-related items, among other things. And of course each site has their signature items - t-shirts and caps and totes - that will show your support for the site as well as generating a donation.

You can also buy things for the needy around the world, like shoes for African schoolgirls and high efficiency camp stoves for Darfur refugees. Those gifts are all tax deductible and have free shipping, and include a full color certificate that can be printed out to give to a friend or family member if you bought the item on their behalf. Don't forget The Animal Rescue Site - you can buy vaccinations for 10 shelter dogs or 10 shelter cats for just $20 each - again tax deductible, etc.

I think all items are actually available in all the stores, but here are the 6 sites:

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/
http://www.theliteracysite.com/
http://www.thehungersite.com/
http://www.therainforestsite.com/
http://www.thechildhealthsite.com/
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/

Be sure and click on the "Click Here to Give - it's FREE" button at the top of each homepage before moving on to the store.

I know I sound like a commercial or something, but I just had so much fun looking through these stores! Fantastic gifts, many handmade so they're one of a kind, AND donations to good causes? And affordable prices. How can you possibly beat that? I'm definitely doing some of my Christmas shopping there.


P.S. - Here are my versions of the click-to-donate codes that you can add to your userinfo page or any other website you want.

P.S.S. - OMG, it's time to upload the holiday icons again, isn't it?