Canada Moms Blog

Beyond Gift-Giving: Hanukkah the Green

I'm finding dealing with things quite the parenting challenge lately. It's Hanukkah, and earlier this month I promised myself I wouldn't buy my kids anything at all until Hanukkah because I knew that if I did the whole beauty of getting and, indeed, of giving gifts would be lost. The Hanukkah gifts would be just more little trinkets for my kids to hoard, more random objects to attach themselves to in profound and confusing ways that only Freud could really understand.

And Hanukkah is such a beautiful holiday, so rich with meaning and hope. When we light the menorah, we are celebrating the victory of the Maccabees (a Jewish rebel army) over the Syrians in 156 BCE, and the rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem that followed. When the Maccabees rededicated the temple, they had only a small flask of olive oil with which to light the Temple's eternal flame -- enough to keep it lit for one day. But, miraculously, this small flask of oil lasted eight days, giving them enough time to press new olive oil, and keep the eternal flame alive, well, eternally.

As a "friend" reminded me the other day, there's a great modern message in this miracle: a green message. To think, one flask of oil could go such a long way! It's a reminder to us all that a little energy, a little water, any precious resource we use too much of, can go a long way.

Grocery Store Re-Org

Dear [insert grocery store name here],

I have shopped at your store for the past eight and half years.  As such, I know the store like the back of my hand.  I know it so well I can whip in and out in under a half hour if I hoof it while still managing to get what I need.  I have perfected my system over these past eight years (the first half a year I was preggo, there was no system, only waddling) such that it’s akin to a well oiled machine.  I even have a favourite check out that is always open and never busy.

I know it’s considered progress to change things. 

I know new management comes in and thinks they can do it better.

Smooth Salesman Equals No Sale

There is a reason I don’t work in retail, especially when there is commission involved.  First and foremost, I don’t have the ability to talk out my ass.  Now don’t get me wrong, many salespeople are wonderful and full of helpful advice, and then there is the other kind.  Like the guy we had the pleasure of dealing with at the music store the other day that used a fast food analogy when discussing the purchase of a keyboard.

Yes, that’s right folks; apparently buying the keyboard without the stand is like buying a hamburger without the bun.  And he didn’t stop there, oh no, the dude was on a roll; he went on to tell me that the keyboard without the pedal was like getting the burger without fries.

the foreigner in the 'fridge

I was reading an article about saving money on groceries, idly thinking 'Well, I do that', and 'Holy crap do Canadians get fleeced on coupons' - because really, Canucks, you do - and 'I'm amazed my slow cooker isn't worn out yet' and clicked away, disgruntled.

Some of the suggestions are pretty basic, after all.

My family is trying to be as local as we can be. We're kind of proud of it, actually...haunting the local farm markets for produce and goods, doing our best to buy locally. We're even experimenting with putting in (well, experimenting again) a garden.

Some things we fudge on, like coffee (I'm fine with that, I am, because mornings are not fun when I don't get my coffee) and no one seems to be distilling gasoline nearby, but we make choices like early apples over the-peaches-from-the-United-States, and ketchup made in the Maritimes.

To save the world, albeit a little sneakily

My local grocery store recently went bagless. That is to say, they will let you use your own bags (their re-useable fabric bags prominently displayed at all the check outs - only 99 cents!) or you can purchase plastic bags (biodegradeable, huge, thick things) at five cents apiece.

And even though the chain is projecting this significant move will result in a 55 per cent decrease in the number of plastic shopping bags it distributes and help to eliminate one billion plastic shopping bags from landfills in 2009 - which I'm all for, save the earth, rah rah rah -  I can't help feeling a little....well....duped.

I've no problem with the cloth bags. Even remembering to drag them out of the back of the car isn't as hard as it used to be - the 'oh, damnit!' moment seems to be coming in the middle of the parking lot now, instead of when I'm inside the store, so yes, that's a success. The cloth bags are sturdier, more-packable (okay, I made that word up, but you know what I mean) and don't tip. They're loverly.

The problem comes when I get up to the cashier and discover I'm a carrier bag short of carrying everything outside.