Love never lets you go

Well with the winter season coming up and everyone rushing to and fro, buying gifts and preparing for Christmas, I have been asked what would I would like in the line of gifts.

I find it very hard to reply, because in all honesty apart from the very expensive next step life purchases I would like to make, I am quite content with what I have right now.

I have thought carefully about what having possessions means to me and while I feel I have everything I'll ever need, I certainly don't have have everything I'd ever like to have. This is different from actually wanting something, which is a point many of us miss.

My family has a wii and a PlayStation, which no one has used for over a year. I really think its recycling time. But will I experience any resistance, I  hope not. Its time to declutter. Now this may be a source of conflict. Why? Well, Jaye and I love books, that we read and reread. We collect them in huge quantities and have now realised a huge collection, that will eventually fill our wall to wall booklined study.

So what am I wishing for this Christmas season. Well to start off with the old cliche' - world peace! of course, if there was world peace we'd have a little less money spent on the war machine and a little more on building sustainable homes, creating sustainable jobs and producing sustainable energy and food sources.

But being a realist and accepting that world peace will not happen in my lifetime, I have wished for a few more mundane things, this festive season.

1. I wish for equal marriage in Scotland - the catholic church and their big mouthed brigade do NOT speak for me.
2. I wish for homelessness to be totally abolished.
3. I wish for personal currency to increase in value and financial currency to stop.
4. I wish for a cure for autism.(For matthew and Sarah)
5. I wish for a cure for epilepsy (For Me)

Now for the more selfish stuff, so for those of you that know me - take note.....

1. A lie in on Christmas morning with hot coffee and mince pies.
2. Book/DVD/itunes tokens/vouchers
3. A ring Mandrel and UK size gauges
4. A concrete mixer
5. Intraocular lens replacement in both my eyes......

I'll stop there, but anyone can see, I'm not asking for a square meal, warm clothes, or toiletries and socks. So if any of the above are out of your reach think about ethical gift giving.

1. Wateraid - provide running water for a village in Africa/India the far East
2. World Vision - provide some chickens and goats for some poverty stricken villagers so that they can make a living and eat.
3. Cancer Care - Despite all our progress in medical science. the cure still alludes us, think about the folks at Macmillan.
4. Dont forget charity starts at home so if you'd like to make a donation to any homelessness charity please send them a fiver instead of filling my stocking, it really is no loss to me and it means even more to them if youre a taxpayer.
5. Finally a dog is for life, not just for Christmas, so please remember those creatures that cannot speak for themselves.

While I am not asking everyone to shower me with ethical gifts, if every stocking had one ethical gift as a filler, how much more would we be changing the world. I would love to hear that there were one million ethical gifts sold this year. That would be the best gift of all.