A Fair Trade Christmas Tree

Christmas in our house is a magical time.  My children painstakingly select the perfect tree from a farm that gives a portion of the sale back to the African Children's Choir so we can make sure we are doing some good with our purchase.  We all love pulling out our tubs of ornaments and carefully placing each one on the tree.  We know when we received each ornament, and they all hold a special significance to us. 

I was forwarded an link today that changed the way I look at Christmas ornaments entirely.  It didn't make the front pages of the newspaper or even the headlines on the evening news.  A horrific, terrifying video and article about child slave labor and our beloved Christmas decorations.  Take a couple of minutes to watch the video and see why we must do better. 

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/newsmakers/enslaved-children-freed-after-being-forced-to-make-christmas-decorations-potentially-headed-for-us-194625049.html

Thinking that my beautiful ornaments may have been made by exploited children, by slave labor in horrific conditions, is just more than I can think about.  So what do you do?  Throw them all out and start over?  We can't change what we have done in the past.  But we can use our new knowledge to change what we do in the future.  And I will still love my beautiful ornaments.  Many of them were gifts and hold significance because of the gift giver.  Some of the gift givers aren't with us anymore, so these ornaments will continue to be special to me.  I will, however, never look at them the same.  And with my new knowledge, I will only add fair trade or locally handcrafted items to my Christmas decorations.   We have purchased several locally made and fair trade ornaments over the years because of their beauty and their stories, but they have now moved to my favorite list. 

Over the next few days I will share some fair trade websites where you can purchase gorgeous Christmas ornaments and Christmas decorations that you can know with confidence are made with fair trade practices by artisans that will be paid fairly for their work and make their crafts in good working conditions.  Next year, I am going to add a tree to my house that is exclusively decorated with fair trade ornaments.  If you were planning on purchasing ornaments or decorations for you home or as gifts, please consider buying them from companies that are making a stand against child labor and slavery.  Our purchases really do make a difference.  We can choose to ignore our new knowledge and keep buying the way we have, or we can buy from companies who are helping to end poverty one person at a time by using fair trade practices.  As a family, we are choosing to do more and buy smarter.