“The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.”

– Pierre Corneille, Le Menteur

Ah, the December holiday season; that special time when families, friends and work associates gather to share great food, treasured traditions, and thoughtful gestures of affection and regard. Then they take out the trash.

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Eve, or all of the above, gifts and holiday celebrations can generate a lot of garbage. It’s unlikely that playwright Pierre Corneille had trash in mind when he wrote the above words 400 years ago, but if you put a broader 21st century spin on them, the message is clear: Careful thought put into holiday food, decorations and presents is at least as important as the items themselves … which can live long after they’re enjoyed in the form of waste.

No guilt trips intended here; holiday celebrations create wonderful memories with long-lasting rewards. But we can make them even more wonderful and rewarding by thinking more sustainably in preparation for special occasions.

Inspiration for getting into a green holiday spirit is in every aisle of your neighborhood PCC. The following tips are offered as encouragement for making your own green holiday list, checking it twice, and sharing your own suggestions by posting a comment below.

Comfort and joy food
PCC has both, from basic favorites to sustain you through hectic holiday preparations, to more elegant fare to share with family and friends. The common denominator is the care taken in PCC product selection that assures the most sustainably produced, packaged and transported items available.

Consider sharing the gift of healthy, quality products by purchasing a PCC membership for special people in your life. By shopping at PCC they’ll enjoy special member discounts and the knowledge that their purchases help to support PCC’s many community outreach programs. Call the PCC office at 206-547-1222 and ask for Membership; the one-time fee is just $62. You can also buy a membership online.

Bag it up
Pleasantries aside, people want the present, not the packaging … unless the wrapping is as welcome as the gift. A useful and reusable tote makes the perfect gift bag. But if your inner-artist insists on wrapping paper, look for gift wrap with recycled paper content, then save it to use again. Decorate the non-printed side of paper shopping bags with your own designs, or save the comics from the newspaper for gift wrap that is both colorful and fun to read. Tie up your packages with useful shoe strings or reusable ribbons.

Deck the halls
Warm your home for the holidays with naturally aromatic beeswax candles. Add natural color and fragrance with big bowls of fresh fruit and pine cones. Fill glass jars with colorful layers of dried fruit, grains or beans from the bulk department. Everything is festive; nothing becomes trash.

Saving green
Pick up a Chinook Book during your next PCC visit. Better yet, get several as gifts. Each contains more than $5,000 in money-saving coupons for sustainable shopping, travel, home and yard care and entertainment. This month only, save $5 off the usual $20 cover price. Five dollars of the purchase price will be donated to the PCC Farmland Trust; you’ll help save Northwest organic farmland with each book you buy.

Look for PCC’s colorful line of stainless steel water bottles and thermal coffee tumblers for useful gifts that save money and the environment. Add them to a gift basket you create yourself with delicious fruit, chocolate, coffee, tea, food preparation items — and perhaps a gift card — from PCC.

Home cooked economics
Take a PCC Cooks class, or give one as a gift. It’s education at its most delicious, offering a wide variety of cuisines and techniques, and made fun and inspiring by expert instructors. Choose a class for yourself, or purchase a PCC gift card relatives and friends can use for classes. Don’t forget cooking classes for kids, or the fact that preparing recipes at home for family meals or holiday entertaining — with fresh, seasonal ingredients from PCC — saves money and energy. Visit www.PccCooks.com.

Best wishes for a happy, delicious and sustainable 2009!