December 2008 Coffee News

-Honduran Nacimientos
-Holiday Flavors, Gift Packs and Gift Ideas
-Dreaming Big

Honduran Nacimientos
Like many of you we guess, we used the extra days after Thanksgiving to decorate our house for the holidays. We set up the tree and then the kids unpacked the growing village that now fills the space under and around our tree. This tradition finds its roots in the Honduran nacimiento that Guillermo grew up with. In Honduras during the holiday season, it is common to find whole corners of people's homes and even part of village plazas filled with a nacimiento which translates as nativity but is typically much, much more than the basic barn scene of Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus that is more common here. Surrounding baby Jesus you will find a whole town complete with homes, people, animals, roads, hills and more. With a little internet research, we've discovered a few websites we thought you might enjoy with photos of nacimientos (or belenes as they are also called) in Comayagua, Honduras and in Guatamala. We've also posted a photo to the left that we took of a nacimiento Guillermo's aunt created in 2002.

Hopefully we'll have more photos of nacimientos and Christmas in Honduras to share soon as we just decided to make a quick trip to Honduras from December 25-January 7. We weren't planning to go, but when Guillermo found plane tickets for only $379 (they are usually more than $700) we jumped at the chance. And because Cathy's family was already planning to gather early this year it worked out perfectly. We're also looking forward to celebrating Guillermo's mom's birthday which falls on January 1st. She'll be 81 and we're grateful for the chance to be with her and the rest of the Velasquez family.

Holiday Flavors
The holiday flavors we picked for this year were very popular. We completely ran out during November, but we'll have more in stock in time for our December orders. We won't be reordering after that, however, so get your order in soon to make sure we can fill it. Here they are again:

Almond Toffee - A crunchy butterscotch toffee with the sweetness of brown sugar and the nuttiness of toasted almonds.
Fall Festival - A treasure trove of fall favorites - Spicy cinnamon and clove with notes of cranberry and vanilla.
Fudge Brownie - Tastes like warm fudge brownies right out of the oven.
Cappuccino Hazelnut - Sweet, creamy, frothy taste of cappuccino freckled with cinnamon.

These special holiday flavors sell for $6.00 in 8 oz bags in both WHOLE BEAN and GROUND. Limited quantities of DECAF are also available in all types. All of our regular flavors are available too (African Cinnamon, Almond Amaretto, Carribean Hazelnut, Dutch Chocolate, French Vanilla and Irish Cream).

Holiday gift packs
Let us know if we can help with your holiday shopping. Add extra coffee for gifts to your regular order. Or make it even easier on yourself and let us do the shipping.We can mail coffee (with your personal note included if you wish) anywhere in the country with only the added cost of priority mail postage. We ship over 30 boxes of coffee every month anyway, so we're all set up to do it. Just email us the details before we pack up our orders on December 11th (how much, of what kind of coffee, sent to where) and we'll take care of the rest.

And here is another gift idea - order a 3, 6 or 12 month coffee subscription for someone. We've put together a colorful gift certificate that can be customized for any occasion.

More Unique Gift ideas

-Sibirica Boutique - Dec 6 - 7 (10am-8pm Saturday, 12pm-5pm Sunday) - 996 Oxford Street, St. Paul
There are two more days left of the wonderful boutique being held in our neighborhood (click address link above for a map). The collection of items is amazing and includes photography, plant presses, jewelry, eco-friendly cleaning products, herbal bath salts, American Doll clothes and accessories, original acrylic prints and cards, miniature landscape paintings, hand-knit baby booties, beaded Christmas ornaments and jewelry, bead embroidery artwork, quilts, metalwork frames, eco-friendly games, waitress-approved aprons, limited-edition purses, hand-painted printed and beaded silk scarves, organic caramels and Velasquez Family Coffee as well. The flyer for the event is at: http://www.myspace.com/sibiricaboutique.

-Lazos fair trade coffee mugs - Add a beautiful fair trade coffee mug or two with your coffee gift. We have a limited number of Lazos mugs for sale. Regular for $12.75 and large for $14.50. Photos of these handcrafted, lead-free, dishwasher and microwave safe mugs are to the left.

-Carteras - recycled handbags - You might also consider the handbags we carry made out of recycled chip bags by women in Honduras near the coffee farm. Visit our handbag page for photos and prices and let us know if we can add any of the bags to your order this month.

Holiday Dreaming
As we close our newsletter this month, we want to thank you for your support. It is fun to look back and see how far we've come on this little coffee venture. We couldn't have done it without you!

We also want to encourage you to dream big this holiday season. The dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. must have seemed nearly impossible 40 years ago. And yet here we are today in many ways living the fulfillment of his dreams.

What impossible, outrageous dreams do you have for future generations? Peace on earth. A global economy based on fairness and sustainability. Dream big  --  and then get busy working as if you believe those dreams will come true.

Our best wishes for happy holidays and a fulfilling new year.