Catherine: Christmas Gift Ideas

November 26, 2024

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”
~ Charles Dickens

By Catherine Austin Fitts

A Solari Report subscriber asked what I would recommend for Christmas gifts. Published and updated annually, here are some of the gifts I like to give.

CASH, CHECKS, OR SAVINGS

I find that many people, particularly young people, love receiving cash or a check. Whatever really clever ideas I might have for presents, people often know what they most want. Some unexpected cash makes it easier for them to get their heart’s desire.

I also encourage (grand)parents to help their (grand)children develop a tailored Building Wealth Learning Plan and to save for college, internships, educational travel, or other experiences that will further their child’s learning plan. You can invite all the relatives to steadily fund these future educational experiences at birthdays and holidays.

COINS

A sovereign silver or gold coin is a great way to give money in a form that encourages young people to save or helps their parents save for college. I also like to give children coins from other countries from around the world to help them learn about countries and currencies. You can calculate amounts with our Silver & Gold Payment Calculator.

And—a great suggestion from a wonderful subscriber—how about a piggy bank to teach the children you love about the importance of cash and saving. This wonderful idea inspired me to give two piggy banks last year. Teaching children how to save is a gift that keeps on giving.

STORE CREDIT AND GIFT CARDS

Someone can always use a credit at their favorite store. A gift card or credit at a favorite butcher shop, wine shop, or food market may also make for a more lavish Christmas dinner. Local stores are often the best. I particularly like great local flower shops. In honor of #CashEveryDay, you can pay with cash!

Some favorite stores I use online are stores that help us build good health and resilience:

Lehmans — This Ohio store was created to serve the Amish. It has grown into one of the premier catalogs for gardening, country, and non-electric living. Lots of great equipment to have when the electricity goes out.
LL Bean — This Maine store has been keeping the feet of outdoor lovers and hunters dry and warm for decades. Here is my review: “Why I Love LL Bean.”
Hofweb — If you are in the Netherlands, get the best food in the world and have it delivered! If not, find a farm store near you, like Tennessee’s Crossing Creeks Farm and Taylor Family Farm or Vermont’s Meadows Bee Farm.

I would appreciate hearing about subscribers’ favorite farm stores in the comments section below.

BOOKS

Solari has published our first book just in time for Christmas and the holidays. Women in Art is an amazing collection of Nina Heyn’s columns from Food for the Soul about great women artists and art patrons. These are inspiring stories augmented by a beautiful and wide selection of paintings, sculptures, and photography. Perfect for art lovers and aspiring museum visitors.

One of the best presents I ever received was from a business partner. She gave me a detailed write-up of her favorite books. It was fascinating. Her write-up came with a gift certificate to her favorite local bookstore. She had arranged for the store owner to spend time with me to help me pick out the books I wanted. All I had to do was make an appointment.

I also received a gift card from a client for an online bookstore. I have always wanted a hard copy of the complete works of Aristotle. Sure enough, the card inspired me to buy something I had always wanted but kept putting off as a luxury (given the 400+ books that are sitting in the “must read” pile).

Here are links to the Solari Report Best Books for 2024 to inspire your efforts. See also our most recent Book Reviews. You can’t miss with two of my current favorites: Hijacking Bitcoin by Roger Ver and A New Science of Heaven by Robert Temple.

HEALTH

Christmas is a time when we often eat rich foods and large meals. My two current favorite New Year’s books are The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jimmy Moore and Dr. Jason Fung and The Wim Hof Method by Wim Hof.

  • My church in Washington practiced fasts in January. Now, without a church to inspire me, I dive into The Complete Guide to Fasting. Here is my book review. Numerous subscribers prefer other books about fasting—you might want to check out some of our fasting discussions on Solari.com.
  • Wim Hof has me doing breathing exercises and taking cold showers. I am still building up to swimming in the IJsselmeer in the winter. Wim Hof’s method can make dramatic improvements in your immune strength, energy, and outlook. Here is my book review. Wim Hof was the Solari Hero of the Year for 2021.

Good health starts with nutrition. However, many people are busy, and it takes time to sleuth out the best food sources in your area. Dig up a good list and information on the best farmers, ranchers, farmer’s markets, and CSAs (Community-Supported Agriculture) in your area—as well as the best butchers, grocers, and restaurants—and give the information as a gift, along with a little something from one of the identified sources. One of the magazines from Edible Communities and the shopping guide or local chapter leader of the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) may also be of help. Or you can gift a membership to WAPF—a bargain at $40/year.

GIFTS TO YOUR STATE LEGISLATORS AND OFFICIALS

Freedom is the greatest gift we can give our children and families. Whatever freedoms and assets we now enjoy will be lost if our financial transaction freedom is lost. Hence, investing in the effort to protect it is a great opportunity; we should take advantage now while we can still turn things in a positive direction.

With that in mind, we encourage you to buy or print out bulk copies of What the States Can Do: Building the Legal and Financial Infrastructure for Financial Freedom; send copies to your Governor, Treasurer, Attorney General, Comptroller, state representatives, and the legislative leaders in your state. Better yet, ask for an appointment and deliver a copy in person.

TECH

Want to help a loved one “go Linux” without having to become a software expert? Check out the laptops, desk stations, and other equipment at system76. They come highly recommended by both Solari subscribers and the Solari IT team.

Several Solari Circles are learning how to use ham radios. They are purchasing radios, getting their licenses, and helping each other learn and get connected together. This could be a great idea for people who live nearby and would to be prepared to help each other in an emergency.

MORE LAVISH GIFTS

Now is a good time to bring the spa to your home. How about giving a gift of health equipment desirable to and appropriate for the person receiving your gift? Options include items such as a sun lamp, an IonCleanse machine, a QRS machine, or an infrared sauna.

How about funding visits to the amazing museums that your Culture Scout, Nina Heyn, has reviewed in her amazing Food for the Soul column?

Another way to nurture a love of culture (and help your loved ones not accumulate more “stuff”) is to gift experiences, such as concert tickets, music lessons, art classes, or weekend getaways to historical or cultural destinations.

If some of us are denied access to public transportation because we do not want to be part of the totalitarian financial control grid, what about more creative motorized personal travel options?

Or, how about purchasing a share in a local CSA for loved ones?

Or consider refinancing out their debt at a lower interest rate—thereby keeping the income in the family instead of the banking system.

One of my favorite Solari Reports is Coming Clean – Transforming Lives Through the Power of Cleaning with Eunice Boston. When I lived in New York, I would buy a spring cleaning by Eunice’s company for a really special friend or colleague. This was a multi-day, intense experience. Yes, your home got super clean beyond what you could imagine—and super organized. The field changed. As one partner who received this gift said, “You should have warned me that this would be a spiritual experience.” Eunice and her company literally saved my life; we tell the story in the Solari Report interview. If your recipient is near New York, hire Eunice and her team to do their complete, transformative deep-clean. If not, find a team of high-integrity cleaners locally.

Another gift that is a little less lavish than travel or the world’s finest home or business cleaning is a vintage typewriter—a great tool to have to preserve free speech and classic communications like personal notes. You can find a good selection at Etsy. I now have two vintage typewriters and a Freewrite, and I am very glad I do.

How about the ultimate in unique musical instruments that anyone can learn how to play? I have one—a whistle from Howard Music in the UK.

The best Christmas present that I ever heard tell of was given to Harper Lee by a couple who had a good year in business. They funded her a year’s worth of living expenses so she could write a book. She wrote To Kill a Mockingbird, which went on to sell over 40 million copies. Giving talented people the gift of time can indeed change the world.

ON A BUDGET

If you are on a budget, there are plenty of great gifts that will work for you.

Gifts that Support the New Media

One of our favorite New Media collaborators, Corey Lynn at Corey’s Digs, has two great gift ideas:

  • Help your family and friends make positive changes to their daily lives by directing them to Corey’s new “Partners” page, which offers access to terrific resources while helping Corey, the people purchasing, and those they purchase from.
  • You can download Corey’s library catalog for free in the Bookshop, which categorizes and links all reports and solutions, including the great Solution Series she did with the Solari Report. Give that PDF—“packed full” of articles, investigative reports, educational and inspirational pieces, and solutions—to friends and family as a master resource. 

Another way to support the New Media is to give family or friends the gift of a subscription.

Everyone Loves Hats

For U.S. residents, we have our popular “Turtle Forth” and “Make Cash Great Again” hats for sale at the Solari Store. These hats are excellent for inspiring people to take action and use cash—and for finding and meeting like-minded people.

Downsizing

During my “Enemy of the State” period, the team harassing me used to steal one possession of financial or sentimental value whenever I left home. This pattern is not unusual in such cases. I decided that no one would use my possessions as weapons against me. So, I made a list of my valuable possessions and then steadily gave them away at Christmas and birthdays over the subsequent years: Hermes and Cartier watches and scarves, Italian handbags, custom-tailored coats, good silver and china, and paintings. One lucky relative got a Renoir etching.

I am not suggesting that you give away all of your possessions. However, if you look around your house and are honest with yourself, there are undoubtedly valuable and beautiful things that you have that you don’t use that could bring great joy to someone you love. And some that will bring great joy to families that could use a helping hand.

Let’s Go to the Movies

Everyone loves a good movie. Play the same game with movies as with books. Here are lists I like to use:

Our movie selections during December focus on Christmas movies. So, between those recommended this year and over the last few Decembers, you can find plenty of our favorite Christmas movies. In 2020, Nina Heyn and I did a Food for the Soul podcast on our favorite Christmas movie picks. You can find it at Food for the Soul under Interviews: Audio.

For those who would like a great stocking stuffer, you can get copies of the Solari Prayer Book. The digital version is available online, and we are also happy to mail you hard copies—they are complimentary.

Solari Report subscribers are always welcome to share the Solari Report with their immediate family. Print out Wrap Up PDFs and transcripts from your favorite Solari Reports and share them with a personal note telling family members how the materials helped you, and why you recommend them. Our most recent PDF is our beautiful report on Water. My favorite structured water device is available here.

Decorating the Ancestors’ Graves

Christmas is a time to honor our ancestors, whose lives and accomplishments contributed to the many blessings we enjoy. Visiting ancestors’ graves with someone you love, sharing time to celebrate family and the “meaning of the season,” and decorating the graves with fresh Christmas evergreens, berries, or flowers are wonderful things to do. You can acquaint young people with their heritage or celebrate memories with those who are older and might have difficulty making the trip on their own. Send pictures of your visit to family and friends who are far away or not able to come, so they can participate from a distance.

FOCUS ON KIDS

In 2010, I wrote a small book, Gifting to the Children We Love, to assist my clients. I kept talking with families. Some people had money. Some people had time. By pooling resources, they could do a lot more for the children in their extended family. I hoped this collection would help.

What I would most like to give every child I know for Christmas is a course in creating their own encryption systems. This is Bill Binney’s great idea. If we teach all the young people how to make their own proprietary encryption systems and to create businesses making encryption systems for local businesses, we can start to rebuild local economies. I am going to ask Bill to help us figure out how to do this. I invite your ideas as well. Let’s figure it out!

Another great idea for young people is a garden kit or course to teach them how to start growing food from a very early age.

You may also wish to explore and teach young people about the great traditions of Christmas like the lighting of the Advent candles each evening or where candy canes came from (see the short video on our Christmas Culinary Traditions).

THE SOLARI REPORT AND SOLARI WRAP UPs

We are offering Solari Wrap Up Gift Packages in time for the holidays—gift-wrapped to send as a gift or add to your own collection! A copy or collection of our Solari Report Wrap Ups can provide a great summary of people and sources to help busy people understand the primary trends driving geopolitics and economics. We even have a complete collection. It is always amazing when new subscribers order all of the Wrap Ups to date, intent on catching up.

These collections include The State of Our Currencies, The Going Direct Reset, CBDCs, Taxation, SPACs, Gold and Silver, Building Wealth, Pharma Food, and more. These are an excellent source of intelligence on the “reset.” For those of you who want to give the gift of intelligence that will serve your networks well in the New Year, we also have options at the store to purchase five or ten copies. You can even buy by the box (approximately 23—quantity may vary with each edition) by calling Customer Service. These make great gifts for colleagues and business associates.

If you want to give a Solari Report subscription as a gift, the information is here: Paid Gift Subscription. If you have any questions, feel free to fill out a Support Request.

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DONATIONS

Every year, Solari makes donations to groups that help us honor the spirit of giving and Peace on Earth. In 2010, we donated to a food bank in every country and state in which we had subscribers. Consider a donation to your local food bank this Christmas. Give donations in the name of other people as a gift as well.

You can see our past Christmas donations for every year since 2010 at our Holiday Greetings website. You will be able to see our 2024 Christmas donations in this year’s Holiday Greeting when we publish in December.

We also welcome donations to our efforts to protect financial transaction freedom—just click on the Donate button at the top of our home page. We invite you to join us in supporting leaders who are fighting fearlessly to protect your human, food, health, financial, and property rights. For inspiration, be sure to check out the master lists of heroes published in our Annual Wrap Ups and selected Quarterly Wrap Up web presentations.

The world is full of other great groups worth supporting, including excellent documentary filmmakers and members of the New Media. An investment in intelligence networks is a great investment at Christmas and throughout the year.

MORE!

I will post more ideas during the Christmas Season if I have them. I know our subscribers also have great ideas, so post yours in the comments section!

Most of all, make sure you take time for you and yours during this special time of the year. The best present of all is Peace on Earth, Good Will toward Men and their Financial Transaction Freedom!