the very late christmas gifts ideas post

A disclaimer, to start this post with: Human Heart Nature did not sponsor this. I'm really just a huge fan of their products since they first started.

A very quick veering off of topic here: I'd been lazy with blogging all of November, last month, due to catching up to a lot of TV content. Mostly, it's just me re-watching old shows I love like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, even Nickelodeon's The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius and my current addiction, MTV's Teen Wolf. I'm really late on the latter, I know, but I'm so, sooo stuck on seasons 4-6 and it's mostly thanks to Liam Dunbar---I love Liam and Hayden too! They remind me of Jimmy and Cindy somehow. Lol. I'm also following a lot of classic, really old movies that are likely on loop on TCM but sadly, the cable provider took this out of our subscription package. It would be nice to have HBO Max and TCM in there. Even HBO Go. I'm a huge HBO nutcase, yep. I need my daily dose of HBO shows like True Crime season 1, Big Little Lies, to name a few. I'm not really all that fond of Netflix and consider it a waste of money but I really wish we have Hulu here, so there's that. ....and let's steer ourselves right back to this post's topic...hmn...?

So...have you shopped for Christmas gifts yet? I have. I'm probably still lacking a few others. My grandparents' gifts mostly. Although this is because I have no earthly idea what to give them... But I'm close to completing my gifts to people around me. Immediate family, including a cousin, mostly and my closest friends. The sweetest thing about gift shopping this year? I didn't have to go out much to get them. I mostly shopped online. It comes with the quarantining at home territory for most of us. 2020 showed us that a lot can be done at the comforts of our home including gift giving. You'll know more of this as you read along.

Every month, I get at least 1,500 Php's Human Heart Nature products to keep my 25% off dealer privilege or so, so I figured, it was only right I stocked up on giftable stuff around the beginning of this month. I was able to get the items and a good number of gift boxes, gift bags and christmas gift cards around last week. It's now only a matter of me putting them under the plastic christmas tree that we have downstairs. I think I'll do this sometime middle of this week. I have yet to write stuff on the gift cards.

That all said, brick and mortar stores, we all know and love, migrating online definitely didn't have much an effect on the likes of me who has a strong dislike of crowds. Going slightly off topic again, I was at the malls a couple of times last week to see if my ancient Samsung J2 Prime, that died on me last week of November or so, could still be fixed---I ended up getting a new phone, a Samsung Galaxy A21s which I'm quite settled and content with---and to take advantage of about one of five of the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf's double stamps promo days to finally get my 2021 planner...and I was horrified to find a lot of people flocking Centrio, for one, around 3 in the afternoon onward for god knows whatever they are there for as if there's no pandemic around. News flash, in case people have forgotten, there still is the pandemic and people are still losing their lives in the hospitals to it, both health care professionals and not. I only really go out to the mall when I need to do so or lately, for some late-ish Christmas shopping due to some sales here and there. Otherwise, I'm better off just really just ordering things online.

If one follows local news on and off, we should at least be aware that a ton of unpleasant things have happened from a trio of storms wreaking havoc up north to our government here, still not knowing how to deal with this pandemic that they fail to secure cost-effective, very reasonably-priced anti-COVID 19 vaccines because the people in there's bff seem to be China and Russia's leaders much like USA's Trump...so...well... To soften the blow, we're royally f*cked here in the Philippines until further notice. ....and going back on track, all I can probably say is that Human Heart Nature offering ways to help people by their feeding program or really helpful kitchen, Kusina ng Kalinga and their new feature on the online store that allows people to send gifts to others' homes're a relief to know of today. Not a lot of stores do this and so far, all I know is, Human Heart Nature is the first to do so, so I kind of hope there'd more doing this to make the difficult 2020 life easier. At least there's something good like this in 2020. Hopefully more stores would do something like this. Things like these're exactly why I love Human Heart Nature aside from how I like their products are made for Pinays' skin and all. More of this, you'll know of later too as you read on.

So, without more of my beating around the bush here...here are some of my Human Heart Nature favorites to give people this Christmas, this year:

All of these, when purchase on the shop site, comes with a box or a bag and a Christmas gift card already. I didn't really use this feature because I could still afford to meet some friends in a maximum of 2's at least once a month anyway and I don't have that much close friends here to begin with. So, now, let's take a closer at my favorites among them, shall we?

1. Happy Helping Hands - we have the global pandemic to be wary of and be really cautious with---it's best not to contract the novel Corona Virus at this time, yes---so this duo of pocket-friendly hand soap and hand sanitizer is the basic anti-COVID 19 starter kit to gift people that matter with. I love Citrus Burst's tangy, refreshing scent as much as I do Pomelo's really sweet one so this is a double win in my book! Price at somewhere not going above 250 Php, this is a good deal already and very useful to people who're receiving it.

Human Heart Nature hand sanitizers are CDC approved and have a plant-derived alcohol content of 60%. It makes it as potent as regular alcohols and other such topical disinfectants in killing bacteria, viruses, other harmful microscopic organisms that make their way into our skin on a daily basis. That is, if we're the type to go out for work or otherwise, often.

This duo is definitely handy to have in one's bag at all times. I know so because I, at least, have one of them in bag. Mostly, it's the sanitizer but I do have the liquid hand soap too, from time to time.

2. Zesty Pomelo Party - the sanitizer has been established in number 1 to be a daily necessity. The hand and foot salve I have yet to try, however, can prove useful to people who work in an airconditioned environment 24/7. If you know people who are the kind who can't work from home without the ac on at least 8 hours a day or so, then this is a great gift to give them. The salve keeps the skin from chapping or going dry and soothes a lot of aches and pains away, too, when it counts.

3. Minty Floral Yule - a bar soap, along with the sanitizer, isn't a bad gift to give to people. It's a bit like numbers 1 and 2 except the soap can be used either as a bath soap or a hand soap. It's entirely up to the one receiving this gift bundle now. 

I've yet to try the Lavender Mint scented bar soap as I love the Peony and frangrance-free ones the most but seeing as I currently have a thing going on with energizing and relaxing minty stuff from Human Heart Nature---I love the cooling body cleanser to shower with after a day of being out and about lately---I'm likely to give this one a go soon.

Yep. As with numbers 1 and 2, this is a great gift to give people too. 

4. His & Hers Plastic Bottle-free Joys - they're plastic-free! They're environmentally friendly and they're for him and her! What more can you ask for? 

I'm really looking forward to trying the shampoo bar for women since it came out but I'm still stuck on Human Heart Nature's vanilla scented moisturizing shampoo so... But like their Lavender Mint bath/body bar soap, I'll get there one day soon. I just have to finish the remaining bottle of moisturizing shampoo I have left in the bathroom.

If this package isn't to your liking, you can always customize like I did and replace either one of the shampoo bars with the men's charcoal body cleansing bar for the gents in your life or the other with the fragrance-free cleansing body bar. Both my favorite fragrance-free and shampoo bars for the ladies here are plastic-free too. They use paper wrapping instead of the usual plastic these bars come in with. I think the exfoliating bars, the lavender mint and lemon scented bars are still using the plastic wrap and I'm not entirely sure but maybe the charcoal body cleansing bar for men may be plastic wrapped still, too. 

5. Pocketful of Peace - the very tiny and handy eucalyptus balm is really useful for when one has headaches and other such body pains to contend with in the middle of a work from home or the office day. I know so because I always kept 10g of this within easy reach on my cubicle's desk when I was still working from the office. I've worked from home since around May this year until my eventual resignation around September but I still have this thing in my make-up bag to-go.

People working in the office or ac-ed rooms 24/7, be they at home or in the office, will be forever thankful with this one, I'm sure. I know I will be. 

All of these 5 gifts are priced below 350 Php and are hardly really break the bank. I spent a good 2K Php for these I'm gifting people with but I'm seriously all good! Like, really all good. I just have to figure out what to give to my grandmother and grandfather and I might have to give them the his and her shampoo bars I still have left somewhere just to get over this agonizing hunt for what to give them. 

I've been encouraging a lot of people donate to victims of the three typhoons up north through my fandom slash real-life rants and all twitter account but my preferred way is to actually purchase stuff from Human Heart Nature. They have Kusina ng Kalinga that's a regular feeding programs for kids. You automatically donate to them when you purchase the ones with the red balls with a ribbon on them. Options 4 and 5 here have them. You can also check on others on the gifts page here for other such gifts that can feed kids through the said kitchen. They're likely going to be more expensive now, however. The more items in the gift bundle, the more expensive they are. It's just the way retailing goes. Simple logic. Lol.

Human Heart Nature is pro-environment, pro-Filipino, pro-poor and they ARE always for their people's and others' good and to me, that's money, hard-earned cash well-spent. Not only do I give people useful items to have this really scary time of the global pandemic, but I get to help my fellow Filipinos too! I've chosen to become an adovate solely for this reason and of course, because I love their products. Haha.  

With this local Filipino brand, you can skip the dreaded Christmas shopping rush in the malls or the markets and choose to send gifts to others on the online shop site, too! I, myself, was beyond livid to find so much people out and about in the nearest public market here last week---I didn't go but the public transport I was at passed by there and...you get the picture---so yeah, I'd really rather not be there even when their wares are likely more affordable and their choices, quite as extensive as the ones online. I do understand that most people prefer to see the goods in person but we still have COVID 19 lurking around so... Anyway, going back, Human Heart Nature has a 'send gifts' option you can click here on the shop site so you don't have to personally meet up with friends and family to send them gifts. You can find the option encircled here below to make navigating the site easier:

You can also get more discounts if you become a member. To become one, simply click on the encircled option here once you're in the online shop site or page and register. It's at the top of the page like the 'send gifts' option is, yes. 

I know. 2020 sucks. Like, A WHOLE LOT. 

Christmas parties have gone online as did a lot of other things. Trade fairs, concerts, even city and town fiestas have gone online. A lot of things are online. I was in a virtual concert not too long ago, maybe three or so months back to be exact so I understand how people are experiencing work-from-home, being online all the time fatigue at this time. But there's really not much we can do about it when even our own government can't handle COVID 19 and its spread decently. It's not entirely helping that we're frequented by typhoons getting stronger by the year---thank you, global climate change crisis! global warming! *insert sarcasm here*---either. I envy New Zealand so much. They have such an awe-inspiring leader in there and I can only wish ours were the same but he's not. For the rest of us, this pandemic has only revealed how ugly politics, socio-politics and especially real life can be.  

And, like, heck, my closest friends and I are definitely having our Christmas pajama, home sets, ugly Christmas sweater party online on facebook messenger (one of our friends do not have Discord, unfortunately, and is quite busy with her growing family these days) and Discord this weekend after Christmas Day so believe me, I. KNOW that 2020 sucks. 

The least thing we can do now, however, is to grab onto what little hope we can and try to survive and keep living amidst this pandemic. Even better is if we can do what little part we can to help out as what this post seeks to steer people into doing so here. 

I've actually done very little shopping for myself although, well, you can say it's quite an understatement when I've shopped for undies from Bench last week. It's not my fault though. They were on sale and I needed them because I was running out of functional ones. Heh. And I did spend on ankle boots and flipflops from Rubi on Zalora PH's sale not too long ago. I don't think they'll be seeing the light of day soon. We'll see. But I'll blog about this and my couple of purchases from essentielmanila, a new favorite online store of mine that carry a ton of work-from-home basics, sets mostly and yummy, fun sets at very, VERY affordable prices I just really couldn't help myself. I'm a humongous clothes lover and the more options to play with, the better. I might have to gift away some of these things I've shopped to some others one day. We'll see. But it still really stands that these purchases aside, all I've been keeping on the regular is stocking my instagram shop (it also has a facebook page with the same name) a monthly basis and trying my best to curate its contents as much as possible in a way that it's benefits not only me but my soon-to-be local suppliers, too. I'm curating Treasure Chest of Sorts really carefully. I'm filling it with locally made products I actually swear by so that it does not become just another run-of-the-mill 'sari-sari store' type of online shop we have an abundance of nowadays. I need something to make it stand out in my locale and hopefully, one day, I can even open a brick and mortar store for it, too. I can dream anyway. I'm keeping myself ridiculously busy and preoccupied with A LOT of things aside from tv shows marathoning and a music tripping on spotify, yes. It's a terribly trying time but somehow, I manage and I'm pretty sure all of us can and will get over all of this, too.  

The most important thing, as we continue to struggle and figure things out even with the COVID 19 global pandemic hovering around us, is to do what little we can to keep this matter light between us and others. It can be by supporting and buying local or maybe going more sustainable? Donating to causes we love, too, should be a good thing. I would do so as an animal lover, yes. I have an indoor cat I take care of aside from myself, of course, so animals are another passion of mine. ....all of these mostly because, even if we already have 1 to 2 cost-effective and somehow tried and tested COVID 19 vaccines now, it's really still, just a trying time for a lot of us. 

In less than a couple of weeks, it'll be 2021. But first, we have Christmas and the day of gift-giving (hopefully everything good) to contend with before we try our best to festively, gayly usher in the new year. Now, Christmas isn't really my favorite time of the year to be honest. It hasn't been since about three years ago or four due to tragedies that I've gone through that seem to happen this latter half of the year. My favorite time of the year actually is Halloween for this and several other reasons. So yes, let's make this gift-giving season good by gifting people that matter the GOOD and spending it with them, too. (I'm really not all that sure if we can all go home to our grandparents this Christmas weekend but seeing as their place is close and only less than a 30-minute drive from here, we'll see...)

So, happy Christmas, happy holidays and let's remain kind and good to ourselves, our environment, our fellow country men and basically just anyone, everyone and everything else...even if the world isn't that kind to us at this time. One day, this will all be over and one day, it'll all get better.

And if it helps those who feel everything is grim moving onto 2021 and onward, you can go and feel free to slide on my DMs (direct messages) on my fandom and personal-ish twitter for a random chat/conversation or...to see and empathize with how pessimistic and very real I can be on there. Lol. My tweets are very telling of how normally grimly realistic I am on there. I'm actually more of a pessimist than a jaded optimist nowadays and this is reflected on said twitter account. But I make do with what I am given. I can still afford a tiny bit of positivity or optimism. Somehow.

PS

I know this post is already a very long read as it is but is it just me or has everyone else migrated from blogging to either vlogging (I'm not too into this however and nor do I like a lot of vloggers...only a good few, I'm ever really into) and especially instagram? I dunno. It's just a feeling. The blogging world hasn't really been all that teeming with life lately. I miss the days back when it was livelier in here. Don't you?