Use the slow lane when choosing holiday gifts this year

The world is fast and furious. Why not slow it down for the holidays?

Ways to achieve that lofty goal are plentiful. Some ideas on how to give the gift of slow living:

THE SLOW HOME PODCAST

This image released by Buddha Board Inc., shows a water-art Buddha Board. Consider the board as a gift this holiday season to embrace the Slow Living movement. (Buddha Board via AP)

The podcast is hosted by the Australian Brook McAlary, a mother of two. She's a 30-something writer from the Blue Mountains near Sydney who suffered severe postnatal depression in 2011. That's when she decided to embrace minimalism and simplicity in her life.

In addition to the podcast, she has written two books: "SLOW: Simple Living for a Frantic World" and "Destination Simple: Everyday Rituals for a Slower Life."

THE ART OF SLOW GROWING

This photo shows the My Calm Blanket, a weighted blanket intended to promote high quality sleep. Weighted blankets play into the Slow Living movement, especially as gifts this holiday season. (My Calm Blanket via AP)

For loved ones with a green thumb, and those who aspire, set them up with seeds and everything else they need to get their hands in soil and plant.

The shop SmartSeedsEmporium on Etsy offers a way to grow a living sculpture, the Queen Victoria agave plant . With a spiral of deep green leaves, it grows slowly and can reach a foot tall and wide. Mature plants, considered hardy and drought tolerant, can cost up to $1,000. For $4.99, gift 20 seeds.

Queen Victorias can live for several decades and spike reddish-purple blooms. This Etsy seller offers a variety of rare, exotic seeds from the around the world as well, but the queen seeds hail from the United States.

This cover image released by Sourcebooks shows "SLOW: Simple Living for a Frantic World" by Brooke McAlary. Consider a gift this holiday season that encourages a step back from chaos and stress of daily life. (AP PhotoSourcebooks)

WALKING STICKS

For people who aspire to walk more, appreciate the woods, get out to the local park trails or get just an hour outside to get the blood flowing, do it in style with a walking stick or cane.

In addition to specialty makers and hiking stores, bigger chains are in on the idea. Bed, Bath & Beyond carries a 48-inch twisted oak walking stick in red for $55.99. It has others along the same lines in different wood and color schemes.

This cover image released by SmartSeedsEmporium shows a mature Queen Victoria Agave plant grown from seeds sold by the Etsy shop SmartSeedsEmporium. With a spiral of deep green leaves, the plant grows slowly and can reach a foot tall and wide. (SmartSeedsEmporium via AP)

A site called Fashionablecanes.com is full of options, including a hazel walking stick handcrafted in Ireland . $53.99.

Antique canes and sticks are all over eBay if your gift recipient likes retro.

WRAP UP MY CALM BLANKET

This image released by Fashionablecanes.com shows a walking cane in hazelwood that was handcrafted and harvested in Ireland. Ways to encourage a slower way of life when giving gifts this holiday season includes encouragement to get outdoors and hike. (AP PhotoFashionablecanes.com)

Do you know somebody who feels they're failing at sleep? The folks at MyCalmBlanket have borrowed a tool used to soothe anxiety and other sleep disrupters — a weighted blanket.

The cotton inner blanket uses glass beads to provide mild pressure based on body weight. The blanket, which measures 48 inches by 72 inches, should weigh 7 to 12 percent of the sleeper. For a person who weighs 80 to 100 pounds, for example, a 10-pound blanket would do. An outer duvet, in a gray square quilted design, is made of minky, a soft polyester velour.

The creators caution that the blanket should not be used by anyone who likely would not be able to remove it on their own. Buying the right weight is key otherwise. It comes in four weights, from 10 pounds to 25 pounds.

Search around because many other weighted blankets are available. This one, intended for use year-round by one person at a time, costs $169.99 for the 10-, 15- and 20-pound versions, and $199.99 for the 25-pound blanket.

BUDDHA BOARDS & SAND GARDENS

A token gift or actually pretty Zen? Your gift recipient may get a tickle out of one of these either way.

Buddha Boards come in a range of styles and sizes now. They provide a surface for creating fleeting designs with water, a bamboo brush, a bowl and a stand to catch drips included.

Mini Zen sand gardens are a world onto themselves, with little tools, bridges, rocks, trees and Buddha statues available. One company, Zen Life, offers a set of eight sand stamps in floral, spiral and polygon shapes. $17.95 on Amazon.

DEFY THE INSTANT POT

The multi-use pressure cooker has been all the rage. Slow it on down with a simple, single-function slow cooker.

Consider a stoneware insert, make sure the lid is tight fitting and look for easy, intuitive controls. Also, it would be nice if the handles stayed cool.

The idea is to make it easy but more importantly slow, providing the best aromatherapy of all: Eight hours of pot roast wafting through the house.

BEIRUT (AP) — The United States has repatriated 11 of its citizens from sprawling camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State militants, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday.

The repatriation was the largest Washington has carried out from the camps to date, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. Five of the 11 citizens brought back were children, and one non-U.S. citizen child -- the 9-year-old sibling of one of the other children -- was also brought with them.

As part of the same operation, the U.S. facilitated the repatriation of 11 other camp residents, eight of them children, to Canada, the Netherlands and Finland, the statement said.

Although the pace of repatriations has picked up -- neighboring Iraq recently returned hundreds of its citizens -- many countries remain reluctant to bring back citizens from the al Hol and al Roj camps, which now hold about 30,000 people from more than 60 countries, most of them children.

The camps are run by local authorities affiliated with the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The SDF and its allies, including U.S.-led coalition forces, defeated the Islamic State group in Syria in 2019, ending its self-proclaimed Islamic “caliphate” that had ruled over a large swath of territory straddling Iraq and Syria.

Human rights groups have regularly reported on what they describe as inhumane living conditions and abuses in the camps and in detention centers where suspected IS members are housed.

“The only durable solution to the humanitarian and security crisis” in the facilities “is for countries to repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate, and where appropriate, ensure accountability for wrongdoing,” Blinken said in the statement.

FILE - Kurdish forces patrol al-Hol camp, which houses families of members of the Islamic State group in Hasakeh province, Syria, on April 19, 2023. The United States has repatriated 11 of its citizens from sprawling camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State militants, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)

FILE - Women shop in the marketplace at al-Hol camp, home to families of Islamic State fighters, in Hasakeh province, Syria, on March 31, 2019. The United States has repatriated 11 of its citizens from sprawling camps in northeastern Syria that house tens of thousands of family members of suspected Islamic State militants, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)