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Looking for stocking stuffers or last minute gifts for the holidays? Here are some of our favorites in 2024, from the salty to the sweet, crossing many of the lines of difference that make us North Carolina.
1. Best Salt: Beautiful Briny Sea French Picnic Salt
Kelley O’Brien found this salt, and it is now used by many in our audience as their go-to, favorite salt ever.
2. Best Colored Pens: STABILO Point 88, Wallet of 30, Including 5 Neon Colors
Molly Urquhart introduced these pens to our team, and now they are beloved by our families too.
3. Favorite Book About North Carolina in 2024: Anatomy of a Purple State by Chris Cooper
I read this book in one sitting over Thanksgiving. Favorite quote? “If national politics is Jack Daniel’s whiskey, North Carolina politics is a twenty-year-old single malt scotch — perfectly distilled and with a bite that lingers long after the sip is over.”
4. Favorite Fiction in 2024: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
“A romp through time, space, and the human heart,” this book also serves as an essay on refugees.
5. A Keepsake Children’s Book: 150th Anniversary Edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Illustrated by Salvador Dali
These astounding illustrations by Dali are a new way to experience what’s called a “remarkable voyage through Wonderland on a new plane.”
6. Favorite Poetry: Stream of Consciousness: Hoodie Season II by Derick Lee
“Hoodie Season is a phrase that embodies the ‘grind state’ of pursuing one’s dreams.”
7. Best Peanut Brittle in North Carolina: Rusty’s Peanut Brittle
This is a 100-year-old family recipe. Made in Tarboro. Not to be missed.
8. Popcorn Popper for the Road: W&P Microwave Silicone Popper Maker
Healthiest snack we have found for the long drives. Pop before you go. The bowl collapses and has a built in way to measure your favorite popcorn. No oil required.
9. Pride Christmas Tree PJs
For your loved ones and allies.
10. Best Socks: Mast General Store Christmas Socks
Grab a pair of red, a pair of green, or mix them up.
11. Anna’s Pour-over: Gooseneck Kettle, Coffee Dripper, and Filters
Anna Pogarcic has changed our lives in many ways at EdNC, including how we make coffee. Many of us now make coffee her way, and this zen practice has shapeshifted our experience of that first cup of coffee in the morning. We buy our coffee from 321 Coffee, a “coffee shop and roastery staffed by individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities who have a lot of love to give.”
12. Classic Nutcracker Set
Buy a bag of mixed nuts and crack them together while sharing stories from the road and the year.
13. Bear Food Honey
My granddad was partial to sourwood honey and Superintendent Kathy Amos makes the best homemade honey I have ever had in North Carolina, but Bear Food based in Matthews offers a variety and it comes with a good story.
14. A Musical Instrument for Every Home: The North Carolina Can Joe
Herschel Brown is credited with coming up with the Can Joe. It’s a one-string fiddle made out of a soda can. Prior to his passing, he wished for one to be in every home. Online you can find kits to make them yourself or you can have them custom made with wood and a can of your choosing.
15. Best Ornament: Carolina Snowflake
I learned about these from Sen. Ralph Hise, and I buy mine every year at a store in Spruce Pine.
According to Our State, “In 1983, New Bern resident Billie Ruth Sudduth enrolled in a basketmaking class to unwind from her demanding job as a school psychologist — and knew almost instantly that she’d found her passion. The following year, while demonstrating the craft at Tryon Palace, she rescued a failed four-leaf clover by connecting two of them, and her signature design was born. Her ‘Carolina Snowflakes’ eventually hung in the White House as well as homes around the world.”
You can find kits online by searching for “Carolina snowflake,” or buy them in natural reed or Christmas colors.
Support EdNC, support North Carolina
Thank you for supporting our work. We hope you will buy and share our book with your loved ones over the holidays: North Carolina’s Choice: Why Our Public Schools Matter.
Please also consider supporting your local restaurants by purchasing gift certificates. Here is our guide to EdNC’s favorite places to grab a bite county by county. We will be publishing a 2.0 version of this guide in 2025, so send your favorites to mrash at ednc.org.
Happy holidays from all of us at EdNC.
