So, here we are, less than a week before the big, big, BIG day, and we’re all squirming with excitement. Our living rooms are twinkling with our favourite decorations and our closets are stuffed with secret Christmas packages.
I’ve been thinking, for the last few Christmases in a row, how to go about utterly enjoying this glorious Season, while still taking time to help protect Mother Nature. Although I haven’t been able to implement all of these myself (Most of my presents are still wrapped in regular paper), here are some ideas I’ve come up with or found.
- Be sure to Google ‘Environmentally Friendly Christmas Tree’ when considering which kind of tree you want. There’s some interesting background information on the Real Tree vs. Artificial Tree debate, as well as some interesting alternatives being developed, including trees made from recycled material, or Living Trees.
- Take a page from Granny’s book. She’s told about how, when she was a kid, they used to make decorations out of whatever they could find, including scraps from the sewing bag, and pine cones and other goodies from the forest. Popcorn and dried berries on strings made great garlands. Granny’s motivation was to survive the Great Depression. Yours can be to avoid costly store bought decorations made of non-biodegradable plastic and vinyl.
- Wrap your gifts in gift boxes or gift bags that can be reused. You can also re-use the comic pages from the newspapers for a colourful and recyclable wrap, or you can look for recycled wrapping papers.
- Sending out a long list of cards? How many people on your list are to receive your annual Christmas Letter? Consider e-cards or e-mail to save on paper. This will also save you some money on postage.
- How many gifts can you fit into one box? If you can fit more than one, you may save some paper.
Now turn off the computer and go home and have a wonderful, wonderful Christmas!
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