Holy baby Jesus, Christmas is in eight days. I am happy to report that I have made progress on my shopping, but there's still lots to do. Next year, I'm setting an early deadline for all loved ones to submit Christmas lists, or I pick for them. This traffic-on-December-16 is for the birds. I have tried to shop local as much as possible, and chosen a few eco-friendly companies online and it's been great!
I can also check Christmas cards off the holiday to-do list! This year I went with Paperless Post, and spent entirely too much time customizing my cards for family and friends. I love how it's a classier alternative to sending an e-card, but you can still go green and save paper.
I can also check Christmas cards off the holiday to-do list! This year I went with Paperless Post, and spent entirely too much time customizing my cards for family and friends. I love how it's a classier alternative to sending an e-card, but you can still go green and save paper.
But at least the tree has been decorated for over a week now. I love the collection of ornaments I've built over the past few years, and I've loved incorporating my boyfriend's ornaments to the mix. Our tree has some ornaments from our childhoods (a ceramic Santa with my name on it from when I was born and a napkin Santa he made in grade school), some ornaments from local stores (that awesome Aww Yeah! lasercut wood from Red Arrow), some using recycled material (a few wine corks I picked up at the Omelette Festival last year), and a bunch picked up from travels all over. Shoot. I probably should've gotten an ornament from Hawaii this summer. Maybe I can repurpose one of our magnets??
One of my favorite things about the holiday season is spending evenings
in a room lit only by the Christmas tree. There's something so serenely
magical about the glow of the tiny lights. And the faint, piney aroma of
a fresh tree? Oh, hold me now.
Since I'm awesome and can't find our watering can, I came up with a great way to reuse a wine bottle - Christmas tree waterer! The long, narrow bottleneck fits under the tree into our large, Milo-proof tree stand. And hey! For you brave crafty fools, if you cut the bottom off the wine glass, you have a great upcycled Christmas tree watering funnel! Just place it neck-end into the tree stand and pour your water into the bottom. (I promise, I did not get the tree drunk. It was a CLEAN, DRY bottle.)
Milo has made himself right at home under my parents' tree.
Another newer holiday tradition is the Christmas light bike ride. I can't help but decorate my bike basket with battery-operated LED lights before we set off on a ride through neighborhoods filled with houses covered in Christmas lights. It seems as if not as many people decorate their houses anymore, but it's worth riding around just to see the houses that are lit up.
Since I'm awesome and can't find our watering can, I came up with a great way to reuse a wine bottle - Christmas tree waterer! The long, narrow bottleneck fits under the tree into our large, Milo-proof tree stand. And hey! For you brave crafty fools, if you cut the bottom off the wine glass, you have a great upcycled Christmas tree watering funnel! Just place it neck-end into the tree stand and pour your water into the bottom. (I promise, I did not get the tree drunk. It was a CLEAN, DRY bottle.)
Milo has made himself right at home under my parents' tree.
Since
I live in Louisiana and we can't have appropriate seasonal weather, it
hasn't been perfect bonfire weather...but it doesn't stop us from
lighting the backyard pit. We collect all the sticks from the yard and burn them instead of purchasing fire wood. Cleans the yard and saves us money!
Another newer holiday tradition is the Christmas light bike ride. I can't help but decorate my bike basket with battery-operated LED lights before we set off on a ride through neighborhoods filled with houses covered in Christmas lights. It seems as if not as many people decorate their houses anymore, but it's worth riding around just to see the houses that are lit up.
And when all else may fail, I've got my overly large collection of Christmas movies and music to see me through. Walk by my cubicle at just about any given moment this month, and you'll hear one Christmas jam or another. Because I love you so, I made an early Christmas present for you, in the form of a Holiday Spotify mix! I edited down my 300-song mix (not kidding) to a delightful 20-song selection. Put a few extra marshmallows in your hot chocolate, light the fire on YouTube, press play and snuggle up with your loved ones!
Relax while you can, because you've probably still got some wrapping to do. Or if you're me, ALL the wrapping to do. I better get crackin' on putting some gifts under our tree. It's probably a good thing I got a new job earlier this year, because at this rate, Santa NEVER would have hired me to work in his workshop. At least I've still got plenty of recyclable wrapping paper, and new festive paper tape from Red Arrow to use!
How have you gone green so far this holiday season?
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