Wrapping Up The Green Christmas Challenge

 Here it is.  The end of another year.  After tossing challenges at you like crazy, I’m here to announce that The Greener Christmas Guide is coming to a close.  It’s getting packed away with all of the garland and pretty lights (though I’d secretly love to paint more sheets of blueprint wrapping paper!).  No need to cry.  We can do it again next year. 

So for now, why don’t we take a look at all we’ve done this year?

 

card-displayedFirst we talked about Christmas cards and the 300,000 trees cut down to make them in the United States alone.  I decided to send digital cards to our family and friends, and some of you looked into recycled and paper-free card alternatives.

 


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Next we thought about all that garbage we generate from our pretty packages and bows… garbage to the tune of 4 million tons in the United States.  So we came up with four ideas for greener wrapping paper, including my mom’s favorite trick: homemade pillowcases stuffed with presents.

 

 

made-in-chinaWe brainstormed some not-made-in-China gift ideas.  It seemed a little daunting, but it turns out you can find lots of yummy foods and awesome gifts made right in your own community, including wine and champagne perfect for New Year’s.

 

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We made oh-so-easy fabric bags with this tutorial.  The bags are perfect for holding gifts and using again later.

 

 

poinsettia 5I found a local nursery growing over 3,000 breathtaking poinsettias just a mile from my parents’ house in the US.  We brought home two of the beauties and couldn’t have been more pleased with our local purchase.

 

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My all-time favorite project was this wrapping paper made of blueprints.  I picked up a bunch of old blueprints from a general contractor.  One side of the paper was blank, so we had a painting party and decorated the papers with stamps and potato stamps.

 

img_0002Handmade gift tags were lots of fun, too, weren’t they?  Many of us gathered scrap paper and bits of fabric that were heading to the garbage can.  Then we decorated our very own gift tags.

 

trainI shared some of the green Christmas gifts we like to put under our tree like yummy lotions and the things that bring our family together every holiday like board games.

 

 

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When I confessed that you had to buy your own bag at the grocery stores in Germany for as much as a euro each ($1.40), many of you were shocked.  I’m hopeful that many of you also joined the bandwagon in using your own cloth bags.  We had a little tutorial for how to make them, then I gave all of mine away as gifts.

 

kmThe day after Christmas, we got busy with our thank you notes.  But we didn’t use any paper or ink.  We sent digital thank you notes with pictures of us enjoying our new gifts!  Several of you posed your new babies in their clothes and gifts; I think that’s just swell.  How many hearts did ya’ll melt?

 

card-displayedFinally, yesterday we looked at our stacks of old holiday cards, and many of you quickly offered to donate old cards to St. Jude’s for children with cancer to turn into new cards.  Those cards are going to be repurposed into new cards for next year.  Are you thinking what I’m thinking?  I know where I want to get my paper cards to send to my grandmas! (the only people who don’t do digital)

 

Whew!  What a year.  Thank you for all that you’ve done.  It might not seem like much, but it is.  

A plastic bag takes thousands of years to break down.  If they had styrofoam in Jesus’s day, we’d still be looking at it.  And all the standing trees that don’t have to be cut down… just know that I’m proud of you.  Mother Earth is proud of you.  And one day, I know your kids will be proud of the green you.

Happy New Year, everyone!

(images from referenced pages of Making This Home)