About this time each year, our family likes to sit down and write thank you letters.  There’s so much to be thankful for, and we really like to reach out to friends and family.  But you know us.  Just like most holiday traditions, we’ve brought a green twist to our thank you card writing.  Yep.  We completely skip the pen and paper.

We send personal digital thank yous. And since a picture is worth a thousand words, we’ve taken to candid photos of ourselves actually using the gifts that person has given us.

Check out this tutorial for making your own digital thank you notes.  (It seems we get just as many thank yous back from people who get the digital pictures of us loving our gifts as we send out. Gotta love it.)

(Image from last Christmas because you know – some family members check this blog at work far before they get home to read email)

I love celebrating the new year.  It’s a wonderful time to look forward and think about all of the possibilities.

It’s also a good time to look back – not just at ourselves, but at the people in our families who have come before us and who have impacted the people that we are today.

Pause a moment and look back.

I’ve been scrolling through pictures of our Christmas in Berlin, and this picture caught my attention:

It’s Martin’s hand reaching for a traditional holiday treat.  I’m not sure what he’s reaching for:

my Grandma’s fruitcake that she made for all of us in Germany

or

vanilkove rohlicky, the Czech cookies his grandma used to make every Christmas (my mother-in-law translated the recipe for me to recreate)

I can’t believe the two ended up side by side on the same plate.

Do you remember holiday treats your grandma used to make?  Do you remember traditions or stories from members of your family who lived long ago?

I find that the best way to keep from getting homesick for the United States and my family is to think of these stories and incorporate these experiences into our own lives.

When you find yourself overwhelmed, pausing to think of the challenges people in your family have conquered can really help.  I wish we had a holiday where we did nothing but honor our ancestors.  We could cook their favorite foods or do some things the way they did (assuming it’s practical, of course, because most of us cannot go to school on horseback).

But since there is not such a holiday, think of those people and the traditions they brought to your family as we ring in the new, beautiful year.

To wherever you may be this holiday

from our little Berlin home,

have a happy, peaceful holiday.

Martin and I treasure a homemade life. You’ve probably guessed that from our kitchen remodel where we built our own cabinets or the recipes I share. Now that I’m off for the Christmas holiday (because – get this – average Germans enjoy twice as many national holidays and vacation days as average Americans)… well it seemed like a good time to start sewing our stockings.

I picked out fabric and strings of pompoms at a traveling European fabric market.  Then I found inspiration from the little elf-like stockings at Pottery Barn online:

There’s something charming and simple about little elf stockings, especially when we’re planning on squeezing four people into our apartment for Christmas: two in the bedroom, two in the living room.

So I started sketching, cutting, and stitching.

I have no idea how Santa will manage to sneak over to our stockings or our tiny, unconventional Christmas tree without someone catching him on Christmas night.

But I have made sure that our stockings will be just the right size for a small orange (which Santa loves to leave a lot of you, too!) and a few nuts and little German treats.

So what do you guys think about a homemade life?  We’re learning new tricks as we go – like sewing pompoms and drilling into concrete walls (yep – our walls are literally concrete and rebar).  Let’s chat about the homemade details you’re learning and incorporating into your home.  Some things you and I make ourselves; others we buy from etsy or local craftsmen and clubs.  Either way, it’s a personal touch.  What do you do to add that homemade flair to your home, especially now that we’re creeping toward the new year?

(first image from Pottery Barn)

One project from my ebook, A Green Christmas, that I just can’t get enough of is this stylish and simple flower or star ornament.

Since it’s the season of sharing (and those of you with kids might be desperately needing a way to distract your kids with a craft project before the big day), I just can’t resist sharing this project with all of you.

All you need is an old toilet paper tube, paint, and yarn.

1.  Paint around the outside of the tube.  I recommend acrylic or tempera paint.

2.  Once paint has dried, mark the tube at 3/4 inch intervals along the width of the tube. Cut to make three narrower rings and leftovers. Fold each ring in half to make the letter “V” like I’ve done below.

3. Wrap a piece of yarn around the center point of the Vs and secure with a knot.

4. Continue to wrap yarn at the point of the Vs until everything is secure and pleasing to your eye.

5. Cut extra string and pull open each of the loops on the star. Thread a short piece of yarn through one loop to hang on the tree. Or on a gift. Or off a doorknob.

And a special thank you to bloggers that helped spread the word about A Green Christmas: The Borrowed Abode, Victorian Cobweb, and Antiques Diva.  Thank you, thank you, ladies!

Happy repurposing.

Call us a couple of hippy Scrooges, but our little family has a really tough time with the corporate Christmas card culture.  Businesses send hundreds (even hundreds of thousands) of holiday cards made in China to one another and to you and me.  Now that I’m in Germany, those cards go from China to the US to Germany.

I wish the companies would donate their card budget to a charity and communicate this decision with us the way they otherwise communicate with us:  either by email or not at all.

It’s fun to display cards we receive from family and friends.  But if you’ve received a few holiday cards that you’re not particularly attached to, pull out those scissors.  It’s time to repurpose!  Make gift tags with this year’s cards instead of stashing card tops all year long or tossing them.  Ready?

Just cut around each image, punched a hole at the top, and string some repurposed yarn or ribbon through each one.

Now we’ve got three lovely snowmen gift tags.  You could also hang them on a tree.  And the best part is besides being cute, they require absolutely NO new materials.  You’ll have Mother Nature giving a big ho ho ho in no time.

Don’t forget to check out the gift tags we made last year with packing materials and fabric scraps.  And for more gift tag and other eco-savvy ideas, pick up a copy of my ebook, A Green Christmas.

Do you make your own gift tags or identify your gifts in a unique way?  Any creative solutions you’ve seen or that you want to try?  Do tell!

Stay tuned for Monday when we repurpose toilet paper rolls into a little holiday cheer…