I biked home from German class with snow falling on my eyelashes today. I’ve been waiting so long for snow this year.

Are you as eager as we are for the weekend?  We’re going to try roasting chestnuts.

I really like these walnut ornaments, this recycled magazine tree, and stringing LED Christmas lights across the front of our living room. The simple moments really make all the difference this time of year, don’t you think?

The hunt for candy canes in Germany continues.

(Image of a cobblestone sidewalk with snow that I crossed today)

This month, I am keeping a daily journal of how we are celebrating Christmas in Germany.  A lot of scrapbookers enjoy taking on this type of project each year, and I decided to attempt it with a bit of a twist – the biggest being that we don’t have a color printer to print instant photos.

I don’t have fancy hole punches, stickers, decals.  All I have are my words, a glue stick, scissors and some pretty papers.  You just can’t find 99% of the paper craft supplies in Germany that you can in the United States.  At first, this frustrated me beyond belief.  When I did find something, I couldn’t justify spending the prices.  (Scrapbook supplies costs about double here.)

You probably know what I’m going to say next…

Turns out I don’t need all of the fancy stuff.  I can still put together a fun book.  It’s hard to remember that we can make do with very little.  We get so used to feeling like we have to have the latest gadgets and tools to do things.

I plan on making a December journal like this each year.  I imagine where we will be – USA? Germany? – and who we will be with.

Do you ever reflect on past Christmases?

Here are some of the pages of my journal:

I took the advice of Ali and made a bunch of pages in advance.  I just pull a page from the pile that seems to fit my mood that day.  Each page also lists the date and a heading, so it’ll be easy to flip through the pages in the future.

I sit down after dinner and write, then start my German homework.  I really like the simplicity of these moments.  I reflect on the day and the bits we’ve embraced.  Sometimes it’s big things like St. Nick visiting us on December 6th.  Other days are simpler, like yesterday when we found a cheese called “Christmas cheese” at the grocery store.  Some days have nothing “Christmasy” about them.  Some of those days are my favorite.  That’s when I reflect on what the season means and what I can do to spread that feeling.

And as you know from my shop, I’m all about creative journaling.

Have you ever had success with writing daily?  In a journal?  A blog?  Or if you were to write about today, what would you say?

Hands down, going green in the wrapping paper department is our all-time favorite DIY part of creating a Green Christmas in my family. The United States sees a 25 percent increase in the amount of trash generated every Christmas season.  A huge portion of that, of course, is our wrapping paper.

That’s why my family has stopped buying wrapping paper.

Yep, we never plan on spending a dime on Christmas wrapping paper ever again.  Those of you who have copies of my ebook, A Green Christmas: Reduce*Reuse*Recycle*Rejoice, already know how we repurpose all types of stuff that you and I either have in our houses (like lunch wrappers) or that we can get free in our communities (like old aviation charts or blueprints).

Here are two tutorials for greener wrapping paper that we shared last year on Making This Home:

1.  Make your own fabric gift bags that can be used over and over.

I’ve used one of these fabric bags for my camera ever since, and you might have noticed how St. Nick happened to fill reusable fabric bags with treats in our shoes two weeks ago.  Fabric bags are a breeze to make.  We seem to use them just about everywhere around here.  Check out the tutorial for making your own.

2.  Swing by your local construction company for unlimited wrapping paper ready to personalize.

You can wrap gifts with crisp white sheets of old blueprints and finish them with a big, beautiful green bow.  Or you can get the whole family together to decorate the pages.  That’s what we happened to do with these -ahem- Hooters blueprints we got last year in the US.  Check out the tutorial for tips on how to snag a free stash of your own and some decorating ideas.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Wrapping gifts has always been my favorite part of preparing for Christmas.  Now the activity is especially meaningful in our family because we’re doing something for the environment without taking away the traditions we cherish.  I think that’s what a green Christmas should be all about.  And gosh, it’s the funnest challenge!  We’re always comparing ideas and showing off our repurposed creations with one another all year long.

And in fact, we’re still whipping up all sorts of repurposed wrapping materials at our house this year.  Like this:

And this:

So from our house to yours, happy wrapping!  If you’d like more tutorials and unique ideas for greening up your wrapping scene, I think you’ll love my ebook, A Green Christmas for $10.95.

Do you have a favorite repurposing or green tip for gift wrapping this season?  Have you ever received a gift with repurposed wrapping?  (Chances are… you won’t even know it!)

I like words. I like lists.  And laughing – lots of laughing.  If you do too, maybe this is your kind of wintery Monday article.

1. I dreamed that I decided to write this blog in German.  Lucky for all of us, that will NOT be happening.  (I just told my Russian classmate this morning that we need to wear a lot of newspapers when it gets cold outside.)

2.  The scary thing, of course, is that mixing up “clothes” and “newspapers” was a mistake I noticed.  I can’t even imagine what else I have said to people.

3.  This crocodile stuffed animal might be fun to give a little kid for Christmas if you’re a wiz at sewing zippers.

4. You’ll love Maureen’s comment on last Tuesday’s post about reading A Christmas Carol:

Last month at my elementary school we had a book fair in the library.  One 4th grade girl came up to me and said, “Look (showing me a copy of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol), they already have a book made from that new Jim Carey movie!”

I had to laugh!

5.  As long as we’re laughing, I might as well tell you something.  I go by Katherine in my German class.  The German pronunciation is “Kat-rin”.  So everyone calls me Katrin.  Well almost everyone.  The Vietnemese students in my class always mix up letters like s, t, v, r, and d.  I really can’t figure out the pattern behind their mispronunciation.  All I can tell you is that they can’t say “Katrin”.  They pronounce my name as…. “Kevin”

6.  I now answer to the name Kevin.

7.  People have been writing to me for a suggestion on my all-time favorite favorite vegetarian cookbook to give as a gift.  (Here’s a post listing my top suggestions.)  But if I had to only pick one, I’d choose this one.  It’s good for beginner and advanced cooks, people who want to eat less (or no) meat, and it has recipes that vary in time commitment.

8.  If you have an expat friend in Europe that you’re wanting to send something to this holiday, I’d suggest something from this list.

Here’s hoping for a beautiful week for you all.  I’m hoping to find the chance to curl up and watch a Christmas movie (or two!) in the next weeks.  What are a few of your favorites?  Maybe we can brainstorm a little.  A Christmas movie collection – that’s one thing we should all have room for in our homes, don’t you think?

-Kevin

(Image of the TV Tower by Martin… at 4:00 p.m.  It gets dark much too soon.)

Every day, I bike by at least one Christmas tree stand in Berlin. They have enormous stacks of wrapped up trees and displays of fresh wreaths and little bundles of pine branches. It’s all very beautiful, and it smells so lovely. But I do not stop. We aren’t putting a real tree in our 450 square foot apartment.

We go to the hardware store to buy LED Christmas lights and plumbing parts for the sink.  I wonder to the Christmas section to look around.  There are no fake trees for sale.  In fact, I haven’t seen fake trees for sale anywhere.  But that’s okay; we’re not wanting a fake tree either.

Martin and I just don’t have room.  And when our guests come to stay with us over Christmas, we really won’t have room.

Those of you who have read my ebook, A Green Christmas, know our tight-space solution as we discuss the green Christmas tree solutions.

Living abroad, I have learned that you can’t skip things that were important to your life back home. We have to do something fun on Halloween then have a nice dinner and go to an English movie on Thanksgiving or something.  Every expat needs to do this when her new country celebrates differently (or not at all).

And I believe that everyone who doesn’t have room for a tree or won’t be home much for the holiday needs to bring a little something into her home. We picked out this tree:

It’s small.  It’s easy to store after the holiday.  It’s also sentimental.

We bought it at a little locally owned shop in the German town where Martin used to live.  (Remember how our guest on Making This Home yesterday talked about picking meaningful items instead of just stuff for our homes?  I think this might be it.)

We light the candles at dinner or when friends come over since it’s totally dark by 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon in Germany right now.

Candles and Christmas are magical together, don’t you think?  Do you remember candles at Christmas time from childhood?  I sure do.

We’re still adding more holiday touches in our house (like some of the tutorials for handmade ornament from repurposed materials that are in my ebook, A Green Christmas).  It’s kind of nice to slowly transform our house for the holiday as we pick up new pieces instead of doing it all in one day. I especially like little touches like this berry branch that a farmer on the edge of the city gave me.  Add a little ribbon, and the entire space begins feeling festive.

And interestingly, very few Germans have even put up their trees yet.

How do you slowly savor the season?  Do you have some solutions for slowing things down and embracing the moments?  Sipping hot chocolate perhaps or watching a favorite holiday film?  It’s time for the weekend after all, so maybe we can inspire each other.

Not too long ago, Martin and I received an invitation to join one of my fellow American expats living in Berlin and her husband for dinner.  Hours later as Martin and I biked home, I became overwhelmed with inspiration.  I’ve been dying to share our hostess’s thoughts with all of you ever since.

This is Toma.  She’s The Antiques Diva.  She can take you on antique tours in European countries like Holland, Belgium and France.  She also happens to have a blog and a world of wisdom about creating a home and a life that you love.

1.  Fill your home with the things you love.

Well I know you’ve heard that before.  I have.  And yet, I have brought things home with me that don’t necessarily add any value to my life – things like cups or candle holders that are all the rage… but not at all personal to me.

We have this temptation to buy stuff because it is pretty or because it’s on sale.  Maybe you’ve seen a similar style in a magazine or a blog, so you feel tempted to buy it and to create an image in your home.  But a lot of that stuff doesn’t move us or make us happier.

Toma and her husband have a story behind everything in their home.  It’s there for a reason – whether it’s their dining room chairs that the cafe where they used to eat was selling off or the picture on the wall that Toma painted herself.

I think it’s important to focus on things that matter and remove the things that don’t.

2. Keep your cooking simple.

Toma served us the fanciest dinner Martin and I have ever sat down to.  Toma is a wonderful cook who serves multiple courses – from appetizers to soup and individual cakes.  But she gave me some fascinating advice.

I’ve often told you how important I think it is to never buy food with more than five ingredients in it.  But I hadn’t thought about the food we’re preparing.

Toma served the most delicious butternut squash soup.  She used three ingredients.  Plus maybe some salt and pepper.

She makes it a goal to use three ingredients for everything she cooks.  Maybe five ingredients.  But no more.  She believes that less is more; it brings out the flavor of the food you’re eating instead of disguising it with other flavors.

Try it the next time you cook.

3.  Keep taking classes and learning about things you’re interested in.  Then incorporate those skills and creations into personalizing your home.

Handmade homes are the best, don’t you think?  Items we make ourselves are the best.  So are the handmade gifts like embroidered dishtowels or pieces of pottery your friend made.

When you make time for yourself to do things you enjoy or want to know more about, they can bring a more treasured, personal feel to your home.

Thanks for giving us all the food for thought, Toma.

Now I have a question for all of you.  If you were to share a tip about creating a home that you love, what comes to mind?  What would you tell new homeowners or your future grandchildren about making a home?

(All images courtesy of The Antiques Diva.  They’re her home.)