I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas

So! This was the first year that we bought a tree that wasn't still rooted, in my attempt to focus on the holiday spirit this year, and to not be unrealistic about the continued care for a rooted tree (we've lost 2 now).

But, now that the holiday is over, this tree is just standing in my living room, waiting. I didn't quite know what to do with it, so we were all just waiting. It seems wasteful and uncaring to discard of a tree that grew for years and gave its life for our holiday enjoyment -- 3 weeks, that's it? So, it sat. I thought. I lived. I got an email, my friend's blog posts, from her business and her personal blog. MB is one of my favorite people in the whole world! And these posts were some of my favorite blog entries I've ever read. I continued living life, feeling uber-inspired by the ins and outs of a "zero landfill" concept. Suddenly, ah-ha! Solution to my tree delima!

Let me back up... I decided on a homemade holiday this year. I handmade some pretty cool things, often to replace stuff I had bought but now wasn't feeling anymore. Did you see the tree skirt I made in the pic above? I bought some stuff to make some ornaments, and I made a star to top our tree from the branches that I trimmed off the bottom of the tree.

It is wrapped with lavender hemp, silver wire, and natural hemp. I just love the shape, and I love even more that it came from the tree itself :) So, I have decided to trim all the branches off the tree and use them to make decorations, either to sell next year or to decorate our new tree with next year or to send to loved ones as a gift. And then we can saw the trunk, dry the wood, and use them for a fire next winter holiday :)) I was thinking of a few ideas. First, I was thinking it would be a perfect Yule log, since we can "piggyback" on the emotional attachment to this tree that brought us such love and enjoyment this year. Then, I thought how cool it would be to have a countdown to Yule with the logs, or maybe light one every night between Yule and Christmas, or something. Some new tradition that we can start :)) I love the idea that this tree is being appreciated SO much and that I have not been careless with it's life. Trees get cut down for firewood, right? So, here we are :)))

I've got so many wonderful plans for a greener Christmas next year :)) Cloth wrapping "paper" (this year we spent the bulk of our budget on holiday stuff, instead of presents, so we did a homemade stocking for each of my kids), more natural homemade stuff (like these ornaments), donations in people's honor -- the sky's the limit! The funniest part is that I will be making stuff for weeks after the actual holidays :)) I still need to make a paper bead garland for my tree and finish harvesting this tree and making the ornaments -- in fact, I still have some ornaments that need to be beaded and my homemade holiday cards (that we spent weeks making) to send out! LOL I was thinking about "we are early for next year", but I think I'm gonna go with "better late than never" :))

Please share some ideas you have for a greener winter holiday -- I can't be green enough! :))