Facts:

I personally was raised with Christmas – trees, cookies, gifts, the whole darn deal. I liked it and as a kid thought it was mostly fun, but I never loved how hectic it was, and by the time I was in my early 20s I was sick of the whole planning perfect gifts mess.

By the time my son Cedar was born, his dad and I wanted to do something for the winter holiday season, but we couldn’t quite place what that was.

Since Cedar was born we’ve had years with Christmas trees and years without and even years with living trees. Years with big stressful get-togethers and years where we’d just chill with friends. We’ve had MANY years of trying to balance gift giving because we like the less is more idea, but just try getting people on board – it sucks. You say, please do not get me anything, and people just won’t listen.

What’s hard is finding a balance. You could be green by avoiding the winter holiday season altogether but that’s extreme and doesn’t really build any sort of tradition for kids. You could say screw green and have a big ol’ celebration with lots of bling – the other extreme. OR you can find balance. It’s finding a balance that everyone will agree with that’s hard because it’s not just your little household; it’s extended family, friends, co-workers, and more.

This year, I seriously want to make a change. I’ve managed to green up many areas of my life, but finding the perfect (or a good) green Christmas is one area where I could use some help. In a perfect world… we’d find some traditions to keep like organic cookie making day or giving gifts that are all green and homemade and personalized, and ditch the holiday traditions that aren’t working so well – i.e. extended family not listening when we say JUST ONE GIFT! Or maybe deciding to skip the Christmas tree forever.

In order to sort out my own family’s idea of the perfect holiday and to help readers along, I thought we’d get started early this year. It can take some time to plan a fun, meaningful, and still green winter holiday season. To get you (and me) going, following are some useful resources that can help anyone start planning a greener, more meaningful holiday season.

Two useful sites:

• Buy Nothing Christmas – an excellent kick off point. If you want to start practicing early you can ditch Black Friday and join up with Buy Nothing Day.
• The Simple Living Network

Two cool books:

• Green Christmas
• Celebrate Green

I’ve got some more resources coming up as well as some tips for a green and meaningful holiday season. For now you tell me – what are your plans this year for a greener holiday season?

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Here’s the break-down, with links if possible so that you can learn more about these topics…

• 3% of you planned to serve organic meals
• 10% of you bought fewer gifts
• 3% of you made recycled decor
• 3% of you skipped the X-mas tree
• 10% of you made homemade gifts
• 1% of you of all vote sent e-cards
• 3% of you are recycling your gift wrap
• 1% of you are using reusable bags instead of gift wrap for gifts
• 6% of you said you’d be trying everything listed to stay green
• 23% of you were going to try most of the things listed.
• 38% of you were going to do at least two green holiday

No one said that they would:

• Use eco-decorations
• Give green gifts
• Send organic flowers

Those three above are the most expensive green holiday tips, so this might be why no one voted on them. Although, if you made homemade gifts, that’s green.

Now how did you do in the long-run? Was your holiday as green as you hoped? Are there things you regret doing? Or on a more positive note, things you’re proud you did this holiday season?

New poll up soon!

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Gifts of experience:

• Tickets to a play, the ballet, a concert, or art show.
• Season sports team tickets.
• A trip to the zoo, beach, art museum, or national park for a child.
• Movie tickets.
• Enrollment in a class – places like Michaels and community colleges offer low-cost art, craft, and computer classes that people may enjoy.
• iTunes gift certificate.
• A gingerbread house making day.

Gifts of necessity:

• Pay someone’s cell phone bill for two months.
• Offer to change someone’s oil, breaks, or other car issue.
• Help someone to winterize their house.
• Give babysitting certificates.
• Organize someone’s garage.

What else can you think of?

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Teach a child something or just spend some time: Honestly, I can’t tell you one item my grandma gave me for a holiday. But I think about everything she taught me or did with me all the time. How to sew, cook, play cards, paint, and more. Plus her stories stick with me. These are the things kids remember when they’re older, not that race car from ten birthdays ago.

Go on a family hike: Yup it’s cold, but nature looks different in winter than any other time of the year – get out and see it for yourself. Go at night and see the houses lit up (you’re allowed to cringe at the energy use, but you have to admit, it’s still pretty.)

Perk up an elderly family member’s house: They’ll appreciate it. You can shovel their walk, clean out the basement, or plant some bulbs that will come up in the spring.

Reconnect with someone: Write or call someone that you haven’t spoken to in a good long while. This is always a nice surprise.

Plan a fun day: Gather everyone, friends, family, whoever, at your home and have a great holiday cookie bake-off, a snow fort contest, play board games, or make homemade holiday gifts.

Take ten minutes a day to learn something new for the planet: Sign up for a green newsletter, add green new feeds to your rss, or visit an eco news blog or site a few times a week. Take some time to learn the issues that affect us all year round.

Volunteer anywhere. Find your opportunity.

What else would you suggest? How can you give the gift of time vs. stuff?  

November current events at Tree Hugging Family – themes, reviews, news, and more…

[images via, stock.xchng & Buy Nothing Day]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

I wanted to get to my review of Eco-Touch  – conscious car care because so far I’m loving the interior wash – however, I’d also like to try out the exterior wash, and it’s been raining and raining – I missed the two sunny days we had. That said, we may need to break this up. Tomorrow, look for a review of the interior car care products from Eco-Touch.

Now, books don’t require nice weather to review, so today we’re going to look at….

Green Christmas: How to Have a Joyous, Eco-Friendly Holiday Season by Jennifer Basye Sander & Peter Sander.

Basics: Make your holiday green with this easy read. Small in size, but big on tips, this book covers everything from why go green this Christmas to eco-family time to green entertaining to green holiday vacations and more.

Pros:

I felt this book catered perfectly to exactly the readers I try to post for here at THF. The tips are suggestive, but not forceful, and there are ideas for how to deal with problems – say, kids or family members not being on board with a less consumer based holiday.

My favorite section was the Eco-Family Time chapter, which was way in line with our ethics here at Tree Hugging Family. There are fun kitchen activities offered, crafts, even some homeschool ideas, and more.

The book was set up in nice bite sized chunks – almost like a blog actually. Each small tip section has a bold or italic headings, so flipping through, you can find items that interest you.

All the basics are covered. You can learn about what sort of tree to buy, the cost of travel for the planet, and even how to build an eco-cozy fire. I think, with this one book, all your green Christmas questions will be answered.

Cons:

????  I guess I would have liked to see a collection of product and other links offered in the back of the book. It’s a little awkward, because while product suggestions are made, the links are posted throughout the text – this may be just a pet peeve of mine though.

Score:

Five out of five happy trees. Not only is this book useful, but it’s a great low cost gift. It can cost more to go green, as we always discuss here, but for less than $6, you can afford to put this book in everyone’s stocking this year.  

November current events at Tree Hugging Family – themes, reviews, news, and more… [image via Tower Books]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family