I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas!

Growing up in the 1950’s, we lived a very “green life”…yet we didn’t even have a word for environmentally friendly! We always cut our tree at Grandma and Grandpa’s. The wreath that hung on the door was made of greens and holly that Mom would clip from our blue spruce and holly bushes out front, then just add a simple red bow, that by the way was recycled from year to year. Ornaments were made each year and added to the tree, even the tinsel was saved and reused! Christmas cards were always the photo ones that could be enjoyed in years to come. Tags for the presents were made from last year’s cards that we had received. Ribbons and even wrapping paper were smoothed, saved and reused from year to year! Thrifty? Yes! It was a different time, wages were meager and people didn’t expect as much. I only knew one family that had an artificial tree, it was silver and it looked very much like the roll of Reynold’s wrap that Mom used for the turkey. I didn’t ever think, “I wish we had one of those!”

Author of the new book “I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas“, environmentalist Anna Getty’s book is chock-full of ideas for the perfect Green Christmas! Beautifully laid out, it offers suggestions for decorating your home, entertaining, and tips and reflections from other eco-friendly experts on everything from how to burn a greener fire to how to recycle the Christmas present aftermath. Inspired by her German mother to create family traditions, Getty offers ways for everyone in the family to get involved in creating a greener Christmas. Sometimes the best time to start is right after the holiday is over, while you're still cleaning up and have plenty of goodies to put aside for reuse next year.

It’s not a bad idea to think of ways we can save money and in turn save the Planet!