Christmas Recycled

We are putting away our Christmas decorations. For me, it gets to the point where it all just feels like so. much. clutter. I try to hold out until New Year's Day... but can't! I love the feeling of empty space when it is all cleared out and we have our house back. I thought I would share a couple of ways we "go green" as the Christmas season ends.


1. Ornament Storage
Nearly every time I go to Costco, I pick up a dozen apples. They are a staple in our fridge for school lunches and afternoon snacks. The containers in which the apples come are made of 70% recycled drink bottles, are recyclable, but are too way cool to throw away. They work perfectly to store many of our ornaments!

2. Ribbon Re-Do
I LOVE to wrap presents with real, woven-cloth ribbon! I love the luxury of big bows tied onto the packages. No wimpy, stringy, curling ribbon or stick-on bows for me!!! "It's so expensive," you say. Well, not really if you buy the big, 50-yard rolls of ribbon at Costco for just $6, and/or stock up at the after-Christmas clearance sales at the craft stores.

Plus, here is my big secret... I recycle much of our ribbon! Yes, I have trained my kids when opening presents on Christmas morning: "The paper goes in the trash bag. Pile the ribbon up by Mommy." Then, it is my job later to carefully smooth out and roll up that pile of ribbon. And, to make sure I find it when I need it, I put it away in our boxes of Christmas decorations. By taking care to store it, it is ready for wrapping next year. If you get a gift from me, you may wonder if the ribbon is recycled, but you probably won't be able to tell for sure!

How do you recycle {& I'm not talking about re-gifting!} at Christmas?