I'm dreaming of a green Christmas

I’ve been wondering when to start this thread. (I actually wrote much of this last night and lost it!)
I hate starting Christmas too early, but realistically I think a lot of us are making preparations. I bought “Woman and Home” a couple of weeks ago to read on a train and ended up putting it away as I did not feel at all ready for Christmas articles. But I’m feeling Christmassy now, so thought I would start this thread.

The idea of this is to share tips, experiences, ideas, stories of sustainable Christmas things

I’ll start by talking about Christmas trees.

We always have a real one, but sometimes try to have a living one. We’ve killed off several in our time, but have managed to keep them all going for at least one more Christmas. When we had an allotment, we kept one there and Mr JG went up to dig it up on 23rd Dec. They always tended to be so much more expensive than cut ones, but last year I noticed Homebase were selling small living trees for £10. In fact, by the time we got there they only had a couple of very pathetic ones left and we ended up getting a different species of tree for £15. However, it has survived the year and will be coming indoors again in about a month’s time. We will try to keep it alive for as many years as we can.


My parents bought a tree their first Christmas together and as it had a damaged top it never grew very big so it was dug up for many years. It moved house twice and is still growing in their garden, although it has not been brought indoors for a long time. It is now over 50 years old.

I love real trees, but it does bother me that so many are put into landfill after Christmas

Always real greenery here, we tend to have a wander around our land and earmark one to cut down the weekend before the day...

I must remember to sort a better stand this year, last year it kept falling over

Oh the rows we used to have trying to get the tree into a strand until we got one that was idiot proof. Another advantageof a real tree in a pot of soil of course

I will confess to a fake tree. It has lasted many years & is just the right size for us. About once every 10 years I go for the real thing, but the expense puts me off a bit. Do I feel guilty, well no I don`t cos it doesn`t end up in landfill & it makes no mess to clear up, I can vary the size so sometimes its big & other times small.

Jaded Green wrote:Oh the rows we used to have trying to get the tree into a strand until we got one that was idiot proof. Another advantageof a real tree in a pot of soil of course

Every year I promise m'self that I will dig up a decent small tree, pot it up and on and keep it addicted to drugs and every year I fail.

Maybe next spring I will remember

Fake trees are very sustainable and good value for money.

Badger - it must be lovely to take a tree from your own woods

We dig one up as well, and some years buy a local one grown in a pot rather than brutally transplanted with sod all roots in Nov...

Which has then gone out, in the pot, and lived until next year...

Last year we got achopped off one in a stand and were really suprised at how long it lasted...

Have also had branches from the wood stuck in buckets some years...dofferent, but nice

And yes have a small fibre optic tree we bought more than 15 years ago which goes on the dining room every year.

Perhaps we need a separate tree thead? as well as a general christmas one?

Green Xmas tip #1: post Christmas shake all the needles off you r tree and every other tree you find put out for the dustmen, and use them to mulch your blueberries and other acid-loving plants.

Compostwoman wrote:
Perhaps we need a separate tree thead? as well as a general christmas one?

make it so

Erm..where should it go though? not really Compost or Greenhouse, and not really trees either...

crafts?

last year we went for a walk down by our local brook and found the most gorgeous dead plants - I think they're indian balsam, which grows quite invasively alongside many streams and rivers around here. When dead they're ghostly white and a lovely size and shape for sticking in a pot and covering with tiny decorations. We liked ours so much we've kept it (without decorations) in the dining room all year.

I also do my green bit by making as many of my christmas presents as I can or buying locally produced stuff instead. This has been a really nice way of learning new craft activities.. although my present receivers may have other things to say about that - looking back, there have been some dodgy ones! This year I'm knitting, chocolate making, wood turning and felting.

And for me one of the best things about christmas is good food. I try to make all kinds of tasty goodies from scratch, with lovely local ingredients wherever I can or I buy what I can't make from local producers where that's possible. There's a fantastic local chocolatier who I feel obliged to buy from - all in the name of doing my bit of course!

The Special Needs Unit at our school spend time every year making jam and chutney which they sell to buy things they need. We've stocked up with various things which will be lovely for Christmas, is home made (well, school made...) and will provide funds where they're needed. It's also good practice for the children to learn a craft and work as a team. (They also enjoyed a breather from lessons when the plum jam boiled over and set the fire alarm off!)

Tomorrow I'm off round the charity shops to try to find some nice cards. I had a look online whilst I was stuck in bed last week, but couldn't see anything I liked much. Am hoping they will look better in the shops.

For a couple of years I have been thinking if designing (or getting the Junior Jadeds to do it as they are more artistically talented) and getting printed some postcards to save on paper (ie no envelopes) Miss JG has suggested we buy small cards!

I have some of those Christmas card re-use labels from FoE, but haven't quite had the courage to use them and the Junior Jadeds think they are a real no-no

I do like sending and receiving cards. Christmas is the only time of year I am in touch with quite a few people and it is nice to have that annual point of contact.

What do you all do?

Now that it's all over I was wondering if anyone has decided to do anything in a more sustainable way next Christmas?

I know there's been some posts about making gifts and starting now (excellent idea on both counts) I think I will try and knit some gifts and am wondering about edible gifts too.

I was talking to a friend yesterday who had been very impressed when she heard we had our Christmas tree growing in a pot and just brought it indoors. She is planning to try to get a living tree herself next year.

I have literally thousands of Balsam Firs on my property and every year I get so busy in the spring that I forget to dig up a small one to pot up for the next Yule - maybe this year...