How to Have a Frugally Green Christmas - The Reason for the Season

Photo by Loci Lenar 

Why do we celebrate Christmas? What is the meaning behind the giving and receiving of gifts?

Is Christmas about more than a jolly old man with a white beard who gives gifts to those on his nice list and looks over those who have been naughty? Is it more than just the warm fuzzy feeling we get when we give and receive gifts?

When we were putting up our Christmas tree and decorations, I found a few Christmas books that I had gotten from the dollar bins at Target last year, one of which was The Night Before Christmas. As I opened it and started to read it to Kaelyn, I pointed to Santa and asked, "Who's that?" Her answer right away was, "Noah". She thought that Santa was Noah from her Noah and the Ark books, and actually, I was okay with that. Now that she is two and can better understand the true meaning of Christmas, we have been pretty intentional about talking with her about Christmas being Jesus' birthday. For us, it's not just a day that we get to open presents and eat yummy food and get together with our families. I want my daughter to understand that Christmas is about so much more than that.

The greatest gift we could ever receive was given to us by God when He sent His Son to be born of a virgin and live on this earth as a man. Christmas is about the incarnation of God. Incarnation means to take on flesh, and that is what Jesus did when He left His divine place in Heaven to become a man and live on this earth.

As Christians, the reason that our family celebrates Christmas is because we are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to earth as a baby, fully God and fully human. Christmas is Jesus' birthday.

That is the reason that Christmas has meaning, the reason that we give and receive gifts is to remember the Ultimate Gift that was given to us. For us, it’s not about Santa and his reindeer, or eating lots of good food and making Christmas cookies, or Christmas trees and pretty lights and lots of presents under the tree. Those things are nice, and don’t get me wrong, we enjoy celebrating those parts of Christmas with our families, but if we had to give all of those things up, we would still celebrate Christmas because of the Hope, Love, Peace and Joy that we have found in a baby who was born in a stable and became the Savior of the world.

Advent Conspiracy

My hubby was reading this article (go read the article, it's really pretty good) on Time.com yesterday about Advent Conspiracy and we both thought it was such a great concept that I wanted to pass it along and share it with you. It just goes along so well with what we have been talking about in the Frugally Green Christmas Series with simplifying and giving to others. This is the kind of thing that could make a big difference in the way you celebrate and think about Christmas.  This is the kind of thing that I want to be about at Christmas time (and all the time, actually).

Did you know that Americans spend $450 BILLION dollars on Christmas EACH YEAR!!! I had no idea. Did you also know that just $10 billion dollars would supply clean water to everyone in the world that needs it?

The premise of Advent Conspiracy is that we as Christians (or anyone that wants to) can make a real difference if we change the way we think about Christmas. If everyone spent a little bit less, bought a few less presents this Christmas, and in turn gave some of the money they saved to Living Water that it could actually change the world.  Watch the video, it says it much better than I can.



I challenge you to give a real gift this Christmas.  A gift of love, a gift of hope, a gift of LIFE.

Frugally Green Christmas Series - Food

So, you may have noticed that I am a little off on my original Frugally Green Christmas Series schedule.  Between Thanksgiving, sick kids (will they ever be well this time of year?), and wireless internet that's not working meaning I have to be stuck in our office plugged into the modem (who goes online that way anymore?), I have gotten a little behind.  Sorry about that.  The post I am missing was supposed to be about food, and since I really still feel like I am learning a lot in that area, I decided that instead of posting myself about Christmas food, I will send you over to Simple Mom, who has had two great holiday food posts recently - Menu Planning and Batch Cooking and Making Food Gifts.  Yum!  Now I'm off to go make myself a snack!

I hope to see you back next Friday though, for the final post in the Frugally Green Christmas Series - Focusing on the Reason for the Season!  

How to Have a Frugally Green Christmas - Serving Others

This post is part of the series How to Have a Frugally Green Christmas. See the previous posts here. 

Photo by #PACOM

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:34-40

Unfortunately, so often the Holidays can become a season of selfishness. We get caught up in our busy calendar, what we want to give (and receive) as Christmas gifts, how we can have a merrier Christmas and a happier New Year. And I'm just as guilty as the next person.

I have been thinking about how to combat this selfishness for our family and myself and I think one of the obvious ways is through service to others. Serving others gets us outside of ourselves and helps to remind us of the ways we are blessed and the things we have to be thankful for. It is a great way to teach children that Christmas is not all about them and what they are getting for presents. When you serve you may realize that you don’t really need to have or do all of the things on your Christmas list this year. And that can save you time and money!

There are lots and lots of different ways to serve during the holidays; you just have to find the one that is right for you and your family. It could be serving a meal at the homeless shelter, buying a Angel Tree gift for a child whose parent is in prison, going caroling, inviting a lonely neighbor over for a meal – there is no limit to the ways that we can serve those around us.

And serving doesn't have to be something that you just do with your family. Get together a group of people and figure out how you can serve together. Jer and I lead a small group for our church each week at our house, and we decided that as a group we are going to adopt a local family to provide them with food and gifts for their children for Christmas. My parents have a Christmas Eve tradition of caroling with a group of friends. They go to nursing homes and people who are shut-in and not able to leave their homes and sing Christmas carols. I got to participate for a few years while I was in college (they started the tradition after I left for school) and it was always so touching to see how much joy we brought to people just by singing them a few songs. Serving with others adds that much more meaning to the service you are doing.

When you are serving you are spending time that you could be using to do other things, like baking cookies, shopping for presents or wrapping gifts. And we all know we have lots to do this time of year! But instead, you are choosing to give of yourself and your time to the benefit of others and not just focusing on your own agenda. What better way to celebrate the gift of Jesus, who gave of Himself when He came into our world as a baby!

There are just 2 weeks until Christmas! Find a time today or this weekend to figure out how you and your family (and friends too!) can serve others this Holiday Season!

Do you have any traditions of serving others during Christmas? How does serving impact your view of the Holidays? 

For more great money saving tips visit Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom!

How to Have a Frugally Green Christmas - The Tree and Decorations

Photo by Smaku

(Sorry about the lateness of this post.  Life has been happening to me lately. :) Thanks for your patience.) 

The debate of Real vs. Artificial Christmas Trees is one that can divide friends, families, even couples.  I am a Real Tree girl myself.  I cherish the memories of walking through rows of snow covered pine trees looking for the "perfect" tree with my parents and two younger sisters.  When my youngest sister left for college 3 years ago, my parents bought a pre-lit artificial Christmas Tree.  My sister still refuses to be at home when they put it up.

Now that I have my own family, my hubby and I have been traveling to a local Christmas tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree each year. 

Real vs. Artificial
Like most arguments, you can find support for either side of this debate. On the one hand, an artificial tree is a one time purchase that you can use for years and years to come, and if you get a real tree you are cutting down a living tree in order to use it for a few weeks and then dispose of it.

However, I believe the Real Christmas Tree wins this argument hands down. 

- Artificial trees are made mostly of PVC which is a petroleum product.  The production of this type of plastic releases one of the most toxic chemicals, dioxin, into the environment.

- Although artificial trees could be purchased and used for 20 years or more, I read statistics that stated that most trees are discarded anywhere from 6-9 years after they are purchased.  And guess what they do when they are no longer being used?  Sit in a landfill without breaking down because they are made of PVC. 

- Some artificial trees can contain levels of lead that are unsafe for young children to be around. Lead is used as a stabilizer for PVC and over years of use artificial trees can release lead dust which can land on the branches, on the floor, or on presents below the tree.1

-Artificial trees require resources both for production and for shipping them, and many artificial trees are made in China. 


Real Christmas Trees benefit the environment while they are growing and they are also a renewable resource.  The best way to get a live tree is to find a local tree farm.  This eliminates the need for the trees to be shipped (except for you bringing it back to your house) and you can be assured that the tree you are cutting down will be replaced by a new tree being planted, the tree farm has to stay in business after all.  Live Christmas Trees can also be recycled.  Around 90% of Christmas Trees are turned into mulch each year.2 

Go to the National Christmas Tree Association to find a Christmas Tree Farm near you!

Simplify

Now as far as Christmas Decorations go, I am of the opinion that less is more.  I think this is definitely an area that you can try to simplify this year.  Use what you have. Try making homemade decorations.  Use nature for decorating.  If you must buy decorations, consider buying used. Check out your local thrift store. I was recently shopping at the St. Vincent DePaul thrift store and was impressed by the large section of Christmas decorations they had.  

What kind of Christmas Tree will you be getting this year?  What are your favorite frugal, nature inspired, or homemade Christmas decorations?  (I need some inspiration!)   

For more great frugal ideas check out Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom!

Sources: 1, 2

How to Have a Frugally Green Christmas - Wrapping Gifts & A GIVEAWAY!!

This is the third post in the series How to Have a Frugally Green Christmas. Read the first post on gift giving, and the second post on Christmas cards.

Photo by di_the_huntress

When you think about Christmas, one of the main images that probably comes to mind is the beautifully wrapped gifts under the tree. I remember as a child getting up on Christmas morning before everyone else and just sitting in the dark and staring at our Christmas Tree with the Christmas lights on and all of presents under the tree.

And I also vividly remember the huge trash bags that we would fill with wrapping paper, boxes, bows and packaging when we had finished opening our gifts. And I think our family was fairly conservative in this area. We saved gift bags, bows, and ribbon to reuse for as long as they still looked fairly decent. My dad would always open his gifts carefully so we could fold up his wrapping paper and use it again. We saved all our boxes and reused them year after year. It's kind of a joke in our family, because when you open a gift and the box is for a crockpot, you know that's not really what's inside.

Photo by jennandjon

In America, we create an additional 1 million tons of waste during the holiday season.1 One million tons. Now, that includes more than just gift wrap, but that is a lot of trash. Most gift wrap is not recyclable because of the type of paper it is made out of, or it has dyes or metallics or other decorations that make it un-recyclable. So it all ends up in the trash.

But, it kind of defeats the purpose if you give a gift and the person knows what it is right away, right? So, how can we wrap our gifts and still be frugally green? If every family in America wrapped 3 gifts in re-used or re-usable material instead of new wrapping paper, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.2 Here's how you can do your part!

1. Re-use gift bags, wrapping paper, bows, and ribbon. Be careful as you are unwrapping your gifts and try to salvage gift wrap that could be re-usable next year. You will save yourself the cost of buying all new wrapping paper, ribbons and bows. If every family reused just two feet of ribbon it would save 38,000 miles of ribbon and could tie a bow around the entire planet.2

2. Use alternative gift wrap. Save the comic pages from the Sunday newspaper for the next few weeks and use that to wrap your gifts. Or find old calendars with pretty pictures or magazine pages for wrapping smaller gifts. Your gifts will look unique and memorable.

3. Use recycled wrapping paper. Like Christmas cards, this is a more spendy option, but still a more earth friendly choice than traditional gift wrap.

4. Use re-usable gift bags. Last year my sister made me a bunch of re-usable gift bags for Christmas. It was such a great gift, and I'm so excited to use the bags to "wrap" my gifts this year. To me, this is the best option. It may cost a little more money than gift wrap up front, but will save you money in years to come, and there is no waste. You can keep the bags within the family and keep using them year after year, or if you are giving a gift to someone outside of the family you can make the bag a part of the gift. See below for your chance to win a set of your very own gift bags!!

Here's a tutorial if you would like to make your own gift bags.
Or if you want to buy them, check out Etsy for lots of different options.

Simplify
If you have simplified your gift list, then you will have fewer presents to wrap. Also, gift bags make wrapping presents MUCH easier! You just put the gift inside the bag, tie the ribbon and you're good to go! No struggling with large rolls of wrapping paper. No measuring, cutting, folding, taping. No last minute rush to get the presents wrapped and under the tree (Oh, does that only happen in my family?) Less stress and still beautiful presents!

GIVEAWAY!!!

Would you like to have your own set of reusable gift bags to use for wrapping presents this year? Like I said, my sister made me a set of bags last year, and she graciously made a set of 5 assorted bags, with coordinating ribbons, for me to giveaway to one lucky reader! Below is a picture of the bags, if you want to see an example of what they would look like all set up and pretty see the picture above.
To Enter:
Simply leave a comment below and tell us one of your favorite things about Christmas!

Also, there are two ways you can earn additional entries:
1. If you are a subscriber or follower of my blog, or sign up as a new subscriber or follower, you get an extra entry! Leave an additional comment saying you are a subscriber or follower.

2. If you blog about this giveaway on your blog, you can have another extra entry. Please leave an additional comment with a link to your post about this giveaway.

Giveaway ends on Tuesday, November 24th at 10:00pm EST. At that time a winner will be chosen by random.org and will be announced the next day!

1. planetgreen.com
2. recycling.stanford.edu

For more great frugal tips check out Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom, and Finer Things Friday at The Finer Things in Life.

How to Have a Frugally Green Christmas - Christmas Cards

Welcome back for the second post in the series How to Have a Frugally Green Christmas! If you missed the first post on gift giving you can read it here.

Many of you are probably starting to think about the Christmas Cards that you will send out this year. It's a tradition that many people enjoy - sending and receiving cards, getting updates on friends and family members and what they have been up to over the past year.
Image by wordridden.

Honestly, we have only sent out Christmas cards once in the 6 years that we have been married, the year that Kaelyn was born. My family didn't send Christmas cards growing up, so it's not something that is a big priority for me. It seems to me like it can take a lot of time, and money too, and I don't have much extra of those, especially during the holidays. On the other hand, some might say, if you don't have the time to sit down and wish a Merry Christmas to those you love and care about then you are missing out on the spirit of the Christmas season.

I do enjoy receiving Christmas cards from family and friends and displaying the cards throughout the holiday season, but then comes the dilemma of what to do with them. Is it terribly unthoughtful to recycle the cards and throw away the photos that someone spent time and money sending to you? But, do you really need to keep the pictures, and how do you store them? This is a tough topic to find balance on, because I know that some people really enjoy and cherish the tradition of sending and receiving of physical Christmas cards, but I also think that we have to be aware of the resources used and waste created by carrying on this tradition. Did you know that the amount of Christmas cards sold in the U.S. alone each year would fill a football field 10 stories high? And the paper needed to make the cards requires the wood of almost 300,000 trees?1 That puts a bit of a damper on my Christmas spirit!

I do believe though, that sending Christmas cards can spread love and joy during the holiday season if done thoughtfully. Here are some of my ideas:

1. Send ecards. Do you really need to send an actual physical card, or will an ecard accomplish your goal of staying in touch and sending your love during the holiday season? I think this is obviously the most frugal and green option. By not sending 50 Christmas cards you can save 5 lbs. of waste, 1000 lbs. of emissions, and 1000 kilowatt hours of energy.2 The e-card is really appealing to me because it can be free, requires no envelope addressing and stuffing, no stamps, no gathering addresses, and produces no waste. You can find a service that offers free ecards, or you can sign up for a free trial at sites like Blue Mountain or American Greetings and send your Christmas ecards during your trial period.

2. Use postcards. Postcards use less paper, are cheaper to buy than traditional cards, and are cheaper to send too! I think postcards are a really cute idea, especially if you are someone who has just done the flat 4x8 photo card in the past. Postcards accomplish basically the same thing, but don't require an envelope, saving even more paper. You can create a personalized photo postcard at Hallmark.

3. Make homemade cards. If you are crafty (I wish I was!), using paper and supplies that you already have on hand to make your own cards adds a great personal touch to sending Christmas cards, which is sometimes lacking from store bought cards. It can also be a way to include your kids by having them help make the cards, and may encourage you to simplify your mailing list to limit the number of cards you have to make. :)

4. Buy cards made from recycled paper. This is probably the most expensive option, but if you are someone who loves to send out Christmas cards, this is at least a more earth friendly way to do it. I found a company called Cards for Causes that offers recycled Christmas cards and also donates 20% of the price of the cards to an environmental charity of your choice. (I have not ordered from this site, so cannot recommend them personally.)

Simplify
Like with the gift giving, check your mailing list and see if you can simplify it. Not to sound harsh, but I believe that Christmas cards should be sent to show your love for your closest family and friends that you keep in touch with at other times than just Christmas, not to show off your family to someone you haven't seen or talked to since high school. If you are sending out cards or postcards, see if you can trim a few names from your list, you'll save money in the amount of cards you're buying, on postage, and on time spent writing a greeting and addressing the cards.
Image by Martin Deutsch


Stop by next Friday for How to Have a Frugally Green Christmas - Wrapping Gifts, and the first ever GIVEAWAY on my blog!!

What kind of Christmas cards are you sending this year? How do you simplify your Christmas card mailing list?

Check out Life as Mom for more Frugal Friday tips!

1. eartheasy.com
2. treehugger.com

How To Have a Frugally Green Christmas - Gift Giving

Image by MartinPhotoSport

Christmas is just seven weeks away! Isn't that crazy!

This is the first year that we as a family are making a purposeful effort to simplify our holidays and change the way we have done some things in the past in order to be as frugal and green as we can. Follow along with me on our journey to have a Frugally Green Christmas. I will be posting on a new topic each Friday from now until Christmas. Each topic will also include my thoughts on simplifying in that area.

Here's a look at the topics we'll cover:
11/6 - Gift Giving
11/13 - Christmas Cards
11/20 - Wrapping Gifts & A GIVEAWAY!!!
11/27 - The Tree & Decorations
12/4 - Serving Others
12/11 - Food
12/18 - Focusing on the Reason for the Season

Image by allerleirau

We're starting this series with taking a look at our gift giving. Gifts are a central theme to what Christmas is all about. As Christians, we give gifts because of the gift that God gave to us in his son Jesus. And of course, gift giving is the main aspect of Christmas that popular culture and the media promote. How many times during the holiday season will you hear about whether sales are up or down for the year, what the hottest toy is, the best gift to give your spouse, or kids, or friend, or neighbor, or anyone else you can think of that needs a gift? And isn't gift giving one of the things that brings on the most stress during Christmas?

I am convinced that there will be lots of "green" guides for gift giving this year, as "going green" is such a hot idea right now. I'm sure there will be many items that are promoted as green, healthy, good for the environment, etc., all in the name of trying to get you to buy the product. "Green" is a obviously a huge marketing term right now. But beware, just because something is marketed as green truly doesn't mean it is the greenest and most frugal option out there.

I really want to strive to make Christmas not about the gifts this year. I am a little (or a lot) sickened by the amount of time, energy, resources and money that our culture (myself included) spends on gift giving during the holidays. I'm not saying that we're not going to give any gifts, but I just want to try to avoid the consumerism and materialism that is so pervasive this time of year.

Here are my thoughts on giving frugally green Christmas gifts this year:

1. Buy used. Some people may scoff at the idea of giving or receiving a previously owned item as a gift, but really, what is more green, and almost always cheaper, than buying something used? Less waste of material, manufacturing, transportation, packaging, and the list could go on. Let your family know you're okay with receiving used items and ask if they would be okay with receiving used gifts. Start keeping your eye out on Craigslist, Ebay, Amazon, and your local consignment and thrift stores for great used items that would make great gifts.

2. Set a limit. Both for your budget and for the number of gifts. I have recently read on a few different blogs the idea of giving children only three gifts because Jesus received three gifts from the Magi. I thought that was such an interesting and great idea and so counter cultural. I am beginning to believe that teaching children from a young age to not expect the overload that is often found under the tree on Christmas morning is not at all depriving them. It is teaching them to be content with less, and that is an important life lesson to learn. This applies to spouses too. For the past two years, Jer and I have given each other fewer gifts at Christmas and actually found that we were happier and appreciated the gifts we received much more than in previous years when we had gone "all out".

And as for the budget, I don't think there is a magic number for how much you should spend on gifts, but it is important to set limits. We don't have a ton of extra money in our budget right now, so we have tossed around the idea of selling some of our stuff and only using that money to buy gifts. That will accomplish two things at once - providing money to buy gifts with, and clearing and cleaning out stuff that we no longer use or need to make space for new things that will be coming in. We'll see how it goes for us this year as we're getting kind of a late start on selling out stuff.

3. Give a gift to someone who actually needs it. Most of us do not lack for anything on a day to day basis. But there are millions of people around the world who do not have access to basic daily needs. Instead of getting a random gift for someone that they may never use, consider giving a gift in their name to someone in need. Some great organizations for this are Heifer International and Charity: Water. Donations start at just $10 or $20 dollars.

Simplify
Can you simplify your gift list? Do you have to buy a present for every member of your extended family, all your friends, your kids' teachers, and your neighbors?? Could you take some of those people off your list altogether, or give them a simpler gift, like food? Can you set up a gift exchange with your extended family so you could buy one gift instead of many? Or, *gasp* could you tell your extended family not to buy you any presents, and say that you won't be buying them any either? Crazy - I know, but something that we have considered saying to our families this year. How can you simplify the number and amount of gifts that you are giving this year?

Here's a good article on "greening" your gift giving at planetgreen.com.

I'd love to see you back next Friday for How to Have a Frugally Green Christmas when we'll be talking about Christmas Cards!

What are some ways that you are trying to cut back or simplify your gift giving this Christmas? What do you think are great green and frugal gift ideas?

This post is linked to Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom.