The Final Preparations

It is the week of Christmas and time to make those final plans for wrapping and serving the meal.
Remember when we were kids and the trash the week after Christmas made it appear that someone had taken all of our belongings from our homes and placed them on the curb?
Have you thought about how you can provide a "green" table this year? Here are some tips on how you can be more green around the table and through the wrapping paper:

*If you haven't already, it's probably too late to buy recycled gift wrapping paper. But here's an idea: Place all of the gifts that you can in holiday gift bags. If your recipient doesn't want to keep them, you swipe them before they hit the trash bag and use them again next year. My mother used to wrap beautiful presents, but when she became ill, she didn't have the energy to wrap any longer. Most of our gifts were exchanged in festive holiday gift bags, which can still be made to look very nice. And we used them year after year, saving paper from the landfill.

*At the holiday table, use your best china, glasses, silverware and break out the cloth table cloth and napkins. Save all of the waste from paper plates, cups and paper table cloths and napkins from the landfill.

*Buy fresh and buy local. It's a little harder to do in the winter, but there is still plenty of opportunity to buy fresh organic produce and meat from your local grocer. In the Ozarks, there is a meat market in Mountain Home that sells local, organic meat. In Kansas City, Hen House sells products from Good Natured Family Farms, a coop of meat and dairy farmers.

*Combine trips. This helps people crunched for time, saves gas money and also helps the environment. You're going to have a lot of errands in the next few days. Make a list, check it twice and do several errands in one trip.

This will be my last post before Christmas. Tune in on January 2 when I start taking tips from "The Green Year" by Jodi Helmer and posting about our success.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a safe, happy and green New Year!