ReUse Holiday Guide: Part Two

• Reuse Christmas wrapping. Use old maps or pages from newspaper comics, stock reports, want ads, etc. for wrapping gifts. Put gifts in decorative tins or boxes instead of throwaway wrapping materials.
• Reuse good quality, nearly new items as gifts or donations to less fortunate individuals and families.
  
• Reuse your imagination in trimming the tree or yard for the holidays. Take time to recondition strings of lights that may only need a few bulbs. Create ornaments out of items that can be painted or decorated for a new look. Recycle old materials into new decorations.
• Reuse the Christmas tree. Temporarily it can be set outside as a shelter and feeding site for birds. Some communities offer pickup services so that the tree can become landscape mulch, brush piles, or wildlife shelter, or when properly submerged, a former Christmas tree can become a hiding place and food site for fish. Remember to remove trimming and avoid improper disposal of flocked trees.

(Source: Missouri Department of Natural Resources)

Just in case you're itching for more information, here are some more links to help you and your family have a green holiday season!

Gifts that give back - Yahoo!
'Reduce, reuse and recycle' should be your motto - The Herald
10 Ways to Reuse Christmas Wrapping Paper - Budget Christmas
Dreaming of a green Christmas? - Friends of the Earth
Green Christmas: Tips for an Eco-Friendly Holiday - National Geographic
Environmental Defense Dreams of a Green Christmas, Chanukah, and Kwanzaa - Environmental Defense
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Compost, and Buy Recycled This Holiday Season - New York DEC

And here are some other blogs that are concerned with making the holidays a little greener.

I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas from Garden Rant
A Green Christmas from Fearless Voices
20 Green Christmas Ideas from Buy Organic