Knowing what a great resource trees are may make it difficult to take axe to bark this holiday season. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air and use it as their energy source. Did you know that a tree in the temperate zone found between the tropics and the polar circles can remove and store 700 to 7,000 pounds of carbon over its lifetime? A tree that shades a house can reduce the energy required to run the air conditioner and save an additional 200 to 2,000 pounds of carbon over its lifetime too! While the desire to save a tree may put a dent in decking the halls, have no fear. There are several decorating options that use things already in your home and will look good (if not better) than an evergreen in the living room.
- Create a family tree. Choose photos of your family from throughout the year. Print them on photo paper, but make sure they are all different sizes. Since this isn’t a permanent display, it is okay if the pictures aren’t perfect. Actually, I think it makes it better! You can make them all black and white, all in color, or a mix of the two! I would crop the photos, so that the faces/people are the focal point of the photo. Then mat the photos. Vary the size of the mat from picture to picture. You can vary the size of the frames too! Lastly, hang it up. Create the shape of a tree, and stick the pictures up with poster tack putty. If you want a tree topper, use silver poster board to create a star.
- Hang vertical strands of Christmas lights on the wall, fan out, and attach to the floor to make a pyramid tree shape. (Make sure your lights are LED though!)
- Stack wrapped gifts in a pyramid shape on a table.
- Make a tree shaped stack of books. You can create a spiral effect by turning the books slightly as you stack them. Surround this with votive candles.
- Roll out butcher paper and let your kids create and design a giant tree poster for your wall.
- Deck your shelves. Trim greenery (real or fake) to fit your shelves so the bottom shelf is completely lined. Then reduce the length of the branches as you move up the shelves. Center the shorter branches on each shelf. On the top shelf, cross two branches allowing them to hang down in a triangle shape. Replace the things you normally have on these shelves with ornaments, bulbs or votive candles (make sure you use battery operated candles for this). Finish this look with ribbon casually looped through greenery.
- Use a vintage bottle drying rack to hang ornaments or lights on.
- Turn tomato cages from the garden upside down in pots and wrap them with lights.
There are so many decorating ideas you can do with the things you already have in your home. Think about saving yourself some green this year (money and tree wise) and use a few odds and ends instead!
For more on how to live a greener lifestyle, visit Green Earth News Green is Grand section!
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i understand saving the planet is important but why not use an artificial christmas tree? yes, the tree of books was cool. but what were the books made of? how many trees died in making them?
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