by Becky Smith Gallops

The holiday season is tailor made for being ecologically friendly. There are many ways to have a festive and fun holiday season without being unfriendly to the Earth.

When it's time to decorate-both indoors and out-remember that Mother Nature has provided a bounty of beautiful things with which to adorn your home. Use fresh greens and garlands, available at your local garden center to decorate outdoors. Mantles and tabletops can easily be made holiday ready with fresh greenery, red and green apples, pine cones and nuts. These are items that can be composted when the holidays are over.

If you put up a Christmas tree, a fresh tree is a good option as long as it doesn't end up in the landfill. Many cities have locations where trees can be dropped off and will then be picked up and turned into mulch or used as habitation for fish. Another environmentally friendly tree option is to buy a live tree with a ball and burlap bottom, which can be planted in the yard.

Your tree can be festooned with traditional, edible décor such as gingerbread men, sugar cookie ornaments, or popcorn and cranberry garland. Salt dough ornaments are easy to make from ingredients you have on hand and fun for the kids to paint.

Wrap your gifts the ecological way by reusing items you have around the house. Brown paper bags can be cut up, stamped with festive designs and used as wrapping paper. Cute gift tags can be made from cardboard and scrapbooking supplies. Use twine or string instead of ribbon. All of these things can be recycled after the holidays!

It's fun to find creative alternatives for packaging gifts. For instance, a t-shirt can be rolled up, wrapped in tissue and put in a glass jar. Cut a circular piece of fabric to fit around the lid of the jar and tie it with a piece of raffia. If you've been encouraging family and friends to go green, wrap their gifts in reusable shopping bags!

Try using fabric, newspaper, comics, or even decorative dish towels to wrap up gifts. The look is kitschy and the supplies are reusable or recyclable.