25GoC: Kay Cassidy

An Eco-Friendly Christmas

By Kay Cassidy

Christmas is one of my favorite times of year.  The whole leading-up-to-it craziness can be a little overwhelming, but the holiday itself is wonderful.  One thing I've always noticed, though, is that with all the gifts and wrapping and everything, it's easy to let things go to waste.  I talk all the time on Living Your Five about my commitment to going green and, this year, I've decided to make some changes to my traditional way of doing things.  My favorite change this year?

Holiday bags!

Instead of wrapping gifts to put underneath the tree and wasting so much paper in the process, I've always wanted to make festive reusable holiday bags to put each gift in.  (Confession time:  I've been wanting to do this for FIVE YEARS, but somehow it's never gotten done.)

So this year, I decided I would go for it.  Just do it, as Nike would say.  I bought some darling holiday fabric in three different prints and spent about five hours putting together fifteen bags.  My feet hurt and my back was aching by the time I was done--and I'm certainly no Martha Stewart--but they are everything I hoped they'd be!  Here's a picture of how they turned out: 

Not only are they eco-friendly, but they look super cute under the tree.  And they're so easy to use!  You know how you always have at least one really weird-shaped gift that's almost impossible to wrap without it looking like the dog was in charge?  You just slip it into the bag and close it up. So-o-o easy.

One of the things I've noticed is that, more and more, people are ordering items online and having them shipped directly to the recipient without wrapping.  To me, it always seems silly to wrap them and waste paper after I've already seen what they are... and yet, who can resist a Christmas tree with lots of pretty boxes underneath?  Now that I have the bags, I may try something new next year.  Maybe I'll open the box with my eyes closed (after I cut it open, of course - no using box cutters with my eyes shut!) and then reach in and tuck the gifts into bags without peeking.  We'll see if that works.  :-)

Here's wishing you a happy holiday season and an eco-friendly 2010!

Cheers,

Kay