A GREEN Christmas-- it's how I've always done it

Being "green", "going green", whatever-- is the thing to do.  Everyone likes to brag talk about it and thinks they are doing a good and noble thing by being environmentally responsible. So then they talk about it even more. I personally would be happy if people would just do what they can do to be responsible, but not talk about it quite so much. That said, I have been decorating "green" since before it was trendy. I use fresh greenery for my decorations inside and outside. I trim them from my own trees (or the neighbor's trees that hang over into our yard!), or I collect cast-off branches at the Christmas tree farm. After the holidays all of the greens I used go into the chipper/shredder and into the compost pile-- there's not much that's more environmentally friendly than that, right?! PLUS, fresh greens make the house smell like Christmas.

Since we are still in move-in/renovation/unpack mode, I haven't decorated as much as I normally do, but I did a little.  I decided to only do two major decorations with my fresh greens this year. One is our mailbox decoration, which my daughter promptly announced looked like a hat for the mailbox. The other is the dining room table centerpiece.

The mailbox hat was made using floral foam (soaked in water) in a plastic "cage" that could be secured with floral wire to the mailbox. I secured the cage onto the mailbox and then filled it with the greens. I just trimmed the greens I wanted: one which was the primary,  another one  which was the accent, and then some holly with berries --for some color. I put the primary branches into the foam, basically filling it. Then I went back and spaced out the accent branches throughout, and finally filled in with the holly. Then I wired a bow onto a floral pick and stuck it in toward the front center. I have no floral background (which I'm sure is noticed by those who do), and working with greens really takes no talent-- just a little experimentation and playing around with things until it looks how you want it to! 

For my centerpiece, I laid a green piece of cloth down on my table cloth (so any sap from the branches didn't ruin my table cloth), centered a pillar candle in the middle,  and placed my branches directly on the cloth around the candle. I stuck in some artificial  berries ( on floral picks)  and then put a long piece of gold wired ribbon around the greens. The great thing about a centerpiece like this is that it is quick and easy, and you can change it up throughout the holiday season by substituting different colored candles or ribbon or adding other things (pine cones, Christmas ball ornaments, other floral picks that you have on hand or find at the craft store).

 So go out and find a few greens of your own this week, and have fun GOING GREEN this Christmas!