The Recipe For A Sustainable Christmas
… and it is suddenly December. I wasn’t ready!
* Christmas music on repeat in the background all day *
It is actually Eddie and I’s first Christmas at home since we moved to this apartment almost 5 years ago. We haven’t really decorated home for Christmas because we are usually in Michigan where his whole family is, leaving right after my Nutcracker performances, so I needed everything Christmasy this year! And I might as well create them instead of buying too many plastics, right? So I’ve decided to do our Christmas in a more sustainable way! Like I said in the previous post, holiday season is when we get wasteful (without noticing!), so let’s be conscious about this matter and very merry simultaneously! Today I wanted to share what I’ve learned and done this year. I hope this post helps those who are about to start decorating for Christmas, and want to shift towards sustainability!
To Start: Buy a fresh, real tree! (or rent one!)
Photo by @thegopurebod
So when we got the tree, it got wrapped in the net… and if you are throwing it away, make sure to cut them small so animals don’t get stuck in the net. We are keeping the net for the garden project in next spring.
Make Fruit Ornaments! (super duper fun!)
Here is the recipe of how I made these fruit slices;
Slice your choice of fruits (I used oranges, apples, and pears), lay them on parchment paper, apply lemon juice so they don’t turn brown, bake them in the oven, 200℉ for about 4-5 hours. (There are so many recipes I found but I adjusted and this one worked for me! My oven is a very old gas oven so it may be different for you. Anyways, keep the temperature low and bake them for a long time!)
Each fruits dehydrate differently, so you have to keep checking on them.
When they are ready, put through a string (I used hemp ropes) with a needle, and there you made lovely fruit ornaments!
Though I applied lemon juice on pears, they still turned out brownish. Maybe I sliced them too thick? I love them anyways, so I didn’t mind.
Bake longer to make dark brown orange slices!
Orange & Cinnamon Garland
DON’T throw away not-so-perfect-slices
Because we will make something delicious later! (Delicious recipes at the bottom)
Keep apples in salted water, it prevents from browning. (I learned this from my mom when I was little, oh so useful!)
Let’s decorate the tree!
I got these LED string lights. The wire string was so easy to wrap around the tree however I wanted, I certainly loved this wired one over a “regular string” one!
Add Dried Flowers!
I got this idea via Pinterest (gosh Pinterest is addicting!) and first I was going to put more flowers and eucalyptus, but just putting a bit of dried roses and baby’s breath was enough. If you don’t have dried flowers, fresh baby’s breath and eucalyptus would do! And if you put many baby’s breath, you don’t even need lights.
I put more flowers towards the bottom, and put fruit ornaments on the above so Caesar (my hyper pup aka a little monster) won’t destroy them.
I had to trim the tree…
The tree was a bit “too fat” for the corner so I had to trim it a little. Now I have a bunch of branches, I’m using them for gift wrapping, I also made a “leftover wreath” with them and the things I found around the house!
I just tied whatever I found around the house with hemp ropes.
Thankful for my hoarding habit…
I’m a person who cannot throw things away, and I’ve been saving all the ribbons and strings over the years, and I used some for the top of the tree!
IMPORTANT: MAKE SURE TO RECYCLE THE TREE AFTER CHRISTMAS
DO NOT throw the tree away! Every state and county has their own pick up to recycle the trees after the holidays. (For people in Delaware: click HERE)
OR DONATE your tree to local farms, habitat sanctuaries and restoration projects!
That’s about it for my Christmas tree, and now I’m cooking and baking some goodies from the remaining fruit scraps!
With the scraps of oranges, MAKE MARMALADE!
I couldn’t slice the oranges perfect. lol Now add sugar and cook them, so you can enjoy them entirely!
With the scraps of apples and pears, BAKE A GALETTE!
Galette is a type of french crusty cake, and my go-to to bake these days. Very easy to make, and so delicious!
I use THIS RECIPE and change up the fruits, and instead of 1/4 cups of walnuts, I usually use 1 whole cup mixing walnuts and pecans!
I am quite proud of myself for using zero plastic for my Christmas. And hope this inspired you to do the same! We don’t need handful of people doing zero waste perfectly, we need millions of people doing it imperfectly!
