Deck the halls with boughs of holly! It is getting to be that time of year again: a time full of joyous songs that celebrate Jesus’s birthday and presents to be unwrapped. But have you ever considered what happens to your gift wrap once all the gifts have been opened? Many of our holiday traditions can damage the world we live in if we are not careful. But don’t let that dampen your holiday spirits! You can take steps to celebrate an eco-safe Christmas that celebrates the gift of Christ and protects the gift of our earth!

What does the pope have to say about this? Pope Francis has a lot to say about living sustainably. For example, he said this in Laudato si’:

 Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or secondary aspect of our Christian experience.

I agree with the pope. What about you? God wants us to take care of the Earth. You can play a lead role in changing our planet for the better. Here’s is how:

Eco-Safe Christmas Gift Wrapping

1. Wrap gifts in a beautiful a scarf or other piece of reusable fabric.
2. Wrap presents with newspapers, calendars or paper bags instead of wrapping paper.
3. Cut gift tags from a cardboard box or old Christmas cards. Hole punch the tag and tie a ribbon through the hole to attach it to packages.
4. Save used wrapping paper, gift bags, tags and bows to reuse again and again.
5. Use reusable fabric or recycled bags rather than paper gift bags.
6. Skip the bags and wrapping paper all together and give gifts in beautiful baskets and boxes. Hint: you can easily find these at your local thrift store, many of which will use the proceeds to support local charities.

Eco-Safe Gift Giving Ideas

1. Go to a thrift store and find a used gift that you can make like new.
2. Buy local to save on gasoline usage and emissions.
3. Gifts can take up a lot of natural resources and eventually end up in a landfill, so consider gifting experiences rather than material objects.
4. On a similar note, gifting gift cards ensures that the person who receives your gift will like and use it.
5. Gift things that promote eco-safe living like reusable food storage, kitchen towels, beeswax wrappers, bat or bee houses, heated birdbaths, or birdseed.
6. Consider making a donation in honor of the person you are giving a gift to or decide to sponsor a child together through organizations like Compassion International or Save the Children.
7. Make homemade dog or cat toys for your pet. You can find directions for these online.

Eco-Safe Christmas Cards

1. Make homemade cards using recycled materials.
2. Send a Merry Christmas email or text to minimize paper usage (this is what we do in our house).
3. Press flowers during the summer that you can use to create cards for Christmas.
4. Many store bought cards have decorations that make them impossible to recycle. If you choose to give store bought cards, pick ones that are made from recycled materials and that can be recycled again.

Eco-Safe Feasting

1. Buy products with minimal and recyclable packaging.
2. Reuse food containers for other purposes such as organizing small things around your home.
3. Focus on plant-based meals since meat has a higher environmental impact than plant-based foods.
4. Reuse your leftovers in new recipes you find online.
5. Share leftovers with your guests – you can ask them to bring their own Tupperware when they come to visit so it is easy to send them home with goodies!
6. Eat locally and seasonally to minimize the emissions used to transport food.

Eco-Safe Decorations

1. Make handmade decorations from recycled or food-based materials.
2. Reuse decorations you already have (it will save you money and help the planet). This is especially important if you use an artificial tree which the National Wildlife Federation says you have to use for five to ten years before it equals the environmental impact of a real tree.
3. Try to use LED or solar powered lights.
4. Make bird food decorations (you can find ideas online) and decorate your outdoor trees with them.
5. Buy secondhand decorations at yard sales and thrift stores.

Eco-Safe Traditions

1. Make it a tradition to sponsor an animal as a family.
2. Go to craft fairs that feature local artists during the holiday season.
3. Get outdoors and enjoy nature on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
4. Focus on activities like Christmas concerts and plays rather than shopping for material goods.
5. If you get a living tree, have a tree planting celebration after Christmas.

To wrap it up (pun intended), thank you so very much for reading and thinking about how you can celebrate in a way that protects our common home. It makes me happy to see people who love the environment as much as I do! I hope I have inspired you to join my family in trying to have a greener Christmas and in making God happy by protecting His creation! Since there are many other things that you can do to make your Christmas eco-friendly, why not go do some research of your own? You will be surprised at how creative people can be. Merry Christmas!

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures. You embrace with your tenderness all that exists. Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty. Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one. O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes. Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth. Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light. We thank you for being with us each day. Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace. -Laudato si’

Image: Ariane Sroubek

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Hana Sroubek

Hana is a sixth-grade poet and nature lover whose poem, "I Feel Distant," was featured at a visit with Poet Laureate, Ada Limon. Her poem, "Twig," was recently chosen to be included in an anthology that will be published by Literary Cleveland and the North East Ohio Regional Sewer District. She participates in a summer poetry camp each year. Hana is the founder of the Eco Club at her school. The club teaches students to be good stewards of the environment and has planted a tree and a garden on the school campus. Hana is the co-founder of an upcycling business, a black belt, a member of her school writing club, guinea pig mom, and a singer in her Church choir and worship band. She loves to combine her passions and create glimpses of the natural world she adores through her writing.