Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas tree yesterday. As we've done for the past few years, we picked up a living tree from Crafty Green Boyfriend's Mum's garden. After the end of Christmas we'll give the tree back and we may get it back again next Christmas or we may choose another one!

We've decorated it with an eclectic mix of odd earrings, handmade decorations, fair trade decorations given by a friend and decorations we were sent from an animal charity.

On the top of the tree (on the right of the photo below) is a star made from shed fur from our old pet rabbit Anya 

Here's an excellent blog post on live Christmas trees from novelist Virgina Arthur (who wrote the excellent novel Bird Brain, which I reviewed here) 

I've sent out all our Christmas cards now (though have still to send a few e-cards). I make cards from 2nd hand card-making kits or re-used card, paper and photos from magazines. I also send some ready made cards, often the cards included by charities in their Christmas mailings.

According to this article, World Wide Fund for Nature say that Christmas cards are not covered by sustainable timber regulations and so many of them are contributing to the loss of woodlands. You can make a difference by choosing cards made from sustainable card sources, choose smaller cards (which use less card), make your own using re-used or recycled card or send e-cards.

After Christmas, if you're in the UK, you can recycle your Christmas cards with the Woodland Trust at branches of Marks and Spencer. Special card collection bins will be in M&S stores from 2nd-31st January 2016.