Tips for Trimming an "Earth Friendly" Christmas Tree

The trend over the last few years to go green fits nicely with those who want to trim a country Christmas tree. There are ways to decorate your tree with completely biodegradable ornaments and trim. Most of us will not totally go with an earth friendly Christmas tree, but putting one together can give your home a country Christmas look and be a fun holiday project for the family.

Try trimming your tree with dried apple and orange slices. You take twine and loop a piece through each slice and hang them on the tree. To add a nice smell to your tree you can dust the fruit slices with cinnamon. When you are finished with these edible decorations remove the twine and put them out for the birds and critters in your back yard.

No country Christmas tree would be complete without strung popcorn and cranberries. Take dental floss and a large needle and string popcorn and cranberries together. The wax on the floss makes the cranberries and popcorn slide on easy. After Christmas simply string the garland on the outside bushes for a nice New Year's treat for the birds.

Take the mittens that your kids outgrew last year and hang them on the tree. Do the same thing with bright colored socks that have lost their mates and hair ribbons your girls no longer use. You can save the lone socks for the tree next year or make them into dust mittens (they are great to put on your hand spray with polish and get into nooks and crannies when you clean). You can save the old mittens or donate them to Goodwill.

You can make your cookie cutter do double duty. When you are done with your holiday baking clean them up ;and uses green or red ribbon as hangers and put the cookie cutters on the tree. Cookie cutter ornaments make great gifts too. Hang the cookie cutter on a piece of cardboard that you have covered with red or green construction paper. Print your sugar cookie recipe on white paper and paste it on the cardboard. Make it small enough that the whole cookie cutter and recipe can be hung on a tree.

You can recycle a white sheet for a Christmas tree skirt. A cute idea is to outline each child's handprint on the sheet and embroider the hand prink with the year and child's name. You can add a new hand print for each child every year. If you do not want to keep the tree skirt simply give the kids laundry maker pens and let them decorate the sheet. When you are finished with the sheet cut it up into cleaning rages.

If you have babies or toddlers in the house have the older kids 'dress' their teddy bears in out grown clothes and take up residence under the tree. Dressed bears from Build a Bear cost a fortune and the younger kids will get a thrill out of seeing the teddy bears dressed in their old clothes.

Don't forget the family pets when decorating the tree. Hang a fuzzy mouse from the dollar store somewhere on the tree when the family cat will not see it. You can also hang colored milk bones on the tree. Christmas morning give the pets the "ornaments" to keep them occupied while you open your family presents.

With a little creativity you can create a very unique and even somewhat edible tree that looks great and is very earth friendly.

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/treats-for-the-tree-710184/

http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/christmas-trees-picking-greenest-options

http://www.wikihow.com/String-Popcorn-on-a-Christmas-Tree

http://rubyglen.com/holiday/countrychristmas.htm