Do you sent out Christmas cards? This has been a family tradition for as long as I can remember. I used to help my mother address envelopes as a little girl. My folks were in the Army and traveled a lot, so they had friends everywhere. My mom's address list was full of cities all over the country and a few beyond. A lot of these were people they probably would never see again, but kept in touch through the annual greeting card.
It is time once again to buy Christmas cards. Over the years I have bought many kinds of cards, pretty ones, funny ones, cheap ones, ones that support different causes like diabetes research or cystic fibrosis or wildlife.
But this year is different. Since I started recycling, I think more about what I am buying and consuming. Should we send cards at all? What about all those trees? There are lots of good ideas for what to do with cards after the holidays, but how about avoiding them altogether?
Some green ideas for cards: sending recycled paper cards, sending cards made of stuff other than trees, or my favorite:
Try a Christmas card that has a second life. Several companies make cards that have flower seeds embedded in biodegradable paper, and the card is printed with planting instructions. When spring comes, the card's recipient can plant your card in the garden.
Now the annual Christmas letter is another matter altogether. That tradition will stay, whether it goes out in a card or not. And of course I have all those forever stamps I bought back before they went up last year.
So cards or not, that is the latest recycling dilemma.
