>Martha Stewart doesn’t live here. Let’s make that clear right off the bat. Once in a while I do something crafty, but that’s as far as it goes.

That said, Christmas is a tough time for someone who teaches environmental science and wants to walk the talk.

Take wrapping paper — please. It can’t be recycled, it can’t be burned in the fireplace, it doesn’t compost. The only reasonably “green” option is re-use. Skip it? Not unless I want “Scrooge” to be my middle name. Well, my family gets all over me about re-using wrapping paper.

“Mom, just rip it open! Hurry up! Why are you folding the paper? You don’t have to be so careful with the tape. Mom, it wasn’t expensive. Geez.”

I drive them crazy.

But this tendency to reduce, re-use, and recycle can come in handy. I take good care with the wrapping paper we do buy, re-using gift bags until they fall apart, saving the bows every year, and refusing to throw away the small pieces of wrap that seem useless. I said SEEM useless.

As I said before, I’m not Martha. No one would come into my house and think she lives here. But I am rather proud of these two presents. Using a strip of green shiny foil (too small for a box) and a batch of plain brown packaging paper that came with a cookbook, I made these two gifts look pretty. Pretty good, even. The tags are made from last year’s Christmas cards.

(haha, Petite one, the smaller package is for you!)