Ten Ways to Add More (and Spend Less) Green this Holiday Season

With all the talk about "being green" and "saving green" during the continuing economic downturn (the recession may be over, but no one's told that to my savings account!), I thought it would be useful to compile and provide the following "Top Ten" list of How to Add More (and Spend Less) Green this Holiday Season.

1) Rethink sending holiday cards. Send an e-card or a poscard. If you insist on sending a traditional holiday card, buy a bulk package of cards made of recycled paper with earth friendly dyes.

2) Green your lights. For those of you who have a Christmas tree in your house, switch from standard tree lights to LED tree lights. Program a light timer to minimize energy usage.

3) Bring nature indoors. Choose and display ornaments and decorations made from natural objects or recycled materials, like reclaimed metal, natural wool, recycled wood, hemp or other materials.

4) Balance your carbon footprint. While I certainly don't suggest these as a stocking stuffer, you can easily buy carbon offsets for your holiday travel. Check out www.carbonfund.org, the largest seller of carbon offsets.

5) Wrap with care and conservation in mind. Buy holiday paper made from recycled paper and earth friendly dyes. Don't overwrap. Here's a suggestion: Use those old newspapers for wrapping and then recycle them.

6) Think "slow food": Eat local!. Find a farmer or local market. Anything produced and bought locally comes to your home with reduced emissions from unnecessary travel time.

7) Recycle your Christmas tree. Have Christmas year-round! As soon as the holidays end, take your tree to a chipper and turn it into pine mulch that you can use in your garden next year.

8) Trade-in your old electronics. Don't buy anything new unless you can recycle the old.

9) Give a gift, get a gift. Very important for the kids: Have your children recycle their gently worn toys. Remember those in need: "With all they getting, get compassion."

10) Carry a holiday shopping bag. Pass on those glossy shopping bags and, in the spirit of the season, use something plain, understated and reusable.

It's a Charlie Brown Christmas: The Anchors of Our Youth

Every year around Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, the networks trot out the usual Charlie Brown specials: It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, It's a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, It's a Charlie Brown Christmas. Why do these simple cartoons tug at our heartstrings?

For many of us Gen X'ers, Lucy, Charlie Brown, Pigpen, Woodstock, Peppermint Patty, Linus and his ubiquitous blanket are the anchors of our youth. They bring us back to nights with three channels on the TV (unless a lucky neighbor had cable), no Internet, playing in the cul-de-sac until mom called us in for dinner...

Not exactly the 1950s, but a less complicated time without cell phones, Wii, Playstation, iPods, iPhones, and all the modern accoutrement that allegedly make our lives so much more convenient.

Life is captured in these timeless cartoons: Charlie Brown's angst, Patty's bossiness, Shroeder's piano talent, Pigpen's dirt and dust, Sally's pining, Snoopy's carefree dancing, and a whole cast of characters that remind us of our grade-school classmates, curfews, and holidays that were more about family and less about "getting stuff."

So as I sit and watch these pre-historic cartoons, I hearken back to a time when my life was just a little simpler and I'm glad the networks still air these timeless specials.