RECYCLING AT XMAS

For me,

Christmas Day afternoon is spent recycling tissue paper, boxes, bags, ribbons, 

even tags to be used for the next year,

organizing them and storing them away

while dinner is cooking.

And I'm thrilled to share

 that my daughter has started this recycling habit as well 

several years back now.

I guess because she used to help me wrap and clean up when she was little.

But at the same time we like to change up our wrapping styles for the next year,

so we plan and purchase only a few new items.

And each Xmas we love to surprise each other with our new looks.

My daughter went with a deer theme this year 

with softer colors that were so lovely.

All those different blush tones are so pretty,

and her tree was gorgeous!

This year I reused mailing boxes to put gifts in.

So not one single holiday bag was used.

Only one new item was purchased during the end of year sales,

a roll of festive tape that I wrapped around the boxes like a ribbon.

Last years black bows I had made were reused.

I learned how to make big beautiful bows when I worked at a flower shop 

when I was 17 years old and minimum wage was $1.63 an hour.

Ha!

Ann's Flowers in Buena Park Ca., no longer there.

In fact,

 all the skills I learned from the owners have paid off big time in my adult life.

Caring for fresh flowers, making corsages, bouquets, and arrangements,

and identifying all the various flowers and shrubs 

used to make those arrangements beautiful.

It's funny, 

I was recently asked to help out at a new floral shop in our neighborhood

because the owner found out from her boyfriend, 

a trainer at our gym, 

that I had floral skills

Now how did he know that?

My ex, who works out daily at our gym told him.

Hummm...

flattering,

but do I want to work that hard again on my feet all day long

in a refrigerated environment during all the Holidays.

Nope. 

And the tags are all at least 10 to 20 years old,

some possibly older.

Some were handmade when my kids were much younger, 

but mostly they came from Xmas cards that I cut up from the previous years.

That was a wonderful tradition I learned from my mother.