Lease a christmas tree
Like last year, the MYP students are currently involved in a project called 'Lease a Tree'. For just 35€, 48 fortunate families can enjoy me, and my pine tree friends', company for three weeks.
I am a tree in the garden of the International Montessori School (in Hof Kleinenberg). Every year, the MYP students dig me carefully out of the ground and place me in a lovely pot. Then they transport me to my new host family and after an awesome Christmas my pine needles would normally fall off but the MYP students take me back to the garden and re-plant me before that can happen. Then I share Christmas memories with my pine tree friends. I will get a new home again next year.
The aim of all this is to re-use and recycle as much as possible, starting with Christmas trees, and to make people aware that it is a matter of determination, innovation and imagination.
On behalf of the students at the International Montessori School in the IB MYP (International Baccalaureate Middle Year Program), Michelle Basson and Vilhelmina Haavisto can give you further ideas.
For further information contact Rinze Hoekstra (Head of School) by e-mail or you can phone at +32 (2) 7212111.
Christmas gift exchange: Old items only
Have you got things in your house that you don't need any more but which are still in good condition? Have you bought something on impulse only to realize later that you don't really want it? Do you want to get rid of clutter but can't get yourself to throw away stuff mercilessly?
Well, why not make your unwanted items the life of your Christmas party by holding an 'all-old items' gift exchange? This gift exchange can be best done by a game called White Elephant or Yankee Swap. This game is very simple yet guaranteed to be fun. This could be an additional gift exchange or even replace the gift-giving altogether.
Just tell everyone joining your party to bring an item or two that is either used, or unused but not needed anymore. The item should be something that may still be useful to someone. The item should be wrapped, preferably using old newspaper/magazine.
During the party, the gifts are placed together and the participants gather around them. Numbers will be assigned to everyone by drawing lots.
The one who has number 1 gets to pick a gift first. He/she opens the gift and shows it to everyone. The person who gets number 2 goes next and chooses to do either one of the following: get a gift from the lot and open it OR "steal" the first person's gift. If the gift is "stolen" from the first person, he can then take a new gift and open it. The third person will then choose to get an unopened gift or "steal" the gift from person 1 or 2. The person whose gift got "stolen" can choose to get an unopened gift or "steal" another gift. This process goes on until all gifts are opened. "Stealing back" from the person who "stole" the gift is not allowed.
There are many variations to this game but it is best to set a limit to the number of times a gift can be "stolen." Rolling of dice can be used instead of drawing lots. There can be different rounds with a time limit, especially if there are people who brought more than one gift.
The "stealing" of gifts definitely adds excitement to the game and helps ensure that the one who is "stealing" really wants the gift. Everything is done in the spirit of fun! And, of course, the game is also an easy and eco-friendly way for people to give new life to old and unwanted items!
Fake Fir
“Oh toilet brush oh toilet brush, how lovely are thy bristles...” just doesn’t have quite the same holiday ring to it as the classic carol, does it? I know I was surprised when, in the course of researching this article, I came across the humble origins of the artificial Christmas tree: in the 1930s the Addis Brush Company discovered that their toilet brush factory could produce a reasonable facsimile of a Christmas tree. The artificial tree is now firmly entrenched in the ethos of Christmas consumerism.
Generally, chopping down trees is anathema to environmentalists. And re-use is an integral part of the green trilogy, leading one to assume that the once-every-six-to-ten-years purchase of a reusable tree would be hailed as heroism by those dedicated to the rescue of Earth’s arboreal reserves. Not so, my friends. As it so happens, the toilet-brush Christmas tree is produced with non-biodegradable plastic, usually in a factory far, far away (where respect for environmental regulations and lead levels seems as plastic as the products) and often isn’t even used for the full ten-year lifetime purchasers are banking on. The branches get all tangled, the papery ‘needles’ are eaten by the family feline, one of the essential segments is on holiday in the Bermuda Triangle… and a new tree must be bought.
In contrast, the real tree is 100% natural. When you’re done with it, you can recycle it for mulch, or even better, you can have a potted one that you re-plant outside at the end of the season. Despite the harvest and transport carbon costs, real trees have serious green credibility. One acre of douglas fir, a holiday favourite, can absorb 11,308.7 lbs of carbon dioxide. Christmas tree farmers also replace the cut trees - if they didn’t, they would go out of business after one year!
Creative souls have found that the main functionality provided by the Christmas tree (namely, a festive centerpiece under which gifts are placed) can be replicated in a variety of materials. Attractive displays of driftwood, cut boughs of evergreens, felted trees, cardboard creations, stacked books and light projections are all possibilities suggested by Google Images. Why not get the children involved and come up with your own alternative Christmas ‘tree’?
Have a fun-filled Christmas!
www.Sunbeams.eu
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Brussels-based Sunbeams.eu offers some advice on how to make sure the planet enjoys Christmas too.
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