Recycling

There was an article in this morning's paper about a girl using magazines that were headed for the garbage to make Christmas ornaments. They were religious mags and both ornaments, last years and this, looked very nice. I try to recycle some of my Christmas stuff, much to the dismay of my husband. I would keep every box and bag during the year and try and reuse it again sometime. I think I've been fairly successful and haven't needed to buy boxes or bags at all this year. I also hate to throw away Christmas cards so the last couple years I've saved part of the front of cards that I like and don't have writing on the back. I even used one in the gift I gave the neighbors (a cute one that had 10 reasons to believe in Santa). Instead of keeping them in the card box, I think next year I'll put them right in with the wrapping paper and try to eliminate tags altogether. I remember one year at Christmas when I was teaching at the preschool I used old Christmas cards as postcards and sent them as thank you cards for gifts I received there. Of course, my problem has been the thrill at getting a bargain so when I shop the after-Christmas sales, I tend to overbuy the exact stuff I'm trying to recycle. What a vicious circle!