Here are some ideas for what to do with the family each day in December. Write each on a piece of paper and tuck in the pocket of a handmade calendar like the one in the book.

1. Shop for your organic/IPM-grown or live Christmas tree.
2. Make organic popcorn. String some for the tree. Eat the rest.
3. Play Eco-Bingo. Use recycled cardboard to make game cards. Use the words having to do with ecology, the Earth, animals etc. instead of numbers.
   
4. Gather the family and try your hand at changing the words to some holiday songs to an eco-friendly version. For instance: Jingle Bells, jingle Bells, jingle all the way. Aren't we glad that Santa flies in his hybrid sleigh. Or, I'm dreaming of a green Christmas, just like the ones I used to know, where the tree tops glisten and children listen to hear sleigh bells in the real, not artificial snow. Have fun with this one.
5. Make beeswax candles.
6. Make a gingerbread house from organic ingredients, decorate and donate. Take it to a senior living facility or daycare.
7. Get out Christmas cards from past years and recycle them into ornaments, place mats or new cards and tags.
8. Make some natural dyes (search online for how to's.) Give each member of the family an organic t-shirt. Use a branch from an evergreen tree as a spatter brush and color the t-shirt front and back.
9. Take a photo of your family in their shirts and create a holiday e-card to send to all your friends.
10. Make and serve hot organic apple sauce.
    
11. Go ice skating, snow shoeing or just walking outside as a family. When you're done, come home to hot apple cider.
12. Bring out lots of odds and ends including some LED light strings. Assign each member of the family a different room to decorate. Set the timer for a half hour, then go to it. When time is up, stage a tour.
13. Decorate a tree outside for the birds. Smush peanut butter into the crevices of pinecones sprinkle organic bird seed on top and hang from branches by string. Or recycle plastic bottles by punching a hole on either side, then push a stick through for the birds to sit on. Punch other small holes, then fill with organic seed, tie a string around the neck and hang.
14. Make up story titles, then make a story up to fit. For example, The Day Santa's Beard Turned Green! Or The Mystery of the Recycled Elf.
15. Go on a recycling hunt. Each family member searches for five objects they would be willing to give away. Everyone gathers together with the objects and in turn, talks about why they no longer need it or a memory connected with the object. The family then decides together what to do next. They can decide to keep everything. Designate one item to keep or everything away. Depending on their decision, the family can head together to make the donation.
16. Go on an eco-friendly shopping trip. Visit only stores that stock green gifts, fair trade imports or earth-friendly merchandise. If you have no local eco-stores, spend an hour on line to see what's out there in the big wide world.
17. Play a cooperative game like The Yoga Garden Game, Dark and Dangerous Skies, Mountaineering or Birds of Summer.
18. Go indoor skating. Everyone put on socks and "skate" on any uncarpeted surface. Twirl, take a partner, if you're in shape make up some lifts. You can stage an Olympic event and score each other or just have fun!
19. Do potato printing on grocery bags or other paper to use as wrapping paper.
20. Make a button or nuts and bolts wreath. Draw a circle on a piece of cardboard from a cereal box or any other box you are recycling. Glue on buttons, nuts and bolts or any other "stuff," you have lying around. If each person in the family makes an individual wreath, you can hang them on their bedroom doors.
21. Create a crèche scene using found and natural materials, for instance, cardboard for the manger. Cover it with sticks, straw or grass. The figure's heads can be wooden beads, buttons or clay with their clothing made from recycled fabric or organic wool.
22. Plan and enjoy an indoor eco-picnic. Have the whole family figure out how to do it with as little waste as possible. Plan and enjoy on your living room floor.
23. Gather the family for an old-fashioned neighborhood caroling party. Better yet, carol at a hospital or retirement community. Don't worry how you sing just have fun with it.
24. Visit an organic farm to shop for your Christmas meal.
25. Enjoy a festive Christmas Eve with fresh, locally grown food (if possible), make some organic cookies to leave for Santa, light a few beeswax candles and open one gift wrapped only in love.
26. Merry Christmas!