Christmas eve is here again and, depending your traditions, that may mean gathering the family for a feast, reading the classic Night Before Christmas to the kids or even tearing into the (hopefully eco-friendly) presents. Whatever Christmas eve means to you, why not take some time this evening to put in a little extra eco-focused effort—before the chaos of Christmas morning.

Forget Ordinary Ornaments

Chances are your tree, if you have one, is decorated by now; that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy some Christmas craft time that can help you keep the ornaments on your tree as green as the tree itself. Some store-bought ornaments are made with toxic paints, petroleum-filled plastics and even lead, so it’s a wise idea to make all your new ornament additions as eco-friendly as possible.

There are plenty of options for all-natural ornaments you can purchase, but you could also gather the family tonight to make some eco-friendly ornaments for tomorrow and the years to come. Check out Martha Stewart’s guide to DIY ornaments for some ideas, like recycled card ornaments, gingerbread cookie ornaments and paper ornaments (which you can craft from used computer paper).

Cuddle by the Fire

There’s arguably no better evening for hot cocoa by the fire than Christmas eve (especially if you live somewhere with snowy temperatures), but you might be worried about the environmental effects of a crackling flame. The reality is that wood fires do emit pollutants as they burn—not what any green guy or gal wants—but before you despair, know that depending on the area you live in, the pollutants from your fire could be better than those from your regular heater.

To improve the impact regardless, however, you can burn wood that’s been drying for several months (it emits less pollutants), make sure your chimney is clean and use natural firestarters.

Makeover Santa’s Milk and Cookies

Doing the whole milk and cookies thing with little ones? You can easily improve the eco-friendliness a little bit (and every little bit helps when it comes to going green). Opt to pay a bit more for organic milk instead of conventional and you’ll be encouraging farmers to raise their cows without artificial growth hormones (the increased demand for organic milk has already helped many farmers switch) and be avoiding the unnatural stuff yourself.

When it comes to cookies, select a recipe that has the most potential for local ingredient use and choose organic options when possible. We like the Cider Shortbread Cookie recipe from Simply Organics because butter, honey and eggs tend to be locally available in most areas, the mulling spice used is organic (and you can find it at Whole Foods), and there’s no environmentally-damaging chocolate.

Set up a Sustainable Christmas Morning

Now’s the time to take a few minutes and set up for a greener morning. If you do your present opening on Christmas morning, set out a few boxes, bags or bins now for different purposes: One for wrapping paper (and ribbons and bows) that’s not too torn and still reusable, one for gift boxes and gift cards that can be recycled, and one for reusable packing materials (like foam and plastic air packs from electronic gifts).

Unfortunately wrapping paper isn’t recyclable in most areas (though it’s a good idea to check with your local facility), so what’s too torn for reuse will likely end up in the landfill. Make it a point to open things carefully so you can reuse it and set up a swap with other wrapping paper-savers before Christmas next year so that you don’t tire of seeing the same prints over and over.

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