The only ornaments I woudn't use are those made of plastic. Though they outgas very little, they are made from nonrenewable petrochemicals and don't biodegrade. And tinsel is the worst. It's made from aluminum fused to polyvinylchloride (PVC) plastic so it can't be recycled and won't biodegrade, and it is intentionally designed in such a way that it cannot be stored and reused from year to year.

With such an abundance of nontoxic, natural and earthwise ornaments available, you'll never miss those plastic ornaments. The first ornaments

The first solstice evergreens were decorated with natural "ornaments" of the season: apples, nuts, fruits, and olives. Before the days of supermarkets and even before agriculture, when people hunted and gathered their food from the forest, fruit was scarce during the winter months. The Winter Solstice marked the turning towards the new year and the new cycle of food. Attaching fruits and nuts to life-giving evergreens was an act of magic--a physical representation of their wish for nature to provide abundant food in the coming year.

In the fifteenth century, pastries were baked in the shape of stars, angels, hearts, flowers, bells, and animals, and attached to the trees. Small toys eventually also made their way to the trees.

Commercial ornaments

In the mid-1800s German glass-blowers invented tree ornaments as a way to present family and friends with glass renditions of the natural decorations that were already in use. In 1870, the craft of lining glass objects from the inside with silver was invented and the Christmas ball ornaments we know today came into being.

The new glass ornaments were very popular. By the beginning of the twentieth century, an estimated 5,000 molds were created including trumpets, bells, Santa Clauses, angels, suns, and stars, in use by over one hundred cottage glass blowing workshops in Europe. Artisan production declined after World War I, as industrial factories began to mass produce ornaments.

Glass Christmas tree ornaments were brought to America in 1880 by F. W. Woolworth, creator of "five-and-dime" stores. He sold them for $25 each in his shop in Pennsylvania, which would be almost $400 apiece in today's dollars.

Glass ornaments add a sparkle to the tree, reflecting candlelight and later electric lights. This enhances the solstice theme of carrying the light of Life through the dark days of winter.

Nowadays, we have gone beyond glass ornaments to have all kinds of inexpensive plastic trinkets.

Food ornaments

Restore the original intention of tree ornaments by decorating your tree and boughs with foodstuffs:

• tie small red and green apples to the tree with colored ribbons
• string fresh cranberries and popcorn, or dried apple rings and 1-inch pieces of cinnamon sticks
• glue gold tie to nuts and hang them
• tie various varieties of pears to the tree with white ribbons

As you attach each ornament, make your own wish for abundance in the coming year.

Cookies are a popular tree decoration, which is a continuation of the ancient practice of baking shaped pastries for the tree. add a wonderful fragrance to the natural scent of the tree. If you wish to make inedible "cookies" that you can reuse year to year, try this recipe:

Reusable "Cookie" Ornaments

1 cup salt
2 cups flour
1 cup water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Spices or powdered pigments can be added to color the dough

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add water and oil and stir until blended. Knead with your hands to make a smooth texture. Roll dough out on a cutting board to desired thickness (thick enough so they won't break easily) and cut with cookie cutters or a knife. Use a straw to make a hole at the top for threading a ribbon. Bake at 250 degrees until hard (1-2 hours).

When cookies are cool, decorate with water-based paints. Put a ribbon through the hole, and hang on the tree.

Dried Fruit Ornaments

These are absolutely beautiful.

Cut various fresh seasonal fruits--apples, pears, oranges, etc--cross-ways so that the core is in the middle of the slice.

Place slices on a piece of parchment paper or silpat in a very low oven (200 degrees F or less) overnight.

In the morning, the slices will be dry and the centers will have star shapes. You can also use star fruit to make star ornaments.

Loop strings of raffia through the ornaments to hang them.

Eggshell ornaments

To make eggshells into ornaments:

1. Poke a hole into each end of an egg with a sterilized sewing needle.
2. Over a bowl, blow into the hole the top of the egg (the small end) so that the insides come out through the bottom hole. Save the egg insides for cooking.

   [Note: Once you blow the egg out, the yolk will be broken into the white, and you will not be able to distinguish one egg from another. If you are making a large number of these ornaments and will have a lot of eggs to use in cooking, plan how you will use them in advance. Then you can store the right number of eggs in separate containers for each use. Alternatively, measure of one of the eggs in a liquid measuring cup, then you will be able to calculate the how many cups of egg you need for your recipe.]

3. Paint eggs with water-based paints.
4. Bend a pipe cleaner and stick it in the top of hole of the egg. Bend the other end and hang it on the tree.

Habitat Ornaments

You can also decorate your tree with whatever is growing naturally in your area.

When I lived in Northern California, buckeye trees lost their leaves during the fall, leaving branches hung with "buckeye balls" that are just the size of tree ornaments. We also had a native shrub called coyote bush that produced a small white flower in December that made it look like it was covered with snow. Branches of coyote bush placed between tree branches made my holiday tree look like I just brought it in from a frosty forest.

Check your own garden and community for cones, berries, dried seed pods, twigs, and feathers. After the holidays, they can go in the compost.

Recycled ornaments

Save holiday wrapping paper, greeting cards, and other interesting papers and pictures (including pages from magazines) throughout the year. Designate a box for collecting them instead of throwing them in the trash, then use them to make colorful and interesting paper ornaments:

• Origami and other paper craft books will have many good ideas and instructions.
• Make paper chains by making a loop with a strip of paper, then staple it shut and make another loop by sliding the strip of paper through the first loop.
• Cut images from old holiday cards or cut from magazines can be trimmed and tied to the tree with a ribbon (magazine images will need to be glued to a 3x5 card or scrap cardboard for stiffness).
• Use ribbons, laces, and other sewing accessories, to make bows, and recycle bows from last year's gifts as tree ornaments.

Paper snowflakes are a good way to recycle used white office paper. This is a good rainy or snowy day project for kids. Here are some easy instructions, over 200 snowflake patterns from a family with a tradition of cutting snowflakes, and the wondrous process of how snowflakes are formed in nature. Remember, no two snowflakes are alike!

Throughout the year, keep your eyes open for ornament possibilities at flea markets and garage sales. Keep your eyes open for ornaments for sale and any small items that would make interesting ornaments. Look for materials that could be modified in some way to make ornaments.

Heirloom Ornaments

Many families have a box of treasured ornaments that they unpack and use year after year. Often they have meaning or memories associated with them that make them extra special. Purchasing or making special ornaments and reusing them year after year builds a family tradition in addition to respecting the environment.

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