In past holiday seasons, Silvie Snow-Thomas, 35, has taken steps to go easy on the environment, baking cookies as gifts, and decorating mason jars with fresh holly and clippings from her Christmas ...

Bottle caps can be reused to create art pieces. From Anna Getty’s book, “I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas.” By Orange County Register December 4, 2009 at 8:00 p.m.

For most gifts, Amazon, Walmart, Target and Best Buy are top stores to shop for Christmas presents. Beyond that, look at specialty shops, such as Williams Sonoma, Sur La Table and Sephora.