In the words of the great philosopher Charlie Brown, "Another Christmas, come and gone." It's the "day after" and everyone is busy returning that beautiful sweater from Aunt Bethany, or using their newly received gift cards to buy presents for those who may have been forgotten on the first round of shopping (oops!).

We may have won the battle, but we've not yet won the war. We've still got to deal with the post-Christmas clean up. If your home is anything like mine, I'm sure you have bags of wrapping paper sitting around, bows stuck to everything, and piles of holiday cards from friends and family in various locations.

The easy solution? Dump it all, throw it away—out of sight, out of mind. The not difficult and greener solution? Recycle! According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Americans throw away 25% more trash between Thanksgiving and New Years than during any other time of the year.

All that wrapping paper? Most of it is recyclable. USA.gov has tons of information regarding the best ways to dispose of holiday waste. Separate your party leftovers into paper, plastics, and glass. It's best if you use washable plates and utensils to cut down on waste while you eat, drink, and be merry.

As Joanne mentioned yesterday, you may be able to re-plant your tree. If not, many cities offer special recycling services and pick-up times for live trees.

How 'bout all those holiday cards? Quite popular, aren't you!? Cut off the front, and use the pictures as post cards for next year. Many churches and community centers also collect these for arts and crafts or greeting cards.

For more tips on recycling year-round check out Nancy's post.

Hey, you might even consider recycling Aunt Bethany's sweater—she'd love to see it on you next year!

It’s Christmas day and while you’re admiring your Christmas tree with its pretty lights and ornaments, I want you to take a moment to consider fire safety and what you’re going to do with this tree when Christmas is over. Think before you pitch that tree! Do you want it to be just another big, bulky thing taking up space in the landfill, or do you want it to move on to a higher purpose? Go forth and treecycle, or use your Christmas tree to GreenScape your yard.

If you’ve got a cut tree, you’ve got options. Trees are biodegradable and recyclable, and there are many options for recycling and re-using trees. Your local waste authority probably has a Christmas tree recycling program. In many areas, Christmas trees are picked up, mulched, and then free mulch is offered back to the community. This kind of seasonal program keeps holiday trees out of the landfills and helps municipalities save money by reducing disposal fees. Tree collection is usually offered early in January, so if you don’t know about your community’s Christmas tree recycling program, it’s not too late to find out.

Besides mulching, you can burn a tree in your fireplace or wood stove, chop it up and add it to your compost pile, use it as wildlife habitat and even use the needles to make a nice potpourri. The University of Wisconsin Extension Service has an article with lots of ideas for reusing your Christmas tree.

We always buy a live tree (roots and all), so disposal’s not an issue at my house. It’s really pretty easy to care for a live Christmas tree. Before the ground freezes in the winter, my husband prepares a hole for our Christmas tree and then we plant it in the yard the week after Christmas. I never thought a tree would live if you planted it in the winter, but since they’re dormant when they’re dug up and dormant when they’re planted they seem perfectly happy when they wake up in the spring. If you’ve got somewhere to plant a tree and a strong back, I highly recommend a live tree – just be sure to buy a variety that will thrive where you live.

Millions of Americans will travel to someone else’s home to celebrate Christmas or New Years this year. Good luck if you’re the one expecting all those visitors, they’re probably going to be very hungry when they arrive! Here are some tips on cooking for large groups of people, food safety, and great recipes to help you out.

The most important thing when cooking for large groups is to make sure you’re aware of 4 basic food safety principles:

1. Clean hands, cutting boards and other kitchen surfaces regularly.
2. Separate raw meat, seafood and poultry (and their juices) from ready-to-eat foods and produce.
3. Cook foods to their recommended temperatures – use a food thermometer to verify the temperature.
4. Chill refrigerated foods properly to below 40 degrees fahrenheit and put leftovers away within 2 hours. Always thaw foods in the refrigerator, not on the counter.

You’d hate to have a houseful of sick guests because you forgot to use your meat thermometer on the turkey, turducken, rib roast or ham, right?

Also, be sure to take extra care preparing holiday goodies that call for eggs by ensuring they’re fully cooked before you partake. No licking the spoon for the cookie dough, folks! And be careful with the egg nog – alcohol doesn’t kill the bacteria in the eggs!

Remember that foods might require a little extra prep if any of your guests are members of at risk groups including expectant moms (like me!), children and seniors.  It will make your guests feel good to know you’ve taken the time to prepare food that they can enjoy safely.

I’d love to hear about any of your favorite holiday traditions or recipes – you can leave them in the comments.

Hi, I’m Joanne and I’m the new Tuesday blogger. Since we’re just getting acquainted, you should know that everyone thinks that I’m calm, cool and collected at all times, but the truth is that I’m not always feeling that way on the inside.

The 16 ton weight of holiday anxiety fell on me yesterday. December comes and suddenly I realize that the dates on the calendar are closer than they appear! My mind becomes unfocused and races between thoughts of the gifts, the decorations, the cleaning, the tree, the cookies and preparing Christmas dinner for 14 people! My muscles tighten, my breathing becomes shallow and suddenly I’m frozen like a deer in headlights. Serenity now! 

Every year I swear I’m going to have everything done way in advance next year. Of course I never do.

This year I’ve got a new strategy. I will accept and embrace that Christmas is rolling down the track like a freight train, bringing with it a “to do” list that’s longer than 12 elves laid end to end. I won’t try to control the external factors, but I will work on how I react to them.  I’m no stranger to anxiety – we go way back. Anxiety has made me sick a number of times in my past, and so I’m pretty aware when I’m starting to have a problem and I’ve had a lot of experience in managing anxiety. There’s a lot you can do to help yourself when you’re having an anxiety problem. I’ve tried medication, biofeedback, yoga, conscious relaxation, meditation, and exercise. I prefer to avoid the medications if I can, and I’ve found that if I give it a little effort I don’t need them.

Managing my anxiety is my old year’s resolution and it starts now. My strategy is threefold. Every day I try to get enough rest, practice morning yoga and relaxation, and  ride my bike for at least a half hour. To be truthful, I think the biking does me the most good, but I crave the am yoga and relaxation like chocolate. How could it be bad when it feels so good?

So far the plan is working and as Christmas approaches I feel like I’m rolling smoothly through the month. As a working mother of 2 small girls, I’m always looking for other ideas to relieve anxiety. What works for you? I just might want to try it some day soon. I wish us all calm and peace this holiday season.

Tired of the fighting the crowds yet? I still haven't been out shopping this holiday season, but I'll get around to it. Maybe. If I can shake this cold and if I can't find something online for everyone on my gift list.

Confined to my couch with a bag of cough drops and a carton of orange juice (which taste really nasty together), and needing to get my shopping under way, I've been poking around USA.gov's page devoted to government books, souvenirs and gift shops for unusual presents. Turns out some of them were no farther away than my very own office.

The Federal Citizen Information Center, where we Gov Gabbers work, started out back in the 70s as the place that distributed government booklets from Pueblo, Colorado. Even though FCIC has added all sorts of online services over the years, millions of people still clamor for those booklets from Pueblo. And it dawned on me that many of those booklets make good "go-withs" for larger holiday gifts. I'm going to tuck a couple of the online safety booklets into my mom's Christmas stocking to accompany the new computer she'll find under the tree.

Another gift idea that appealed to me was the collection of recordings from the Library of Congress American Folk Life Center on cassette  or CD. Work songs, blues, spirituals, cowboy ballads--this is the kind of thing that makes my heart go pitter pat because I love looking back at America's past and people through folk songs and storytelling. And a couple of my friends do too, so I can check two more names off my list.

Have a collector in your life? The government has lots of holiday ornaments, including favorites from the US Capitol and the White House Historical Association, which is featuring President Grover Cleveland's wedding on this year's annual ornament. And the US Postal Service's online store features an assortment of ornaments based on popular stamps, as well as collections of the stamps themselves and other gifts.

You can find cool stuff for adults and kids from NASA like a Space Shuttle flight suit for the child on your list who says he or she wants to grow up to be an astronaut. The National Zoo has gifts for animal lovers--especially fans of the zoo's panda bears. And the Smithsonian Institution's online store is full of collectibles, jewelry, toys and art, tied to various Smithsonian exhibits. My favorite Smithsonian store was located in the National Museum of American History which is closed until next summer for renovations. But the online store has a lot of the goodies I'd find there.

There are so many more gift ideas to tell you about. But my cold medicine is kicking in and before I start typing gibberish or make an online purchase I won't remember later when the cough suppressant wears off, I'll get offline and let you do some 'gov gift' exploring on your own.