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If you're like me, you might be wondering how you can start going green in more ways than just using compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) to replace your "regular" incandescent bulbs and putting your newspapers and cans in the recycle bin.

Oh, yes, I also use those wooden stir sticks when I can, and I try to remember to bring back my old plastic shopping bags each week to the grocery store. But I was wondering how I could keep it up and do more.

So I put on my thinking cap for the holidays.

Here's what I came up with: Any friends I have e-mail addresses for will only get an e-mailed holiday greeting card this year. I'll save a tree or at least not perpetuate the chopping down of them for a greeting card.

Of course those friends or family who don't yet have e-mail will still get the snail mail card. I mean, this is the one time of year when many of us do reach out to those far-flung friends we never talk to or see, so you can't just fall silent, right?

I also thought I might be adventurous and start a Holiday blog. So I got a free, yes I said free, Gmail account on Google and from there was able to set up my very own blog. Cool.

So now I can upload photos, videos, create a daily or weekly journal of what I'm doing starting with after Thanksgiving and leading up to the New Year.

And all my friends and family can check it out. E-mail the link to your blog or just call anyone who doesn't have email, but has an Internet connection and tell them the Web address of your blog. Ta-da. Easy and no trees were harmed.

You can delete the whole thing after the holidays if you want to, or you can keep it going should you find it a fun and fascinating new leap into technology for you.
(You can also just do one of those holiday "letters" on your blog so many of us tend to include in our cards.)

I might even do a Green Holiday Challenge. This involves me challenging my friends and relatives to pass the word and email out greetings themselves. Reminding them of course that there is no need to send me a printed, mailed card this year. I know they love me and are thinking of me without having a card to show for it.

Lastly, I wondered about the energy used to run all those lovely holiday lights. So I went online and found an answer: LED Christmas lights. According to the folks at Holiday LEDs, LED lights use 90 percent less energy than "regular" Christmas lights. (Search around, as there are a number of online resources for LED lights for Christmas.)

While I'm on a roll, I bought one of those light timers that will turn on and turn off my wonderful new LED lights, saving even more energy. (Even my own energy from having to plug and unplug the suckers every night. Crawling under a tree or going outside at night in the freezing temps is not my idea of fun.)

So there you have it. A few ideas for going from kind of green to kind of more green this holiday. It's like giving the Earth a present and isn't that appropriate in the season of giving?

Have fun with it and let me know how it works for you. I'd love to hear your experiences. The more we each go green, the better off our planet will be.

Laura is the owner and creative director of her own marketing/advertising firm, Black House Creative, ltd, in Greensboro, NC. She helps her clients go green with suggestions for running a greener business and also using more online campaigns and recycled papers for printing. Reach her at Lblack@blackhousecreative.com.