Many of us, especially in America, are blessed by abundance...or at least the absence of lack.

Have you ever thought about how those holiday left-overs go to waste when so many are going hungry? Yeah, until a few days ago I hadn't either.

So whether you whip out your Schwetty Balls onto the holiday table this year, or perhaps some other tasty treat like roasted salty nuts, consider these ideas for putting your left-overs to better use.

With Christmas only 11 days away people are starting finishing their "last minute" shopping and moving on to...

You guessed it...wrapping all those presents.

Second only to traditional card stock Christmas cards, wrapping paper is the biggest waste of paper and hence, trees, during the holidays...and it's NOT [normally] recyclable.

Fear not, present wrapping lovers, there are some gift adorning options that blow the ever cursed wrapping paper out of the water!

Now that we've all decided to live green and simultaneously earn mega cool points by creating a nifty, free, Christmas eCard slideshow AND learned what the environmental benefits are of creating said eCard, let me show you how to go about doing so.

*Note: This is part 3 in the Christmas eCard Slideshow series*

This year, Americans are projected to send 2 Billion...that's billion, with a "B"...christmas cards.

Multiply 2 Billion by .42 (the cost of postage), and Americans will spend 840 Million dollars, that's $840,000,000, in postage alone during this holiday season.

(Dear God, someone please tell me I accidentally added a few extra zeros in there somewhere!)

Any idea where those 2 billion cards (and their envelopes) will end up? Yup, the dump!

This is part 2 of a series of posts that will show you how to create a simple, fun, FREE photo slideshow Christmas ecard, instead of contributing to the 840 million dollar monster.

How many people are on your Christmas card mailing list? 100? 200? Maybe even more?

Multiply whatever number it is by .42 (price of postage), then add in the cost of the cards and/or printing, and you're looking at a nice, hefty bill just to wish people (who are probably mostly strangers to you by now) a Happy Hanuquanzafestimas.

Instead, why not put together a free, fun, Christmas ecard in the form of a photo slideshow, complete with falling snowflakes and swaying Christmas tree ornaments?