Sunday, December 27, 2009

I Hope Your Christmas Was Wonderful!

Okay, now that things are getting back to normal and Christmas is over, how was it? Mine was wonderful.

This was my first Christmas without my mother, so it's not surprising that there were lots of bittersweet moments. As much as I missed her during the holiday I seemed to somehow feel closer to her than I had in prior months. Christmas Eve had always been celebrated at her home and this year we would be starting a new tradition - my children, grandchildren, and my husband and I would celebrate at my home on Christmas Eve.

I was looking forward to Christmas Eve - I knew being with my kids and grandkids was the therapy I needed to make my holiday special. My husband and I had done everything we could to make the evening wonderful. In fact, were shopping up until the last minute - we wanted to be sure that everyone had a good time.

In hindsight, there are a few things I wish I had done differently - like plan for my Christmas dinner earlier.

Here's a true story: my husband and I had some last minute shopping planned for Christmas Eve - just before our celebration. Because I knew we would be out at the last minute I thought it would be ideal to pick up our Christmas Day dinner ham while we were out. To me, that made sense.

The problem - all the grocery stores closed early on Christmas Eve! Although we were able to shop at department stores until late in the day, by the time we thought about the ham all the foods stores were closed. I happen to be a vegetarian - but everyone else in my family expects meat with their meals.

To make a long story short - of course we had other meat; the dinner just wasn't our traditional one. But to make up for that disaster we had a large dinner today (Sunday) - and yes, it did include ham and all the trimmings. This was a wonderful way to end the weekend. So guess what; yep, you guessed it, we will probably be doing this again next year. A new tradition born from a total accident.

Happy Holidays To All!


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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Doing What You Can To Spread Goodwill During The Holiday Season

The real meaning of Christmas is to give, not to receive, especially to the people that can’t afford to pay for their daily needs and don’t have enough financially to be able to enjoy the Christmas season. So this season let’s all try to spread some goodwill to all the families out there that are struggling this holiday season.

Hundreds of Santa letters are written each year, wishes, hopes and dreams that the children want or maybe even are in need of. Just about every child is told the story of Santa Clause and how he brings gifts to all the children. Or how you can write your own letters and send them to him, asking Santa for the things you want.

Most kids will believe in him for years. Most of the Children’s letters are their only request because they know their family will not be able to afford any gifts.
Gratefully there are volunteers and charitable organizations that will give help to families, kids and adults that are in need of help for the Christmas holiday. Many stores and banks set up special big boxes so that their customers can put new or used toys, clothes and shoes in them and then they donate the contents.

There are many places where people can volunteer during the holidays to do a lot of things, things like helping pass out gifts to families and kids, or going to a soup kitchen and help serve the food to homeless people, or even just donating to a place that is helping needy families or simply giving some of the things around your own home to your local thrift store. You could even visit a nursing home with your family, take some cookies and some cards and just visit with the elderly who may not have any family that visits them.

I was out Christmas shopping just the other night and witnessed firsthand a family in need. When I was checking out the girl that was ringing me up said she had seen a girl steal. I walked to my car and was putting my things in the trunk and all of a sudden a bunch of workers and a woman came from the store. The manager stopped and asked her if she wanted to give him back what was in her coat.

At first I was glad they caught her stealing until I saw it was diapers and baby clothes. I felt sorry for the lady. How sad to think that she could not even afford diapers for her baby and Christmas is just a couple weeks away. I offered to pay for the items and the manger declined my offer. The manager allowed the lady to leave without calling the police. There are millions of families struggling, we can’t help all of them but we can help some.

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Sunday, December 20, 2009

Christmas Is All About The Children

Many parents will sacrifice buying things they need around the holidays to make sure their children have a good Christmas and get just what they want for the holidays. Just like children, adults look forward to the magical holiday also, but in a different way - in the end of all the shopping and decorating it’s all for the kids on that special day.

Children usually get Christmas gifts directly from parents and other relatives, but they also receive them from Santa Claus himself. And that allows parent to use the story of Santa Clause as a discipline tactic. They will often start to remind the kids that if they want a good Christmas again this year they better be good. But it is also fun just telling the children stories about Santa, his elves and reindeer to let their imaginations run wild with the stories about him.

All the lights, decorations and sparkling ornaments really grab the children’s attention and are truly the main purpose of decorating for the holidays. There is something special when you see a child’s face light up with excitement when they see all the decorations.

Seeing the delight on a child’s face as they open a gift you purchased can make you feel good. The good feeling comes from a sense of relief that the child likes what you bought, but also that you have added to the joy of his or her holiday. It gives a unique sense of pride that cannot be explained.

Families also take this holiday to make special family traditions with their children. Whether it is helping decorate the house or taking the time to write letters to Santa or even baking cookies for him and finding treats for the reindeer, Christmas is a perfect holiday to start your family traditions.

It is important to teach your children when they are young that Christmas is not about the presents they might get or the Christmas parties they might go to. It’s about coming together as a family and being there for one another.

It’s also about giving and not receiving, so try to teach them that giving to families in need is good too. Also, try to make as many family traditions as you can so your children can pass them down to their family. Always make memories so your children and you can look back and remember that special day.

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Friday, December 18, 2009

Beware of Santa Scam Sites

A wide variety of media reports indicate that scams using Santa Claus are on the rise. A number of “Santa services” can now be purchased online and offline promising letters, phone calls, emails, videos or personalized chats with Santa. But some parents are reporting that some of these service providers merely take the money and run.

“It’s a very competitive niche,” said Dale Gruber, who owns and runs PackageFromSanta.com with his wife.

He is a member of the Better Business Bureau. The scams, he indicates, don’t just reach the consumer. Competition is sometimes dirty in the Santa services business. At one point, Gruber said another company had duplicated the exact look and feel of his Web site. The infringing website quickly received a Cease & Desist letter from Mr. Gruber’s attorney. Gruber said that company even tried to claim his BBB membership, as well.

“It’s unbelievable how much fraud there is, and we aggressively protect our trademark, artwork, and website elements” Gruber said.

This is the third holiday season for PackagefromSanta.com, who has gained acceptance and notoriety amongst the online Christmas communities.

The company has three products: A letter from Santa for $12.99; a second package that includes a letter from Santa, a letter from Rudolph, a “Nice List” certificate and an autographed photo of Santa and Mrs. Claus for $24.99, and a red box filled with all of the above and more, including “North Pole Snow”, a collector's tin of Reindeer food, an Authentic Collector's Swatch of Santa's Suit, and more for $49.99. For a limited time, PackageFromSanta.com is offering free shipping but may charge for shipping in the next few days. Priority shipping, which is recommended now to ensure delivery by Christmas, is $5.95.

Many online Santa letter services aren’t as well organized. Some only begin operating just after Thanksgiving and shut down as soon as Christmas passes. Some will sell on eBay. And many simply fail to deliver.

Tim Burns, public affairs director for the Better Business Bureau, was amazed to see the number of online offers for letters or phone calls from Santa.

“If they say wire them money, run away,” Burns said.

Typically, consumers never want to wire money to any person that they do not know well. Burns said wire transfer services have become “the ATM of scam artists and should be a red flag for consumers.” Western Union also warns that you don’t want to use money transfer services to pay for things like online auction purchases. Some Santa publishing outfits even claim to be members of the BBB but are not, Burns said. He suggests that you double check that information directly at www.bbb.org.

Burns said one woman in Tennessee complained to the BBB that she purchased two Santa letters online, but her children never received them. She was unable to contact the company by phone or fax.

A few years ago, a California woman also complained to the BBB because she paid $20 for letters for her then 3-year-old nephew whose father was stationed in Iraq. The letter never arrived at the boy’s home in North Carolina nor at the aunt’s home in California.

Another woman in Texas complained to the BBB of paying $45 for a phone call from Santa that never came.

As with any purchase, consumers need to realize that anytime they give a credit card number to someone they don’t know, there’s a risk that the card could be charged over and over again. So you need to watch your credit card statements, too.

By SUSAN TOMPOR
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST


For a reputable Santa Letter service that IS registered with the BBB, just go to www.PackageFromSanta.com

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

A Christmas Miracle

It was about a week before Christmas last year and we still did not have our tree up. The kids had been whining for weeks about putting it up and decorating the house – but I had put off the task because of all the rearrangements and digging out of boxes. You know the drill – it can be a lot of work and a real mess. But I finally got the living room moved around so we had room for our extra large Christmas tree.

We all gathered around the artificial tree to help get it set up and make sure we had all the pieces to it. After we had the tree set up I decided to take the kids up to the attic with me to get the rest of the decorations from up there.
We got up to the attic and had to move a lot boxes out of our way, but we finally found the old, favorite Christmas decorations from years gone by. I was so excited that I found all those old decorations that held memories from the kids - I just grabbed the boxes and went back down stairs to go through them.

After I got down stairs and made some lunch for the kids I started to go through all the old boxes of decorations. As soon as I opened the first box I noticed that there was a whole bunch of glass in the bottom of the box and all the decorations that were glass had been broken.

I started opening all the boxes to see if all the glassware had been broken – and to my disappointment, yes, all of the glass things were in tiny pieces in the bottom of the boxes. All the ornaments that my kids made and their baby’s first Christmas ornaments were all broke. These things were much more than decorations to me; they carried with them memories from Christmases in the past.

When my husband got home I was still very upset about the decorations. He told me that everything was going to be ok and we will just buy some more ornaments that the kids can decorate. He gave us some money and sent us to the store to get decorations and supplies for the kids.

The kids and I went to the store and got everything we needed to decorate the tree and to make some new ornaments. We were all still upset but we had a good attitude and we thought it would be fun to have new decorations this year.

When we got home and started unloading the car my husband came out to help. We all got inside and I looked over to see our empty tree and to my amazement it was beautiful. It was covered with lights, decorations and garland. Even some decorations made by my kids.

While we were gone my husband called his mom and she came over to help with the family crisis. Turns out my mother-in-law had a few ornaments made by my children that she had kept safe over the years. With those beautiful decorations and special touches, they got the whole tree decorated before the kids and I got back home - and it was the best tree ever.

After I got over my shock I made everybody some hot chocolate and we all sat around the lighted Christmas tree. This was a Christmas that the kids and I will never forget - it was a true Christmas miracle to me.

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Thursday, December 10, 2009

Starting Family Traditions

If you are a parent of young kids now is a good time to start family traditions with them. Starting traditions when your kids are young is great because they will soon associate those activities with the holidays and they’ll look forward to them every year. You could try to think of stuff that you enjoyed as a child or you can come up with new ideas, things just for you and your family.

A great tradition is making the holiday decorating a family a family affair. From young to old, get everyone involved – the kids will love it! A cheap idea that I do is have the kids make their own ornaments, I just buy the plain glass ornaments and have them decorate and put the year on them. This makes the kids happy because they are helping to decorate the house and you can use them over and over every year as a keepsake.

Writing letters to Santa is always a great project to include, it’s simple to do and it gives you a chance to see what the kids really want for Christmas. The kids always feel proud that they wrote to Santa himself. I love seeing the look on their face when they get their letter from Santa – they get so excited.

Another idea is to bake cookies or brownies - something the kids can get involved with. You could even give baked goods as gifts; the kids would feel real special. Santa always likes cookies and milk on Christmas Eve so be sure to make some and leave them out for him as another tradition.

Another good tradition to do with the kids is have them make homemade holiday cards to give to the family. You can give them to your closest friends and family for the holidays. The kids will have fun decorating the cards and passing them out to family members and friends.

Whatever traditions you start or continue this year with your family, remember that Christmas is about giving and not receiving. It is not about the present you might get, it is about being with your family and friends that you love the most. Christmas traditions help to instill a sense of family strength as the family members come together to enjoy a loved event or activity. This provides an insight into our past, as we can see what our parents or grandparents may have done or what was important to them during the holidays.

As the years and generations go by, each family adds their own twist and touch and the tradition continues. Be sure to enjoy some of those great family traditions with your children this year so they can pass them on to their children when they get older. And do what you can to keep your kids believing in Santa for as long as possible because after all, Santa Claus keeps the magic alive!



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Sunday, December 6, 2009

Christmas Will Be here Soon!

We all know Christmas is that special time of year when family and friends come to together to spend time with each other. In doing so they make memories that all involved will enjoy thinking back on. Planning ahead for these special events will just help things go a little smoother so the memories will be that much better – after all, stress and frustration has a way of tarnishing a perfect day and our associated memories.

Christmas is approaching fast here so I have some last minute tips to help you get all your finishing touches done before the big day. If you are like most people you still have some last minute shopping to do. The closer it gets to Christmas the more crowed the stores become and they often run out of items – which of course, can increase any stress and frustration. Some simple ways to avoid this is making homemade gift baskets for family and friends. This allows you to easily buy stuff – useful stuff, which will fit into the basket. A lot of movies go on sale during the holidays and they make great gifts. The ideas for gift baskets are endless – you can create them around hobbies, crafts, spa and bath supplies, or anything else. Consider giving a pet lover a gift basket that includes items for his little friend.

Shopping online is always fast and convenient and it can save you lots of stress. But as Christmas gets closer shipping will be more expensive for fast delivery.
Wrapping gifts early is always a good idea – this prevents that last minute hassle and stress of staying up late Christmas Eve wrapping all the gifts and getting everything ready for the big day. Also getting the kids to write their letters to Santa is always fast and simple and this can be done early in the holiday season. This easy tradition helps to keep the kids believing in Santa Claus, which of course, helps to keep the magic of Christmas alive. Try to think of fun things that you could do to make the kids believe in him even more. The kids should be involved in holiday events and projects as much as possible.

If you are having a family gathering where your family is coming to your house for the celebration here are some tips: keep your gathering simple, plan ahead of your gathering. Plan to cook things that are on the simple side so you will not have to stress about the food or even about serving it. When it comes to entertainment for your guests be sure to include activities for the kids. Easy craft projects and writing letters to Santa are my favorites.

Decorating the house gives it that festive feel and you do not have to do much to have a big effect. Some of the Christmas craft projects completed by the children will make wonderful additions to your holiday décor.

Christmas will be here in just a couple weeks so you need to prepare. Whatever you decide to do this year, just remember to make holiday memories that your family will hold dear in their hearts in years to come. Keep in mind that Christmas is not all about the gifts that you might give or get, it’s about family and family time – and cherishing what you have in unique ways – if giving gifts fits in that is great. I hope that you have a Christmas to remember this year!



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Thursday, December 3, 2009

Thinking Of Doing Some Online Christmas Shopping This Year?

When most people think about going Christmas shopping they think of checkout lanes that are too long, stores that are packed, crowded parking lots and a stressful experience. But this kind of joy can only be experienced after hastily preparing for the shopping extravaganza and fighting traffic to get to the shopping mall of choice. For a lot of people this is what Christmas shopping is all about and they would not have it any other way.

For other people, people like me, who do not want to deal with all of that, there is an excellent alternative for your holiday shopping this year. Online shopping is an easy and simple way to shop; you can visit lots of stores in just a matter of minutes. You may be able to save a little bit of money in the process, online stores just like regular stores often have big sales during the holidays and many even offer free shipping. Another way to save is to visit some of the online coupon websites. You can usually find a coupon code for virtually any store or product.

One of the most important things to remember is to order early enough to have the gift delivered to the person before Christmas. This is important because you want your gift to be sent on time with no rushed delivery charge. The difference in shipping costs can be huge. Before you go through with your order check the stores shipping prices, some stores have high shipping. You don’t want to spend a lot of the money you saved by shopping online just trying to get all your presents shipped to you.

The only problem that I’ve had occur is that some items look a little different online than in person. Be sure you know what you are buying - look at the item carefully and be sure that is exactly what you want. That’s another good thing about shopping online; you can quickly do a search to learn more about any product that interests you – before you spend your money! You might also want to check that the store has a return Policy, just in case you need to return something.

The last thing to remember is to always choose a company that has a good reputation or one that you have bought from before. You do not want to experiment with a new store around the holiday season; there could be unexpected delays because of bad business practice.

Just to put things in perspective, online shopping is the future. It’s the quickest most convenient way to shop you; don’t even have to leave your house and anything that makes life less stressful is always good, especially around the holidays.

Online shopping has gained in popularity over the past five years and there is no reason to believe that this popularity will not continue to grow, year after year. Get a jump on things and start shopping online now – you’ll save time, money, and stress.

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