December 22nd, 2008
Just 3 days away from Christmas! Did you manage to get all of your holiday shopping finished over the weekend? I couldn’t believe how many cars were parked over at the mall on Saturday. As I was driving by it looked like every spot was taken and cars were just pouring in. Absoulte Choas! Thankfully we are finally coming up on the finish line and we’ll get some much needed rest and relaxation.
Not many people taking the time to relax and see a new movie over the weekend. Fairly weak showings for the two big ones, Yes Man and Seven Pounds. Here’s the standings:
1. Yes Man, $18.2 million.
2. Seven Pounds, $16 million.
3. The Tale of Despereaux, $10.5 million.
4. The Day the Earth Stood Still, $10.2 million.
5. Four Christmases, $7.7 million.
6. Twilight, $5.2 million.
7. Bolt, $4.3 million.
8. Slumdog Millionaire, $3.2 million.
9. Australia, $2.3 million.
10. Quantum of Solace, $2.2 million.
RE-GIFTING RULES (this comes from AOL)
• Regift a toy your kid won’t use: Gather up everything you own that you don’t want and that could possibly be given as a gift. Make a list of everyone you plan on giving gifts to this holiday season and try to match up your unwanted items with your friends and family members. For example, if you have a Marshmallow Shooter that your super studious daughter will never use, but your neighbor’s kid just loves playing outdoors, that could be a perfect gift for her.
• Send a scent to a friend: Let’s say that your friend who lives in another state bought you some lovely perfume, like Armani Code Sheer, but it’s not your signature scent. A beautiful perfume like this can generally be for anyone on your list.
• Don’t regift to the person who gave you the gift: It’s also vitally important to remember who gave you each of the items that you are regifting. Nothing is more mortifying than giving your mother-in-law the board game that she gave your family last year. If you can’t remember who gave you something, you can either give it to someone you have met within the last year who could not have possibly given it to you, or donate it to your church or favorite charity.
• Use a Secret Santa swap at work to regift: Additionally, some workplaces hold Secret Santa or gift exchanges around the holiday season and this is the perfect time to unload that second humidifier you got at a work function. However, you definitely don’t want to regift anything that a coworker gave you, so again, make sure you know who gave you
which gift.
• Break up value sets: An alternative to regifting is to break up value sets. Value sets usually include full or slightly smaller sizes of a brand’s most popular or holiday themed products. One really yummy value set for the holidays is the philosophy cookbook mini shower gel set. Within this gift set you have at least 10 different gifts to give that are perfect for stocking stuffers or gifts for the teachers at your children’s schools.
• Use items from a food basket as stocking stuffers: If you want some yummy stocking stuffers, but don’t want to spend big bucks buying things individually, you can buy a gourmet food basket and distribute its contents to your loved ones. This is especially helpful when your family members have different tastes, now you can give your husband some delicious sausage, your daughter some decadent chocolate, and your son some tasty cheese.
FULFILLING FREE HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES
According to the E-Poll 2008 Holiday Survey, when asked what one thing they could do that doesn’t involve money that would make their holiday season even better, topping the list by a wide margin for both kids aged two to 12 and those aged 13 and older is being with family.
Children aged two to 12:
1. Be with family (126)
2. Bake/cook (52)
3. Play in the snow (39)
4. Help people/give gifts to the poor (21)
5. Go caroling (12)
People aged 13 and older:
1. Be with family (138)
2. Help others/volunteer (32)
3. Bake/cook (26)
4. Play games (19)
5. Pray (10)
Movie Clip Trivia Answer: Miracle On 34th Street