26 Friday Nov 2010
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Thanksgiving is over. That means time to decorate for Christmas.
It has sort of been a tradition in my house to pull out the Christmas Decorations the day after Thanksgiving. Tree goes up, garland, stockings and of course the outside decorations.
Here are the pics from the completed day of decorating.
So, let me know, when do you decorate your house? What is your favorite part?
17 Wednesday Nov 2010
Tags
Christmas, HomeDepot, Santa Claus, Sears, Target, Thanksgiving, Wal-Mart
Thanksgiving is dead.
Well, at least in the eyes of retailers.
It used to be the launch of the Christmas Season. You know, the trip to the Grandparents or Cousins house, a huge meal on Thanksgiving, a nap, some football and then planning for the next day and some serious crazy shopping.
After all, that was when the deals were. THIS WEEKEND ONLY-TWO HOUR SALE-FROM 6-10 ONLY- You name the sale it was out there.
Now, not so much. The sales are everyday.
I just saw where Sears has decided to open on Thanksgiving Day. Kudos, Sears! You have now found a reason to make working retail suck more than it already does while single-handedly saying to the world, “Thanksgiving is nothing.” It also lets all the other fringe retailers think its ok to open their doors too.
It won’t be long, in fact we won’t even have to hold our breath, and tons of retailers like Home Depot, Target, Wal-Mart (they might already) and the mall stores will jump on the bandwagon. I hope not to be the Debbie Downer here, but I think it is coming. Sad.
But here is what is the real killer for Thanksgiving. Christmas Displays have been up for weeks. Almost bumped into Halloween.
I bet, if a Wal-Mart Christmas Display tipped over after it was just set up, you would have skeletons and pumpkins with Santa hats on them as it collided with the Halloween display? What do ya bet?
So, if you have not figured it out yet, the fact that Christmas (retail wise) is inching its way closer to the 4th of July, is driving me crazy.
Here is what I wish.
I wish it was against the law to set up Christmas Displays until after Thanksgiving.
I wish retailers would not be allowed to play Christmas songs until midnight Thanksgiving day.
I wish that anyone who violated this would be sentenced to a trip to the North Pole to be slapped by the fat man himself for discounting the season and skipping over Thanksgiving. And then they would have to walk back to think about what they have done!
Whew…now that’s off my chest.
To me Thanksgiving is not dead…in fact it is still one of my favorite holidays. After all, it is the meal that is the warm up event for the biggest day on earth…Christmas.
Do you still celebrate Thanksgiving? Where, who and how? Tell me about it.
16 Wednesday Dec 2009
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One of the most awesome things about being a parent is getting to experience holidays like Christmas through your child’s eyes.
On Saturday we made our annual trip to see Santa Claus.
This year was a little different though because my daughter Emma had spent quite a while preparing her list for Santa and was ready to present it to him face to face.
In the past she had always told him what she wanted, but this year she had taken the time to write it out and decorate it for him. No chance to slip up this year!
Barbies, books and toys. Drums, clothes, and her select items from the Toys R Us catalog.
As I looked through the list I couldn’t help but think back and wonder what my lists looked like. What was that one toy I loved when I got it at Christmas? Did I tell Santa about it? I had to wonder what went through my mind on that day.
Didn’t take me too long and I actually thought of it.
A Whirly Bird called Verti Bird…probably my favorite toy ever. It was a helicopter that was connected to a flexible cable arm that you could fly around and up and down…totally awesome. Weird I remembered this particular item because when I looked it up thanks to Google, I found it was released in 1975…when I was 6. The same age as my daughter is this Christmas. Maybe there is something magical about Santa and the age of 6..who knows…but I remember that Christmas, that list and that toy in particular.
How about you? What was that one toy you told Santa about and received that you will never forget?
24 Tuesday Nov 2009
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It is the season.
The season where you will begin to see all of the blogs, papers, news reporters, athletes and radio hosts talking about what they are thankful for.
It really is all a bit overwhelming.
Overwhelming because it seems like everyone has a ton to be thankful for. Even in the worst circumstances most of us can muster up something we are thankful for.
Family, friends, jobs, church, life, a home and the list goes on.
What I have a hard time understanding is why it is only this time of year we start to reflect on what we are thankful for.
Don’t we have great friends, family, jobs, church, life or other things to be thankful for the remaining months of the year?
So it begs me to ask…are we only sometimes thankful? That sometime being when we are reminded around a holiday such as Thanksgiving or Christmas?
Ask yourself today, are you thankful always or only some of the time? What are you thankful for?
I choose always.
10 Tuesday Mar 2009
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I am often asked how I met my wife Theresa.
It is a unique story and I thought, why not go ahead and give you the in depth story.
About a week prior to Thanksgiving, 2004, my best friend Chris and I went to the mall.
Chris was attempting to get prices for having his picture taken with Santa for a piece they were doing at his employer, a local home improvement store. Each employee was posting a picture of them with Santa on the wall.
We met with the lady who ran the Santa booth, Jerri, who later would become my mother in law.
She gave us the information but while in casual conversation told us about her daughter. She told she worked at the Santa booth part time, was a teacher, which college she had attended etc. She wasn’t promoting her daughter, just carrying on a casual conversation. A conversation that would eventually change my life.
That Sunday, I had returned from my parents house and Chris and I headed back to the mall for some shopping. We came across the Santa booth and there stood one of the elves. No doubt that this particular elf was Theresa, the school teacher we had been told about.
We approached the booth to get Chris’s picture taken and began talking with Theresa as if we had known her for years. we asked her how school was going, if she had returned to college recently and so on. Totally confused as to where she might know us. We asked her to have her picture taken with us and Santa for old times sake. Confused even more, she agreed.
As her mother began to snap the picture the words came from her mouth “My mother put you up to this didn’t she?” We all laughed for a minute about it totally embarrassing her.
We left and after a couple of hours Chris and I began to talk about the instance. I felt somewhat bad about it and decided to take some flowers back to the booth. I attached a simple note that said “I hope you will accept dinner as an apology”
What I did not know at the time, until much later, was that not long before I had returned, Theresa had a conversation with Santa, and asked him for a date with me for Christmas. Jokingly Santa told her be careful what she wished for.
She found the flowers not long after this conversation with Santa and agreed. The first date was at the play ” A Christmas Story”.
10 months later we married.
At the rehearsal dinner, the Santa that was present that day arrived to deliver our Groomsman and Bridesmaids gifts and hang out with the kids for a while. Not something that happens in everyday weddings.
That was 13 years ago.
So, you have asked me for my story, what is yours?
24 Wednesday Dec 2008
My last post until after Christmas and I could not resist sharing.
Enjoy.
22 Monday Dec 2008
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While looking at Christmas lights last night with my family, a simple question was asked of my 5 year old. What were the 3 gifts that were brought to Jesus by the Wisemen?
A confident reply soon came…Gold, Frankenstein and Myrrh.
Of course at this point I lost it and so did my wife and brother in law. But it made me think.
How many people out there really do not know the reason behind Christmas and the amazing story behind it?
I truly believe that this number is dwindling each year as is evident by the number of lawsuits and fights over displays of Nativity Scenes and Crosses during the Christmas Season. It is sad.
The Holiday Season is because of Christmas and Hanukkah…nothing else. Let’s try and remember what amazing time of year it is and what it represents. Lets respect the tradition and the time with family.
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all of you.
18 Thursday Dec 2008
The video that got us all to say, “Hi my name is Clark, and I am a Christmaholick. I can totally do this.”
Do you do a Griswold on your house? Tell me how and attach photos if you can.
06 Saturday Dec 2008
03 Friday Oct 2008
OK.
It’s official. Retailers have joined the ranks of Congress and lost their ever flippin minds.
I walked into Lowes tonight and set up, on the 3rd of October, was their Christmas section. WHAT!
My daughter hasn’t even decided what she wants to be for Halloween. It is still 75 outside. It is, if I am counting correctly, 83 days until Christmas. 83! If you divide that by 365 days in the year it is almost 24%. Yes, 24% of the year remains UNTIL CHRISTMAS.
So who has come out and thought that any part of this idea is great? Halloween is already on clearance, we are just completely skipping Thanksgiving and all of the over indulgence of food, and going straight into Christmas season. A new Holiday maybe? I think so.
Before you know it we will officially be celebrating the day after the 4th of July.
Christmoween.
So, Do you think retailers over seriously over reacting? Do you think they have lost their minds?
I have now come up with a new rule for shopping….if a store starts Christmas sales before the 15th of November, I am not shopping there.
I may end up ebaying or amazoning all of my gifts…..but until then…
Happy Christmoween!
