December 2008 – Page 3

Christmas Sight and Sounds

You can always count on the Christmas season for the great sights, the pretty sounds, and the delicious smells. Even though money is tight and my family doesn’t plan on doing too much shopping, we still like to jump in the car and head to the mall to take in the sights and smells of Christmas. We go to look at the great big tree with its ornaments that are bigger than basketballs! We walk by the bakery and the coffee house just to smell the pumpkin bread and the candy cane hot chocolate. We let the kids play in the free kid area where they have a clear view of Santa Claus, listening to their peers admit to their urgent Christmas wishes. My kids don’t want to sit on Santa’s lap, he is still too scary in person, and that is fine with me! That is one more dollar I need not spend!

And while I may browse by something I think I need, or that I think a loved one would love to find under the tree, I look to my children who are just amazed at all of the sights and I remember that Christmas isn’t just about the presents. On our way out of the mall, we stop to listen to a children’s choir sing our favorite holiday tunes. And still yet in the car we drive slowly so the kids can take in all of the Christmas lights in the neighborhood. Christmas is everywhere! I still have my loved ones in mind as we reach home, so I head to the computer and send them some Christmas ecards. Money spent on this fabulous day in December? None. Happiness gained on this fabulous day? Countless Amounts. Christmas is what you make it, so make it a good one

Remember the Mall Workers

Between early November and New Year’s, I work at the local shopping mall, as a way to draw in extra money for my own Christmas shopping. A lot has changed in the world of retail, between the time I worked in a mall full-time and now, when I do it just to make extra money, but one thing, at least, has remained the same: retail employees work their butts off, especially during the holiday season.

It may be easy, as a shopper, to vent your frustrations of the poor man or woman standing behind the cash register: you’ve spent all day at the mall; you waited for hours in different lines; you haven’t found half the gifts you need to purchase; and the cashier who accidentally gives you twenty-five cents less than you’re owed in change is an easy target. But something you should remember, is that the cashier himself is just trying to make it by, is just trying to make enough money that his family, his children, his friends, don’t have to suffer through a Christmas with no presents under the tree.

You don’t have to take small presents with you to the mall, and hand them out to all the cashiers you come across. You don’t even need to smile and wish them a happy holiday, if it’s too much work for you. All you really need to do is remember that they, like you, are people, just trying to make it through another Christmas shopping season.

Save with Free Christmas Ecards

Well, Black Friday is behind us now, and the Christmas shopping season is officially in started. Initial reports say there were 17% more holiday bargain-hunters this Black Friday than last, a number that’s surprising, considering the shoddy state of the economy. But what that 17% doesn’t factor in—and what many analysts have already pointed out—is that with the struggling economy, many people have been holding back on doing any holiday shopping until Black Friday.

In other words, just because a lot of people went shopping after Thanksgiving, that doesn’t mean all is well and rosy with the economy. The compulsion may be there to join the crowds, and run out to spend money you really don’t have, even knowing if you do, you’ll regret it later.

I’m not advocating burning your shopping lists this year; I’m not even saying you should pinch pennies in buying gifts for those closest to you—my little brother is getting his high-end telescope, no matter how long I’ll be paying down the credit card bill. What I am saying, though, is that you can—should—conserve money where you can. One easy and sensible way to do that is through gotfreecards.com, and their huge collection of free christmas e-cards. All you have to do is log on, pick your card, and enter the e-email address of the recipient. It’s that easy, and it doesn’t cost a dime.

So buy a telescope for your brother, or a diamond ring for your fiancé; but remember: you can, and should, save money where you can

Christmas Something Small for those who serve

This year, as the leaves begin to change color and fall from the trees; and as bare walls are covered first with Halloween decorations, then Thanksgiving decorations, and finally Christmas decorations, it’s important to remember the most important people in our lives, and let them know that we care about them, and that we are grateful for all that they do.

Many of us have friends or family members currently serving in the military—people we love who won’t be able to come home for Christmas. And though they defend our country and our livelihoods overseas without asking or expecting anything in return, that still doesn’t mean it would be anything less than a great idea to do something—anything—for them, to remind them that wherever they are this holiday season, we keep them in our hearts.

There are countless sites on the Internet, taking up collections for care packages—sites so numerous I won’t even bother listing some here. Other sites—like gotfreecards.com—give you the opportunity to send animated ecards to your loved ones overseas. You can even chip in some money at various sites to buy our servicemen and women phone cards, so that even if they can’t come home this holiday season, they can at least phone home.

They do so much for us, without asking anything in return. Let’s all do something for them—even if it’s something small.

Send Free Christmas Ecards Today!

Even when something as perfect as FREE CHRISTMAS ECARDS is readily available for everyone to use, there are still people who have some excuse not to use them. Here are the top 7 excuses people have for not using FREE ecards and an answer for each excuse:

Excuse #1) I want to write my own sentiment in the Christmas cards I send out this year.
Answer: You can add your own sentiments to every ecard at GotFreeCards.com.

Excuse #2) I want to be able to send pictures of my kids and the dog in my Christmas card.
Answer: This is also something you can do with each ecard!

Excuse #3) I don’t understand how to do it.
Answer: It’s easy! Just select the card you want to send, input the email addresses of the recipients, add your personal message, add any photos, and hit the send button!

Excuse #4) But I have all of these cute Christmas postage stamps to use.
Answer: Save them for something you HAVE to mail! No stamps needed at GotFreeCards.com!

Excuse #5) I want to send people something they can keep and show to their loved ones.
Answer: It will be on their computer! They can forward it to anyone they want to show!

Excuse #6) My grandma doesn’t have an email address to send it to.
Answer: GotFreeCards.com also has FREE printable cards that you can design yourself to print out and mail! Perfect for those Christmas stamps you’ve been saving.

Excuse #7) I don’t celebrate Christmas.
Answer: So send a holiday ecard, a thank you ecard, or any ecard you want! The choices are endless!

No more excuses! Send your free ecards today!

Christmas Lights

Lights Lights Lights! Who doesn’t love Christmas and Holiday Lights? They’re pretty, they’re festive, and they stir up the holiday spirit in all of us. But while we love to look at them, even travel distances to see the houses with the best light shows, no one really wants to be the one to hang them up.

Case in point: A friend of mine hung up his lights this weekend. He finished just as his wife pointed out to him that the outlets for the plugs where located on the opposite side of the house than he thought. He had to take down ALL of the lights and start over. Who doesn’t love Christmas lights? My friend, that’s who.

When I was a kid, our lights were perfectly stored tangle free, thanks to my genius dad. Each January he wrapped the light strands carefully around paper towel rolls and carefully placed them in boxes to be stored until next year. Each December he’d unroll the strands in the garage, lay them on the ground to organize them, and plug them in to make sure they all worked. One December when I was 10, he asked me to help him in the garage with the Christmas lights. He picked up one end of a light strand to take it to the front yard, I picked up the other end, we started walking and wouldn’t you know I dropped my end and ALL of the lights broke. Who doesn’t love Christmas lights? Me at 10 years old, that’s who!

As I recall all of the Christmas light follies, and there are many, I can’t help but laugh. For all of the brave people hanging up their lights this year, send them FREE ecards from GotFreeCards.com, like the ecard, “Tangled Lights”. Let them know you are thinking of them and all of the hard work that they do to light up Christmas!

Commercial Christmas Commentary

Each holiday season, Americans are completely bombarded with advertising and sales promotions for millions of products. Toy commercials entice our children to beg for dolls and trains. Late-night infomercials convince us we need complete storage systems to hide away our extra belongings. In-store displays prompt last-minute purchases. And, in the frenzy of the holidays, the lists and the parties, we are often caught up by commercialism more than celebration.

It is a somewhat sad commentary on our society that we must constantly be reminded of the reason behind the season. However, this year’s economic crisis affords us a new opportunity to make changes in some of our holiday traditions. Our family, for example, has decided to forgo paper Christmas cards. We’ve gathered everyone’s email addresses, and have agreed that we will all use free e-cards from gotfreecards.com. This one step will save us the cost of the Christmas cards, as well as the astronomical cost of postage. E-cards also save precious storage space. After all, what are you supposed to do with a hundred Christmas cards? We also decided that this year, the youngsters will receive the bulk of the gifts. The adults will exchange only small tokens and stocking stuffers. It feels good to pull away from the frenzied spending habits of Christmases past. Instead of worrying how we’ll afford all those presents, we’re planning on enjoying the time we spend with one another. Happy Holidays!

Christmas Unforgettable Holidays

The most memorable Christmases aren’t the ones where we get the the shiniest jewelry or the most expensive video games. The memorable Holiday seasons are those marked by truly unforgettable events.

Case in point: when I was eleven years old, my family decided to shell out some cash for a real tree, rather than use the old plastic one. Dad and I drove to a Christmas Tree farm, chose the biggest, most expensive tree, and took it home. The whole family had a wonderful evening, securing the tree, stringing up the lights, and then attaching ornaments.

We all went to bed on Christmas Eve night, and I had just fallen asleep when a loud crashing sound jerked me back awake. My first thought: Santa hadn’t turned the lights on, and was fumbling around in the darkness downstairs. Then I heard a “meow” and I knew the true source of the disturbance.

I rushed downstairs, following closely my parents, and what we see in the living room is our beautiful, expensive tree, lying on its side, ornaments scattered about and broken, and our gray tabby cat, Bully, sitting in the middle of the whole mess, with a “What’d I do?” look on his face.

Had I been making animated christmas ecards for gotfreecards.com back then, I would have immortalized the event in a free e-card. Even still, it’s not something I’m ever likely to forget.

The next year, we went back to the plastic Christmas Tree, and we never looked back.

Christma Take a Moment

As Thanksgiving comes, and quickly goes, we find that we barely have enough to catch our breath—let alone clean up the kitchen—before we start to fully realize that there’s less than a month left until Christmas.

Christmas is a wonderful holiday, and if you’re anything like me, some of the best, most cherished memories from your life involve the Christmas Holiday season, in one manner or another. It can be all too easy, though, to let the inherent stress of the Holidays get the better of us, and cause us to miss all the real joy that does surround us those few weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

I’m not leading into some great words of wisdom or advice, other than to say this: slow down, take your time, spend a few moments, every day, to remind yourself what the Holidays are really supposed to be about, and remember how, several months from now, it won’t be the hours spent in shopping lines that you remember, but the looks on your friends’ and loved ones’ faces when they open up that perfect gift on Christmas morning. Or the thank you note you receive for the thoughtful Christmas Ecards you sent from Gotfreecards.com.

So get to it, take a breath, and have a great Holiday season!

Turn a depressing, lonely Christmas into a cheerful celebration

Christmas is considered one of the most joyful times of the year. But did you know that it could also be one of the most depressing for some? Surprised?

Consider the fact that it marks the end of the current year – there’s less than a week to go – and many of us may not have accomplished our goals for the year. Then, there’s the not-so-light problem of the holiday pounds. Most of us tuck into rich food, sweets and snacks the last three months and by Christmas, we find that we are no closer to keeping our current resolution of losing weight! Throw in snow, Christmas traffic, crowded shopping malls, job cuts, expensive gifts and thinning wallets and what do you get? Not a very joyful holiday season. If your family lives far away, your friends are out of town and you end up spending Christmas alone or at work, it’s even worse. But wait! This post is not meant to make those of you who may already be dreading the holidays feel even more miserable. In fact, there is actually a way for you to feel good about this season even if you are not up to it.

And that is by sending free Christmas ecards from gotfreecards.com. Sending your friends, family and coworkers free ecards not only shows them that you care but also lightens up your mood. You will feel good that even though you may not be there with them, you did think about each other on Christmas. Besides, for every ecard you send, chances are you will receive ‘Thank you’ ecards which will also cheer you up. On top of it all, as you browse the ecards, you are sure to come across some funny ones that will crack you up or some heartfelt wishes that will move you and remind you of the true spirit of Christmas – that it is not about what you have or get but about what you give.

So cheer up and start picking out the perfect Christmas ecard for all the people you care about.