In a blink of an eye, Turkey Day is over, and now we turn our attention to Christmas.
Turn our attention? Many area businesses have turned their attention to Christmas a long time ago, where you could find Christmas decorations among the fall and Thanksgiving decorations.
I feel like it was a day ago when I sat at this desk writing about my anticipation of Thanksgiving’s arrival, and here we are three days after the fact.
Thanksgiving was, once again, over the top, and it went really well. The food was fabulous with everyone in the family contributing, and it really did come together.
As customary, my family starts with some kind of Italian dish like lasagna, which was the case this year. I always say I’m going to eat the pasta and skip the turkey dinner and then dig in on dessert. It’s a good strategy if you’re really into desserts.
Naturally after dinner, the turkey tryptophan kicked in and within two-hours of eating dinner, there was a major snoozefest. Hitting the couch after a big mean is never a good thing and it always spells sleepy time.
One of the best perks of a Thanksgiving meal is the leftovers. I bet you still have some in the refrigerator now. I know you had leftovers last night, and you just might have some today to officially finish off Thanksgiving 2021.
As I said, we now focus our attentions on Christmas and Hanukkah, where the latter begins today at sundown.
Hanukkah is early this year, but for some reason, I always liked it when Christmas and Hanukkah were at the same time or overlapping. Don’t know why, I just do.
So to all our friends of Jewish faith, Happy Hanukkah, I hope you have a wonderful eight days and nights celebrating with family and friends.
Did everyone get the bargain they were looking for on Black Friday? Don’t forget, you have a second chance for bargain hunting tomorrow — Cyber Monday.
No matter how you slice the pie, there are plenty of chances to grab that perfect holiday gift, especially with the online purchasing.
Every time I turn around, I receive another email with the latest sale happening.
We do spend a ton of money on the holiday season, and each year my family has that conversation that we don’t need to buy each other so many gifts or spend the type of money we do, but for some reason, we all get caught up in the moment and spend, spend, spend.
I think I heard along the way in life there is an adrenalin high from going on a shopping spree. I truly believe that. I think something clicks in our head, pumping chemicals into our brains that make us feel good to spend money.
Online shopping can be dangerous for sure. It’s so easy to sit in your La-Z-boy chair, scroll through hundreds of items, pick something out and press send.
All of the home shopping channels are super, super dangerous. They not only make it real easy to purchase, but more times than not, they offer a three to five month payment plan where you get the item to your door after making the initial payment.
To make it more enticing, once in a while, they may offer free shipping … SCORE!
I joined Rakuten, which is a company offering cash back on products ranging from 1% cash back on a total purchase to as much as 15%. That kind of saving really adds up, especially to a person that spends a great deal or a bulk of their holiday shopping online.
So if you have an online item that was $120 on sale for $100 with free shipping that averages $5.50 to ship, and you toss in 15% cash back from Rakuten on that $100, that’s a $40.50 savings.
For the pro shopper, that’s a bonanza day.
Now that we are under a month until the arrival of Christmas, the next few weeks will fly by and I will blink my eye and I’ll be talking about how fast Christmas came and went.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — time is accelerating right before my very eyes, and the merry-go-round never stops.
For Anthony Marranca, the same merry-go-round will stop in just a few weeks when all of the efforts of the Greater Pittston Santa Squad (GPSS) will complete their 2021 campaign getting hundreds and hundreds of toys to several hundred children in need.
Most people in Greater Pittston have a good life making a good living residing in nice houses, but I assure you, there are a lot out there that are just the opposite and are in need of Christmas toys for children.
The GPSS is an organization born out of need and it’s that need that keeps the organization going and moving forward and making so many children happen.
The GPSS makes sure kids lists are fulfilled and Marranca makes it a priority that happens for each and every child.
The GPSS doesn’t stop with toys, they’ve donated clothing, food, bicycles, and even a TV and they won’t stop there. Each year, they come up with another idea to help and they execute.
The are getting good at raising money and with that money, it all goes out for donations, nobody makes a dime on the effort.
Look for bigger and better things in the years to come from this young organization.
Quote of the week
“Hate comes from intimidation, love comes from appreciation.” – Tyga
Thought of the week
“Never regret anything that made you laugh.” – Mark Twain
Bumper stick
“Be so good they can’t ignore you.” – Steve Martin
