Believe it or not, you can give people etched glass gifts this holiday season that you made yourself. It’s much easier than you’d think!

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When I was a kid, Christmas season hadn’t officially kicked in until we started the parade of Christmas specials. Rudolph usually started things off, and we continued through Frosty, the Grinch, and of course, Charlie Brown and his sad little droopy pine bough that somehow transforms into a full fledged tree. Still looking for one of those elusive pink aluminum trees, by the way. When the first December TV Guide came out we would scour the listings for all the specials and write down when we needed to be parked in front of the TV, popcorn in hand.

Things are different now. It started with the VCR, continued on through DVDs and now we have the miracle of TiVO. I can now watch my specials wherever and whenever I want. But still, there is something lackluster about doing it that way and I can’t explain why. I kind of miss the McDonalds commerical with the sad little girl ice skating and then Ronald shows up and gives her his scarf, or the one with PEEEEEEEEETER!! coming home and making Folger’s or Taster’s Choice or whatever crummy coffee crystal du jour they were plugging. (Obviously the former did a better job with the brand name recognition, eh?) Someone tell me I’m not the only one who remembers those cheesy 80s Christmas season commercials.

Still, despite the magic spark that is missing along with the bad advertisements, there are advantages to having satellite TV and a TiVO. Until recently, I had to dust off my VCR and wrestle with setting it up if I wanted to see some of my older, weirder specials that are hard to find on TV. No more. Thanks to the power of my TiVO index I can tell it to record “The Life and Adventures of Santa” on ABC Family (the one written by Frank L. Baum) and without skipping a beat, also record “Tis the Season to Be Smurfy.” And “The Year Without a Santa Claus.” And the one with the mouse that calls Santa a fraud and Santa is so vindictive he screws over the whole town.

For even more obscure choices, I have Amazon to thank. This year I found both “A Wish for Wings that Work” (the Bloom County Christmas special) and “The Claymation Christmas Special” featuring the California raisins. Last year I bought the quintessential 80s special, “A Garfield Christmas.” I can pretty much pass out in front of the TV, inhaling cocoa and watching special after special until I reach divine enlightenment or candy cane induced sugar coma, whichever comes first.

If anyone else wants to pull up a bowl and join me, check out the Christmas Wiki for the most recent updates about what you can record and when. And if you need to find me on Christmas morning, look no further than TBS, where I am trying to catch the entire “Christmas Story” marathon before I die. RALPHIE!

-jesvet

I love Christmas cookies, but man, I hate making them. Mixing dough, rolling it out, cutting it, baking it, decorating, blah blah blah. Not to mention my counter is usually far too cluttered for rolling out dough. But look at this - the Norpro Nonstick 12-Piece Holiday Cookie Pan.

No more rolling, no more cutting, heck you can even use store-bought dough! Smoosh the dough in, bake and decorate. Christmas just got a whole lot easier!

I’m making sets of these for each set of Grandparents (three - since I have step parents). They’re a very, very simple craft to make and are super cheap to make as well.

The coasters can be purchased at Home Depot, Lowe’s or your favorite home improvement store. They’re actually white tiles and are about 16 cents each. Luckily, I had an entire box of them just sitting in the garage. After buying some mod podge, I went in search of some pictures! I already had developed a number of pictures from our cruise, so these will make great gifts for mil/fil. So, I found a paint brush (we have these in abundance around our house) and a few paper bags (I have no idea why I had these, but I was thankful to find them when I was looking for paint brushes. I’m fortunate to have a paper cutter, so it was really easy to cut a straight line, but if you don’t have one don’t worry, scissors will work just fine.

So, I set myself some room on the dining room table and set to work. You can see my set up here:

Each coat takes about 15 minutes to dry, so I did them one at a time. I’d cut a picture and then glue it on the tile. Then, I’d cut another picture and glue it. After a few of these, I was ready to start my first coat. So, I just cycled through like this. All told, I spent less than an hour on 11 of them (I ran out of room on my paper bags!). After they finish drying, I’ll glue some felt to the bottom so that they don’t scratch the surface of anything that they set on. You can buy felt at any fabric store for fairly cheap, but I recommend looking in the remnant bins at JoAnn’s as anything less than a yard is half price (at least at my local store). Because I won’t be using a ton, this is a good solution.

Don’t think I thought this up myself, I found this on another message board - sewingmommas.com. A woman there had made them - she didn’t give a ton of details, but the mod podge, felt and small tiles was enough information for me.

Jennylou

Over the last few years, social consciousness has increased about our own personal environmental impact and responsibility. This year, my husband and I decided to try to step up our awareness during the holiday season and have a “Low Carbon Footprint” Christmas. Some friends of ours are having a “No Carbon Footprint Christmas” which I found inspiring but a little daunting right out of the box! I thought I would share with you some simple changes we’re making that might even inspire you, too.
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1. Scour the ads ahead of time. Stores put out their Black Friday sale ads in the Thursday paper. If you’re really ambitious, check out sites like bfads.net, or the black Friday section of slickdeals.net.

2. Know what you want and of what importance it is. Are you more concerned with the TV at Best Buy or the laptop at Circuit City? Make a plan and hit the store with your most wanted item first.

3. Split up. If you can recruit your husband, your mother or your friend to go with you, decide on which stores you will hit and cut the list in half. You’re more likely to get everything you want if you can cover more than one store simultaneously, or at least have a placeholder in line.

4. Show up early. Surely the tryptophan has kicked in by now, but if you want any chance of getting a hold of big ticket items, you’re going to have to grab some Starbucks and settle in for the long haul. Most of the people out there on Black Friday are experts who have been doing it for years. They ARE willing to sit out all night if it means getting a 42 inch LCD for $800.

5. Save your rebate forms. A lot of the great deals out there require mail-in rebates, or MIR. Stores like Best Buy and Circuit City will print the forms out with your receipt. If you throw them away, you might just be out of luck. Circuit City does employ an online rebate website, so that makes things a little easier. If you forget this, you very well may end up paying more for the item than you would on a normal sales day.

6. Save your receipts (but not in your bag). It’s good practice at any time but especially around the holidays. When the cashier asks you if you want the receipt in the bag, say “No thanks, I’ll take it.” Then put it somewhere safe in your purse. If you leave the receipt in the bag with the items, you increase the chance of someone picking up the bag when you aren’t looking to claim those items as their own.

7. Be nice to the store workers, servers and others who are there to help you. They most likely are not enjoying this, and they will have their fair share of Scrooges. An extra smile and a “Thank you!” might be what gets them through the day.

8. Take advantage of online deals. If you can’t bear the thought of fighting the crazies the day after thanksgiving, try your hand at online shopping. Not all deals will be available online-door busters are usually limited to brick and mortar stores-but most stores offer some of their in-store deals online, as well as many online-only offers. There’s also Cyber Monday, the first Monday after thanksgiving that has become known for great online deals.

9. Enjoy yourself! It’s easy to focus solely on saving the most money, but Black Friday can be a lot of fun. It’s a great opportunity to grab some coffee and a bagel and people watch. That way you’ll know there are crazier people out there than you.

KK812 & Cali*Girl

A few years ago I got some coupons for a chain clothing store. They were good only on Black Friday, so I thought, what the heck - might as well give it a shot. It was horrible. Even after the morning rush was over, the stores were packed. The employees were overworked and angry, the customers were dazed and rude, and the sales weren’t even that great. That was the year I said, “Never again.”

That might seem a little drastic, but it made perfect sense for me, since I have a mild phobia of crowds to begin with. But over time I’ve come to see this act to preserve my own sanity as more of a principled stance. After all, we bemoan the ugly consumerism of the Christmas season, but we kick off our celebrations by trampling each other at dawn for the latest hot toy. We scoff at how early stores start advertising and decorating for Christmas, but then we reward them for their efforts by lining up around the block to take advantage of the sales we’ve been reading about. We can shake our heads all we want, but the only way to reverse this trend is to refuse to participate in it.

Lately, there’s been a movement to take the anti-Black Friday sentiment a step further and declare it “Buy Nothing Day.” You can read more about it here - it’s a form of protest against consumerism. While critics point out (correctly) that it doesn’t actually do anything to reduce consumption, since people will just postpone their shopping to the weekend, I like to think of it more as a spiritual exercise. Taking some time at the beginning of the holiday season to step back and mentally prepare can only be a good thing.

If you’re thinking of participating, you can find some ideas for alternate activities here. Personally, I’ll be taking some time to prioritize my charitable giving for the coming year, something I’ve been meaning to do for awhile, but haven’t had the time. However, I’m not 100% sure I’ll be able to follow an absolute spending moratorium, mainly because I was thinking of going to the movies with my mom. I’ll give myself a pass on that one, mainly because I live 300 miles away from my mom, and we don’t get that much time to spend together. Regardless, I do know I’ll head into the Christmas season without anything crossed off my Christmas list, but a little calmer.

PG-Rated

There are certain times of year being a vegetarian is difficult. Most of the time, I don’t think much about it. Skimming through labels at the grocery store is second nature (you’d be surprised what products contain chicken fat or stock), as is ordering my Thai food with no fish sauce and avoiding most Mexican restaurants (beans and rice often are made with lard). I’ve been a vegetarian for 13 years and converted my husband over six years ago.
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Thanksgiving is a perfect time to try something new, so why not try a new cocktail or four?  Or maybe a great Beaujolais Nouveau (before they’re all gone). Below are some sites that can help you to find that perfect holiday drink to compliment your Thanksgiving gathering. We’ve even included some non-alcoholic options for the teetotallers among us. Cheers!

Alcoholic Options

• Drink Swap
• I Drink
• Chowhound
• That’s the Spirit
• The Hostess with the Mostess

Non-Alcoholic Options

• Thanksgiving Punch
• Hot Buttered Cranberry Punch
• Pomegranate Soda
• Cranberry Bomber
• Flavor of Vermont Mulled Cider
• Cider Snap
• Cinnamon Apple Spice Hot Cider
• Hot Mulled Cider in the Microwave
• Hot Raspberry Cider

If you’re anything like me (and considering the average American gains, what, 10 pounds over the holidays?) the traditional November-December season is fraught with peril. Everywhere you look you are greeted with gobs of pumpkin pie, piles of gingerbread, and decadent, sticky fudge….mmmm….fudge. And booze. The holidays are entirely and inextricably linked to indulgence.

However, if you’re trying to avoid the temptation of a 1000 calorie dessert while still surrounding yourself with the scent of holiday cheer, never fear, your intrepid scores of bath and body retailers are standing by and ready to assist you. For a grand total of zero calories, you can slather yourself in potions and lotions that fill your senses with seductive smells, without the worry about your New Year’s Eve outfit popping a button on the 31st.

I am an admitted perfumista. I chose that word. My husband calls it “hoarder of bottles, creams and salves”. I guess we are both right, as any visitor to my cluttered master bathroom vanity will attest. Everyone knows about the big names in the smelly stuff biz- Body Shop, Bath and Body Works,  etcetera, all offering some variation of the typical apple cider, pumpkin pies or gingerbread scents. But if you’re looking for something a little different, there is a huge niche market in the etailer world for small businesses, many of whom specialize in one type of scent category or bath product. Allow me to enable you to a few:
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