Christmas is Coming, Christmas is Coming!

We are just a couple of days from Christmas. Do you have your shopping done, or are you a last minute shopper like we are? If you are done shopping, do you have all your presents wrapped up and under the tree?

What are your traditions for the holiday? Do you gather with your entire family? Or do you stay at home with your spouse and children? Do you have any special food that you eat every year for Christmas dinner? I will not be traveling to see my family this year. Not working has it's ups and downs. On one hand, I am off so I don't have to fight to get the time off, but on the other hand, I am off and that means travel is not in the budget this year. Catch 22, I guess.

Of course, every family's traditions are different. Every family celebrates Christmas just a little bit differently than the next. Or a lot different, I guess. :)

Regardless of how you and yours celebrate Christmas, I hope that you have a wonderful time. This time of year, there are many people that get depressed or sad. They do not have any family left to celebrate with. Keep these people in your thoughts and prayers. Invite them over for dinner. Do you have a neighbor with no family left? Consider them and include them. Remember what the holiday is about. Remember that it is about giving, not receiving. Give your time to someone who may need it.

Maybe you are not looking forward to spending time with your family. Maybe you have a strained relationship. Think long and hard about that this year. What if this is the last Christmas that you see your family? As we look at the way the world is heading, it seems like every one could be the last. Obviously, a lot of people thought there was no way we would make it through 2015, yet here we are at the end of the year again. But I am not willing to take that chance. I want to see family and friends. Of course I want to see them other than just Christmas as well, but more especially at Christmas.

Through all the hustle and bustle of these next few days, please keep vigilant. As you are out and about, or traveling, please keep an eye on what you see others doing. Might be that it is a situation that you can help in some way. Be the generous stranger and ask them to pay it forward. Maybe it is a situation that you can prevent something bad from happening. The attack on Paris and the attack in San Bernadino were almost three weeks apart to the day. Please keep in mind that this weekend is three weeks. I am sure it was coincidence, but please just keep an eye on what going on around you.

But above all of this, remember to live. Don't hunker down in fear. Get up and live every day with happiness and enjoyment. Prepare for the future, but don't forget that you are alive and well today. And don't forget the reason for this season, in particular. Give your time and attention to someone. More importantly, give your love to someone.

What Did You Do?

So, did you do anything this weekend to prepare? No, I hear you saying...

Well, did you go to the grocery store? Did you buy exactly what you need for the next seven or so days until you go back? Or did you buy a few more items than you needed? If so, then you prepared some.

Well, did you do yard work, house work, etc. to "Prepare" for winter? Then you prepared some.

Well, did you get out and hike or camp or do any physical activity? Then you prepared some.

We went to the grocery store and stocked up on some sale items. It is that time of year that there are some really good sales with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up. This is the time of year to catch those loss leaders and really stock up. Don't know what a loss leader is? Look at the front of your local grocery store ad. See that really good, don't want to pass it up, deal? Like turkey for 60 cents a pound? That is a loss leader. See that ad for butter for $1.99? That is a loss leader. The store will lose money if all you do is come in and buy that particular item. What they are counting on is for you to come in and buy that "super" sale item and lots of other stuff along with it. Then they make their profit.

What would be ideal, is having enough stock in your kitchen to only shop sales and loss leaders. Are we there yet? Heck no. But to me, that is a goal worth having. To buy only when I want to! That is my kind of shopping. The more I save, the more I have. Or can have.

The more I can have, the more prepared I can be. If I save money each time I go to the grocery store, by buying the items I normally use that are on sale, the better off I can be. If I buy an item on sale, butter for example which I use a lot of, then I should buy it every time it goes on sale. Especially when it is a loss leader. Then I can put it up and have it for future times when it is not on sale. If you buy items that you normally use when they are on sale, why not buy a couple of more?  Each time you do that, you are adding to your stock. That makes you more prepared.

We also dehydrated some carrots and some cherry tomatoes that we bought. We chopped more wood for the fireplace. We bought some kerosene for the heaters. We made sure that we were caught up on laundry. We made a trip to Walmart (uggg I do not like Walmart) for the things that we couldn't get at other stores (at least for as cheaply as we could there). All this for life's uncertainties.

So, tell me, what did you do to prepare?