Healing the Ghosts of Christmas Past

I recently went for a walk in the commercial area of my neighborhood. One of the stores shelters a cute dog that is favorite among the locals. A group of people had gathered to admire the dog — petting it and enjoying its harmless nature. Yet only a few feet away, a homeless person sat on his flattened...

Christmas Traditions: Manufacturing Memories

What are your favorite memories of the holidays as a child? More than likely those memories include family traditions from, the day you choose to decorate your tree, to the kinds of food you eat at the holidays. Remember that you and your husband came from separate families with different customs and...

Tips to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

If you’re working on a weight loss plan, one of the most difficult times of year can be the holidays. Around Christmas and New Years, the parties and meals you’ll attend will include foods that are high in fat and calories and low in nutrition. Fortunately, by following these five tips you can...

Global Warming Reaches into Christmas

It was bound to happen. The political debates of global warming have reached Christmas. But the attackers who swear your SUV is killing the planet are taking a fresh approach when it comes to Christmas. You’d think they’d be up in arms about the tons of wasted paper represented by Christmas wrap...

What Goes Around, Comes Around

More than 18 million Mattel toys on recall world-wide Fisher-Price recalls almost 1 million toys Thomas & Friends toys recalled for lead poisoning And thats just a few headlines and in one part of industry; toy manufacture. And its not just the fault of the factories in China and the companies who...

The Science of Selling and Smelling Christmas

As a retailer I’m always looking for ways to squeeze another nickle out of Christmas. As Stan Freberg said, “Christmas has two S’s in it and they are both dollar signs”. That’s our motto, our sacred code of honor. Quite frankly, it doesn’t matter how well I do the eleven...