The Day After...

I hope everybody survived (and enjoyed) their Christmas celebrations. Today is the day when the cleaning up must be done. While you're cleaning the debris from the festivities, keep these tips in mind.

1) Never put the boxes out by the trashcan for passers-by to see what items might have been received in your house yesterday. Thieves tend to target those houses that received high end merchandise. Take the television and video game boxes to your local cardboard recycling factory or wait until just before the trash pickup is scheduled to place those items by the curb.

2) Your children will enjoy the boxes - especially the big ones - far more than any actual gift that may have been packaged in said box. Cheer up, though. Eventually the box will disintegrate and your child will remember that there was once a cool toy in that box.

3) Wrapping paper is cheaper the day after Christmas. If you wait just two or three more days - the price of paper will follow the course of our current economy. (down...down...down....)

4) The day after (or week after) Christmas is a wonderful time to stock up on gifts for any upcoming birthdays. Those nifty perfume and soap gift boxes that are so popular for Christmas - yeah, half price or even more starting on December 26th. (This is perfect for those Christmas events that take place after Christmas....)

5) Gift cards last for a few days, so it isn't necessary to rush out the day after Christmas to spend those cards. After all, they don't expired for at least 6 months or so. (The fact that "I" will be rushing out in the morning to spend my gift cards is irrelevant. The more people I can convince to stay home tomorrow - the easier my day will be...)

6) Most important of all - remember that the spirit of Christmas does not have to end at midnight. You can continue to spread good cheer and kindness for as long as you wish. Keeping this in mind will also help with those post-Christmas frustrations. (Do you really need me to list them???)