I friend and I went to see a movie a few days before Christmas and if anyone was wondering if people had gone out to the malls, I can testify that they were out in droves! The traffic was awful and wonderful at the same time. The awful part was the part we all hate; the waiting, taking of turns and wanting to flip people off that were a bit out of control behind the wheel. (We didn’t though in adhering to the Christmas spirit of the holidays)

The really good part though was that so many were out shopping for gifts. This seems to be a very good sign that the retail sector might be bouncing back after a very tough year. Granted, I don’t know how many of these people were going to a movie like we were or if they were out to get the best deals; but I do know there was a lot of them and for the first time in months the parking lot was full and people were everywhere. I hope it is a Merry Christmas to everyone; including those in the retail business.

Isn’t it funny how we are coming full circle and going back to the same materials our grandparents used? That’s right; our parents seemed to have been guinea pigs for the chemical, food and pharmaceutical companies. This is not said as fodder but as truth. We keep finding out about chemicals that are put into item we use everyday. One example is the bisphenol A , or BPA that is found in many plastic products that we use everyday including storage containers. We use so many products with BPA that it is now found in most of our bloodstreams and while these products are labeled dishwasher and microwave safe, heating them increases the amount that is transferred into our environment!

That’s why many are going back to old fashioned glass. Glass bottles for kids, glass bowls, cups and containers for storage; just one more thing to check off as unsafe for use and consumption and another reason to stop drinking water out of a plastic bottle. Either get a filtered system through your frig, pitcher or just drink tap water; it can’t be any worse for you than everything else we encounter. So much for progress…

If you have not already started your Christmas decorations and shopping you might want to think about starting now! There are only a couple of weeks left and you’ll be left behind if you don’t get moving soon. Of course, you may be like my father who just writes everybody checks so he does his Christmas shopping the easy way.

Speaking of the easy way to shop, we did ours online right after Thanksgiving and had our presents directly shipped to the people who don’t live close to us. It saved time and the hassle and extra expense of shipping because we got some really good deals that included shipping this year. If you hurry, those deals are still out there. Another thing we did was attend a Christmas Open House hosted by one of our friends who sells Pampered Chef. We were able to purchase some great gifts and you can email our friend at mkh37206@gmail.com if you need some great cookware by Pampered Chef. Just a few hints of what you could do between now and Christmas if you need to get started buying presents.