Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday

I love that there is now a Giving Tuesday. When I worked in non-profit, we didn’t have something like this. We appealed daily, weekly, monthly, yearly; whenever we could, to raise funds and awareness for our organization. Giving Tuesday originally seemed like just another new non-profit marketing tool and I never thought much of its true significance until today.

After an amazing Thanksgiving spent with loved ones, our attention has now shifted to the craziness of the holiday shopping season. How did we go from being so thankful to being so material within hours? While I’m not a Black Friday shopper, I did spend a majority of Cyber Monday on a laptop looking for Christmas gifts. I went to what seemed like every website imaginable looking for the perfect gifts for my daughter, my nieces and nephews, my sister-in-law, my mom. I didn’t even get to my husband, my in-laws, or my brother. And while I truly LOVE buying gifts for people, wrapping them up and seeing the excitement on their faces when they receive them, I literally feel like I wasted so much time on my computer looking for presents.

They say you should be thankful for your health, your family, and so forth; that gifts aren’t important. Yet we’re all still making Christmas lists and trying to find the best deals to make the holidays special. After a shitty time last year with my dad’s illness and my mother-in-law recently hospitalized, coupled with all the Facebook posts and news coverage about Giving Tuesday, I literally stopped to think how much all this “stuff” doesn’t really matter. Yet we’re all here, shopping and scurrying, trying to find all the best things.

So this Giving Tuesday, why not take a moment and move on from Target’s website,  ToysRUs, wherever you’re shopping, and make a donation to an organization that really helps those in need. Then head back to your 1-click shopping on Amazon.

#GivingTuesday

Christmas Break Never Gets Old

Doesn’t matter how old I am, Christmas break never gets old. Nearly two whole weeks off to celebrate the holidays with family, ring in the New Year with friends and essentially do whatever we want.

By the time Christmas is over, I don’t even know what day it is. I lose track of all sense of time and purpose. Even with a small child in tow, we sleep late, stay in our pajamas far longer than we should and sometimes don’t even get our day started till well after 3pm. And we love it.

With all the routines and schedules we adhere to all year long, Christmas break is a welcomed opportunity to snuggle on the couch a little longer, disconnect from the rest of the world, and indulge in all the things we will complain about as the new year rolls around. And it’s so nice to have our family be together for so many days, while also having a little time to ourselves.

Over the last two weeks, I have probably put on countless pounds from leaving my gym routine to stuff my face, been a little MIA from my friends, and will have a hell of a reality check come Monday, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Here’s to a happy, healthy New Year!

Mom’s Holiday Office Party

I love parties. My husband and I are actually really good at throwing them if I do say so myself. We have barbecues, birthdays, even an annual ugly sweater themed party. So when the holidays roll around, I always get nostalgic for the office Christmas (or holiday for all those politically correct ones out there) party. Free booze, raffles, food, music, and presents! However, when you stay at home, there’s none of that. Until this year.

While my daughter had a school party, my husband attended a few work parties and even my retired dad went to his old office’s party, I started to wonder, where is the party for those of us that stay home? I complained to my husband about this and presto, Mom’s Holiday Office Party was born. While there weren’t any raffles, we had food, booze, balloons, played games, wrapped presents, and watched The Elf on the Shelf. And I got a very special message from my 2-year-old CEO, which was the best part of the whole shindig. Hats off to my team for throwing me such a fun and festive little party, full of all my favorite things and people and no boring power point presentations!

 

Bah Humbug! Beware of Scammers Preying on Unemployed This Holiday Season

I love gift wrapping. My dad is a bit of a freak about it and I think I followed in his footsteps. So imagine my excitement when I received an email from Best Buy telling me about a gift wrapping job opportunity available during the holiday season. Look, I’m unemployed…any opportunity involving something I like even a little bit excites me!

This email didn’t go into my spam box, but I wasn’t foolish enough to think “Richard Miller” was reaching out to me and only me. I am sure “Director of Communications” didn’t scream gift wrapper when he poached my email from some career website database. But I didn’t let it bring me down. It was the holidays and this seemed like a cool way to make some extra cash and kill some free time, so I emailed him back for some more info. “A new Best Buy just opened up in Jersey City,” I thought to myself. I know so many unemployed people, maybe we can do this together and make a thing of it!

How many of you are laughing at me right now? Don’t feel bad, because I’m laughing at myself as I write this. The email fails to send ( he had a Best Buy domain – I’m not that bad!), so I call the number Richard provided for me in his correspondence. I’m directly connected to “Welcome to HR department” and some elevator music. No Best Buy, not even the HR department, just HR Department. Now my senses are peaked. Could this be a scam?

I waited on hold for maybe 3 minutes. “Everyone probably got this email all at once,” I’m thinking. “The lines are bum-rushed.”

Finally, I throw in the towel, accepting defeat, realizing there is no Richard Miller, no Best Buy gift wrapping holiday temp job, just gullible me.

What I didn’t understand was what kind of scam this could be. Did they want to get my social security number or other personal information if I filled out a job application? Rob or carjack me when I showed up somewhere to wrap all these gifts? No, not even close. When I did a little research, I found out that this was a “wrap from home scheme.” What these people do is send you stolen merchandise and pay to have it shipped across the globe, then disappear and never pay you.

Usually I am smarter than this. Maybe I should lay off the egg nog! Happy holidays!