'Tis the season for celebrating family and giving thanks for another year gone by. To help your audience experience the best that this season offers, use this guide to story ideas and expert sources from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Included in this tipsheet:* How to one-up the crowds on Black Friday and the rest of the holiday season.* How to make the holidays happy for children of divorced parents.* How to successfully avoid holiday burnout.* Stress-free traveling with Fido and Whiskers.* Picking the perfect fir for your family.
Black Friday Descends on Day After Thanksgiving
It's 6 a.m. on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Parking lots are packed and customers are eagerly awaiting the opening of doors at toy stores and malls. Welcome to the holiday shopping season.
For many, the day after Thanksgiving, commonly known among retailers as "Black Friday," is a shopping tradition and also is a time to secure great deals on Christmas gifts for loved ones.
"For many retailers, the largest percentage of their sales come from the fourth quarter," says Pamela Norum, associate professor of textiles and apparel. "The use of promotions entices consumers out to the malls and into the stores."
Norum offers the following advice about the holiday shopping season:
* Come prepared. To get the best deals, consumers should have a list of what they want to buy in order to limit impulse buying and to comparison shop. Shoppers also should be aware that many items will have their prices slashed closer to Christmas.
* Beware of bargains. A great bargain isn't necessarily a great buy. Consumers should remember that it really isn't a bargain if you are purchasing something you don't really need just because it has a great price.
* Sales are plentiful if you know where to look. Many retailers offer sales on the day after Thanksgiving to attract customers to their stores. Stores that use price promotions throughout the year are more likely to offer sale prices on Black Friday.
The term Black Friday refers to a time when retailers spent most of the year in "red ink" and count on the day after Thanksgiving to get them back in the "black."
Keeping Holidays Merry for Children of Divorced Parents
The holidays can be a stressful and complicated time for children of divorced parents. They might feel they aren't able to please everyone because they can't be in two places at once. If they spend a major holiday with one parent, they worry that the other parent will feel sad or left out. Marilyn Coleman, professor of human development and family studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia and an expert on divorce and stepfamilies, has a solution to help make this time of year merrier for these children.
She recommends having parents create a separate holiday that can be theirs and theirs alone, in addition to Christmas or Hannukah, so that children won't feel guilty for spending time with one parent but not the other. Coleman says this can be a less popular holiday such as Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day or an entirely new one.
"Both parents want the children for the entire holiday and so the children feel that no matter what they do they are disappointing the people who matter most to them," Coleman said. "These children are in a no-win situation unless their parents agree, at least temporarily, to put aside differences and make a mutual effort not to manipulate the kids."
Coleman has written several publications about her research on how stepfamilies can become effective, satisfying units for children and adults. Her on-going research focuses on women's experiences in remarriage and stepfamilies. In 1999, she published data on family responsibilities in the book, Changing Families, Changing Responsibilities: Family Obligations Following Divorce and Remarriage.
Potatoes Boiling Over? They May Not Be AloneMU Professor Offers Tips to Take the Stress Out of the Season
While many of us know a superwoman who seems effortlessly to juggle holiday obligations, this may only be a facade, according to Laurie Mintz, associate professor of educational and counseling psychology. The "happy faces" that many wear to hide their stress during the holidays often increases holiday stress for others, by perpetuating the myth that the holidays are a stress-free time. Mintz offers several tips to help women strike a healthy balance during the holidays:
* Determine what your expectations are for the holidays and whether they should be lowered. "Do you have to create a delicious meal and serve it with a warm glow of holiday cheer?" Mintz asks. "Or at the other extreme, would you be satisfied if no one gets food poisoning, and you are able to finish the meal without a fight?"
* Anticipate what aspects will cause you stress and prepare yourself mentally. You may even find that you can adjust your plans to avoid this stress. For example, purchase a pie at a local bakery to save a little cooking time.
* Share your negative feelings with others. Friends and family will approach their own holidays more realistically if they know you are experiencing many of the same difficulties they face.
* Remember to stick with the stress management routine that works for you the rest of the year. This may include taking time to pamper yourself or exercising.
* Expect stress. If you expect the holidays to be blissful, you'll be disappointed when they're not.
Have Pet, Will Travel
The approaching holidays usually mean making travel plans to visit loved ones who are far from home. Some members of the family, however, may not be able to make the trip: pets. While some pets are easy to travel with, others must stay behind in the care of a pet-sitting service or a responsible adult.
If you do decide to travel with your pet, C.B. Chastain, professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia College of Veterinary Medicine, offers the following tips:
* Puppies and kittens younger than eight weeks old and pets with severe or contagious illness should not travel with you.
* You will need a crate big enough for your pet to stand up and turn around in, that is ventilated and has a leak-proof bottom. Get your pet accustomed to the crate in advance by feeding treats and taking them for short car trips in the crate.
* When traveling with your pet in the car, stop every two hours for a brief walk and drink.
* Do not feed your pet six to12 hours before travel.
* When traveling with your pet, use tranquilizers only for pets that are repeatedly very nervous, but otherwise in excellent health.
* Call hotels in advance to check their pet policy.
* Take photos with you in case your pet escapes and you have to notify animal control officers.
Picking the Perfect Christmas tree
Because the Christmas tree often serves as the centerpiece of holiday festivities, a great deal of time can be spent searching for the perfect one. Most people want to know how to make sure they are picking a good tree and how to make it last.
Hank Stelzer, associate professor of forestry at the University of Missouri-Columbia, offers the following tips for picking a Christmas tree:
* Use the "freshness test" when picking a tree. Gently grasp a branch between your thumb and forefinger and pull it toward you. Very few needles come off a fresh tree. If the tree has been cut, shake or bounce it on the stump. An excessive amount of green needles falling to the ground signals it is not fresh. Some loss of interior brown needles is normal.
* Water is the key to making a tree last through the season. Make a horizontal cut half an inch from the bottom and immediately place it in water. Be sure the water level never falls below the bottom of the trunk. A tree kept in water should last four to five weeks.
* When selecting a spot for your tree, do not place it next to a fireplace or wood stove or above a heating vent. The hot air will cause the tree to dry out faster.
* Remove trees from the home once they fail the freshness test. If your community does not have a recycling program for trees, place it in your backyard with bread in the branches for birds.
* Christmas trees grow about a foot a year. A small apartment-size tree needs about four to five years, a tree for a standard size living room takes about seven to eight years and a tree for rooms with cathedral ceilings must grow for nine to 12 years.
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