Real Christmas

Here we are a week before Christmas — and we’re not even half done with our shopiing. In a survey released Wednesday, the National Retail Federation said the average person had completed just 46.7% of their holiday shopping by the second week of December.

That’s slightly less than the 47.1% completed by this time last year, according to the retail trade group, and the lowest percentage since 2004, when the average person had completed 46.3% of their shopping by the same point.

Nearly 42 million people (19.1%) had not even started their shopping as of late last week, while 8.6% of shoppers had completely finished.

The results are somewhat surprising given retailers’ claims this season that good merchandise would sell out quickly because of lower inventory levels.

Now, with just over a week left until Christmas, procrastinators could actually find some great deals, said Tracy Mullin, president of the retail federation.

“Retailers know the final lap counts the most and are planning to emphasize promotions and discounts to bring in last-minute shoppers,” she said. “As Christmas Day creeps closer, retailers will be ready for an influx of procrastinators, from those who are checking the final names off their list to millions who haven’t even started shopping.”

With many people shopping for bargains and convenience, discount stores and department stores can expect to see the most traffic in the coming days, the retail group said. More than a third of respondents (38%) said they would shop online.

The survey, which polled 9,929 consumers from Dec. 1-9, also found that fewer people have used credit cards as their preferred payment method this year. Popular shopping categories included apparel, books, CDs, DVDs, toys and gift cards.

Christmas will be only modestly more expensive this year, according to a study out Monday, as prices for everything from partridges to pear trees declined in the weak economy.

The total cost to buy all of the items named in “The 12 Days of Christmas” song increased by just 0.9% this year to $87,402.81, said PNC Financial Services Group.

Of the 12 items in PNC’s annual cost of Christmas study — which tracks the prices of everything from calling birds to French hens — three fell from last year while five increased in cost and four remained steady.

“This year’s PNC Christmas Price Index again reflects the patterns in the broader economy,” said James Dunigan, managing executive of investments for PNC Wealth Management.

The index got the biggest boost from a surge in the price of gold, which is at a record high near $1,200. That sent the cost of five golden rings up 43% this year.

Declines in bird prices were the main drag, with partridge prices falling by half, and the price of geese down more than a third from last year.

French hens, however, bucked the trend. Prices for the imported poultry jumped 50% to $45 for three.

With the nation’s jobless rate above 10%, many of the index’s labor related components stagnated. The cost for 10 lords-a-leaping, 11 pipers piping and 12 drummers drumming were all unchanged from last year.

However, an increase in the federal minimum wage helped boost the cost for eight maids-a-milking, the only unskilled laborers in the study, by 11% to $58 from $52.40 in 2008.

And “The 12 Days of Christmas” aren’t any cheaper for online shoppers. The cost to buy all 79 items mentioned in one verse of the song from online retailers came to $31,434.85. That’s about $10,000 more than the $21,465.56 it would cost to buy all of the items off line.

“In general, Internet prices are higher than their non-Internet counterparts because of shipping costs for birds,” Dunigan said.

A hotel chain has promised families a stress-free solution to hosting the in-laws over Christmas in Great Britain, Sky News reported.

Holiday Inn is offering a special room rate for mothers-in-law during the festive period, so that families can have a break from each other.

Relatives can check their partner’s mother into a room and gain a 25 percent discount.

The rate will be offered to in-laws between December 23 and 29, and extends to all of the firm’s 194 Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express hotels across the U.K.

Relationship expert Kirsten Gronning said incidents of arguments increase fivefold during the festive celebrations.

“Christmas can be an extremely stressful period, especially for the family planning and catering for it,” she told Sky News.

Our friends at Clausnet had this and I just had to share it:

Money is no object when you don’t have it, right?

Back in the day Sears published what they called their Christmas Wishbook. I used to dream I had won a lottery that allowed me to pick one item from every page for free and that a big truck would deliver it to my house. Gifts for everyone! I would spend hours flipping the pages, agonizing over what one item I would select.

So in this recessionary enviroment what’s an obsolete kid supposed to do? May we humbly suggest the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book for the unemployed, uninspired or flat out broke Christmas shopper. Some of the ridiculous items Neiman’s suggests are fit only for the pages of a catalogue. Take, for example, this dream gift:

That, my friends, is a cupcake car. No home can be without one…er, with one… and for $25k what else is on the road that is truly worthy of trading in for your clunker? I mean — really!

From $175 iPhone holders to $12,000 Michelle Brand Sustainable Chandeliers if you’ve got money to burn, Neiman has a bonfire waiting for you.

As for me, I studying it…one page at a time.

Actor/country singer Billy Ray Cyrus will be starring in the upcoming Hallmark Channel holiday film, entitled “Christmas in Canaan.”

According to an article on HollywoodReporter.com, “The telefilm, slated to air in December, is based on a novel co-written by another country star/actor, Kenny Rogers, and Donald Davenport.”

The movie is set in 1960s Texas and its plot revolves around the unlikely friendship that evolves between two boys, one who is white and the other who is black, as they bond over their mutual concern for an injured puppy.

Zak Ludwig, who starred in the 2007 John Cusack drama, “Martian Child,” plays DJ, the white boy, and Jaishon Fisher, who starred in the 2008 Samuel L. Jackson thriller, “Lakeview Terrace,” plays Rodney, the black boy.

The HollywoodReporter.com article goes on to say, “Cyrus plays DJ’s dad, who, with Rodney’s grandmother, concocts the puppy plan after the boys get into a schoolyard tussle.”

While Davenport wrote the script, the story was a product of Rogers. Neill Fearnley is directing the project. Fearnley previously directed several episodes of “1-800-Missing,” the Lifetime drama series, which aired between 2003 and 2006 and starred ex-“ER” cast member Gloria Reuben.

Shooting on “Christmas in Canaan” has already begun in Vancouver.

Disney’s “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” is getting in on the holiday spirit a little early this year. Before Halloween is underway, a new Christmas-themed holiday special, “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Choo Choo Express,” is set to premiere on Disney Channel on Sunday, October 25th.

Based on the #1 “Playhouse Disney” series, the all-new primetime special features Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and the rest of the gang in a new adventure as they plan to have snow delivered to the clubhouse from Mistletoe Mountain to play in it all year long. Santa and Mrs. Clause as well as other Clubhouse characters like Clarabelle and Chip and Dale also join in on the fun.

The cast of characters will also perforn a brand new song, while Grammy-winners They Might Be Giants will contribute new music to the special as well.

Following its DIsney Channel premiere, “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Choo Choo Express” is set to hit DVD on December 1st, just in time for the holiday shopping season.

Most people in western New York may be wondering when the summer weather will start, but the workers at Stokoe Farms in Wheatland couldn’t be happier with the cool conditions.

“Usually the kids are out in the heat all morning working on the Christmas trees, and that is tough,” said founder Larry Stokoe, 73. “This year it is like Washington- and Oregon-type weather. That is why those states are the Christmas tree capitals of the country.”

The Stokoes grow Christmas trees on 75 acres of their 4,000-acre farm. In June, July and most of August, the family hires 8 to 12 high school and college students to shear and trim the trees so that they will be formed well for the holidays.

As soon as a tree turns 3, it must be trimmed each summer until it is ready to be sold at 8 to 10 years old.

“It is an art form to get it in the right shape,” said Suzanne Stokoe, 43, of Wheatland. “This has been a nice year for working outside. The cooler weather is better for the tree, and the workers, than the hot and humid weather.”

Suzanne said their biggest worry this year is that all the moist, cool days have caused second growths on the trees they have already trimmed.

“That usually isn’t a problem around here, but the Douglas firs are getting secondary growths on them,” she said.

The Stokoes, who have run the farm for 22 years, grow about 1,200 trees on each one of their acres. Besides the Christmas trees, they grow pumpkins, corn and soy beans on the rest of the farm.

“This is a great summer job,” said Ben Hogan, 16, of Wheatland, as he hacked away at a tree. “A lot of my friends have worked here and my brother worked here for a long time.”

The nation’s retailers got a much-needed sales boost during Black Friday’s traditional shopathon as consumers, lured by deep discounts, spent nearly 3 percent more than they did last year.

Sales on the day after Thanksgiving rose to $10.6 billion, according to preliminary figures released Saturday by ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago-based research firm that tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets.

Last year, shoppers spent about $10.3 billion on the day after Thanksgiving, dubbed Black Friday because it was historically the sales-packed day when retailers would become profitable for the year.

While it isn’t a predictor of overall holiday season sales, Black Friday is an important barometer of people’s willingness to spend during the holidays. Last year, it was the biggest sales generator of the season.

But experts caution that this year’s sales growth may be hard to sustain for the remainder of the holiday shopping season, which has 27 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas instead of the 32 last year.

Still, the sales boost was surprising in light of data showing shoppers are scaling back on discretionary spending because of a recession fueled by uncertainty related to turmoil in the world’s financial and credit markets.

“Under these circumstances, to start off the season in this fashion is truly amazing and is a testament to the resiliency of the American consumer, and undeniably proves a willingness to spend,” ShopperTrak co-founder Bill Martin said in a statement.

Across the country, sales in the South were up 3.4 percent from last year while they climbed 2.6 percent in the Northeast as shoppers began scouring store aisles at midnight hoping to snag the best selection on early morning specials.

Patty Saal, 60, of Mogadore, Ohio, began her Black Friday shopping at 5 a.m. when she and her daughters went to a Sam’s Club to purchase iPods.

“We’re doing fine,” she said.

Fifth grade teacher Daphna Stepen, 42, spent Black Friday hunting for deals inside Macy’s and at the Limited Too clothing store and headed out again on Saturday. The Chicago resident said she was surprised by the discounts as well as how many coupons she’d received from stores, which helped her save even more money on already marked-down items.

“You can get almost 40 percent off stuff if you work the coupons,” she said.

Separately on Saturday, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. said business was strong in its sites across the country as customers responded to sales. Some of the department store’s best sellers were smaller electronic gadgets and practical gifts, such as sweaters, boots, coats and luggage.

But the chain said it wouldn’t provide specific sales figures.

“In light of the challenging and volatile economic climate, and shifts in this year’s retail calendar, we don’t believe that reporting sales data for any one day (or weekend), including Black Friday, would provide a meaningful barometer of our business,” the Plano, Texas company said in a statement released Saturday afternoon.

“Closer. Closer!” I say to my husband, motioning in the direction of the French-laced leg and fringed hemline. “Would you just touch it already?”

Who would’ve thought, after all these years, I’d have to beg him to get near it?

Christmas after Christmas, my husband’s family has gathered around the television and laughed hysterically through repeats of the movie A Christmas Story.

Now here we were at the actual house where parts of the movie were filmed, standing in the living room an arm’s length away from the famous leg lamp (won in the movie by “the old man” as a “major award”), and my husband Ish was acting like he wanted nothing to do with it.

Even if, like me, you have never seen the movie in its entirety, chances are someone in your home considers it a classic.

This holiday season marks the 25th anniversary of A Christmas Story. In the film, Ralphie – a precocious misfit played by Peter Billingsley – wants a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, but his mother fears he will “shoot his eye out.” Hilarious hijinks ensue (cue: eye rolling) and in the end Ralphie gets the gun and proves his mother was right … sort of.

The house we’re standing in was the one used in all the exterior shots in the movie (including the classic final scene). And judging by the 60,000 visitors who have passed through its doors since they opened in 2006, my in-laws aren’t the only ones who find the movie funny.

Count Brian Jones among the movie’s fans.

The 32-year-old San Diego native turned his childhood love of the film into a lucrative business. When his dreams of being a fighter pilot were dashed after he failed the sight requirements, Jones began making and selling replica leg lamps (www.redriderleglamps.com).

In 2005, when the two-family apartment house in Cleveland went up for sale on eBay, Jones paid $150,000 for the property and then spent 10 months and $250,000 more to renovate the house to match his all-time favourite movie.

The rest is history.

Lest you think my husband, his sisters and the two men who run this shop are the only die-hard fans, you should know that every November over the American Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 28-29), an A Christmas Story convention brings people from around the globe out to the simple yellow house with green trim.

This year, in celebration of the 25th anniversary milestone, original actors will be back in town, two documentaries about the film will debut and rides will be offered in the original Canadian fire truck used in the film.

Year-round tours offer visitors a chance to take photos throughout the house while a guide explains the various rooms and special touches, as well as access to the museum and gift shop across the street (where mini replicas of the leg lamp in night-light form sell for $15).

“I find people who are of the retiring age like (the house) because in many ways it is similar to what they grew up with,” says our tour guide. And because the house is a renovation, not a restoration, guests can go to town re-enacting their favourite scenes.

“Everyone likes to climb under the kitchen sink,” she says, referring to a popular scene from the movie.

The items in the museum across the street are less hands-on. All have been purchased, collected or donated to the museum. The walls are lined with Warner Bros.’ archive shots of the film and actors have donated their own snapshots of fun in between takes. Original costumes from the Chinese restaurant chop suey scene, Randy’s “I can’t get my arms down” snowsuit and anything else that could be damaged or stolen are protected behind glass.

While many of the cast members have already made a visit to the museum, “Ralphie” remains a holdout. What, you may be asking, ever happened to that pudgy little guy with a penchant for guns?

Turns out he did all right.

“He went on to be an executive producer of some small movies you may have heard of,” museum executive director Steve Siedlecki says with a grin, “like Iron Man and The Break-up.”

Not bad.

And yet, despite what everyone has gone through to make this moment possible, my husband is standing stone-faced, a full foot away from the lamp others would kill to touch.

It takes a few minutes of begging and cajoling but I finally make it happen: the husband and the lamp in one shot. His fears that I’ll somehow expose his obsession to the world subside as I snap another shot by the Christmas tree and yet another by the film-family portraits on the stairs.

“See?” I say as I shut down the camera and pat him comfortingly on the back. “That wasn’t so bad.”