Real Christmas

Here is Christmas decorating done right — red-neck style!

Central Iowa has had many versions of the Christmas truck over the last 25 years. Here’s how it began. Kris Marshall was carrying a generator and some Christmas lights to his church in his $50 used truck. Much like peanut butter and chocolate, the two combined to create something awesome and The Christmas Truck was born.

It’s not high-tech. Just lights taped to the truck. During the day it looks horrible. At night, it’s amazing. Marshall has since used eight trucks and added dozens of strands. The truck is always a 2WD Chevy/GMC with a regular cab and eight-foot truck bed.

Kris was a man with a dream. Now he’s driving Christmas cheer on the roads Iowa. Now all we need is a convoy of these trucks.

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.

The CEO of Nintendo is warning consumers in the U.S. that if they want to get their kids a Wii for Christmas they had better get it now. Come the holiday season it seems the Wii will be in short supply — again.

He cites “unusually high demand” in the U.S. for the Wii.

Consumers in Europe can walk in to any retailer and buy the game system any minute of any day — year round, even during peak holiday seasons.

So why is it so hard to find in the U.S.?

We don’t suppose the weak dollar has anything to do with it. We’re sure Nintendo just can’t find the U.S. on a map.

There’s no cheerful way to say it: Get ready for a sober Christmas season.

Yes, it’s only July, but retailers already are deep in planning mode for the holiday season, and what they are sensing adds up to potential trouble, with some experts saying this could be the toughest environment in almost 30 years.

“What word should I use? Terrible? Horrible? Miserable?” said Homi Patel, chairman and chief executive of Hartmarx Corp., a Chicago-based clothing manufacturer of suits and sportswear, when asked to describe the 2008 holiday. “There is a time when the consumer isn’t going to shop. It doesn’t matter if it’s 70 percent off or 80 percent off, the mind-set is, ‘I just don’t want to shop.’ And that’s something we haven’t seen in quite some time.”

With credit harder to come by, homes no longer a source of quick cash, and stock portfolios shrinking, retailers are bracing to duke it out for every dollar this holiday. Merchants are keeping inventories lean to avoid the risk of costly markdowns. And they are making a keen effort to keep prices down.

In a sign of what is ahead, Costco Wholesale Corp., the warehouse club chain that has steadily weathered the economic slowdown, warned Wednesday that profit for the current quarter would be “well below” Wall Street estimates as the company grapples with higher energy costs and holds back on price increases in order to keep customers.

The Platt Retail Institute, one of the first think tanks to venture a holiday forecast, predicts sales will increase about 2.8 percent, less than last year’s 3 percent, which was the worst in five years. The Hinsdale-based firm also sees a longer-term shift in consumer spending that will start to show up this holiday season.

The magnitude of the housing crisis, combined with soaring food and gas prices, leads the research group to believe that consumer spending, a main driver of the economy, will shrink as a percentage of the gross domestic product in the years ahead.

Consumer spending accounts for about 71 percent of GDP, up from 65 percent in 1980. Platt predicts that percentage will revert to about 66 percent as consumers seek to strengthen their household balance sheets over the next decade.

“What was not understood by many lenders during the recent housing cycle, for which consumers are now bearing the result of this reckless lending, is the realization that the value of assets, like houses, can go down,” said Steven Platt, author of the report. “People are going to be spending less and, hopefully, saving more, so the retail base will have to shrink.”

At the moment, retailers are keeping a close eye on back-to-school sales for signs of how shoppers will behave come November. The International Council of Shopping Centers forecasts sales for the three-month period of mid-July through mid-September will rise 1 percent, the smallest increase since 2001.

The back-to-school sales season often is held as a bellwether for holiday sales, but this year is complicated by the federal tax-rebate checks, which likely will give an artificial lift to July and August sales.

“There really are a lot more unknowns this year, which is why it’s difficult for retailers to plan,” said Ellen Davis, senior director for strategic communications for the retail trade group.

Gas prices, for example, cut directly into discretionary spending, but no one knows where pump prices will be in November.

Retailers also could get help in the form of another government stimulus package, currently being talked about in Congress. And the outcome of the presidential election could have an impact.

Retailers have placed the bulk of their orders for the holiday season. Come November, the trick will be to figure out how to get shoppers into their stores or onto their Web sites.

Amazon.com, the world’s largest Internet retailer, just started a service that allows shoppers to purchase gifts online without a credit card.

American Eagle Outfitters Inc., the young-adult clothing chain, is banking on sweaters under $40 and a new computer system that allows cashiers to see what is in stock at its distribution center, the company disclosed in a July 15 presentation to analysts. So, if a shopper can’t find a size or style in the store, the cashier can still complete the sale and send it directly from the center.

J. Crew Group Inc., the high-end preppy retailer, is planning “very conservatively” for the holiday and attempting to simplify its assortments, Chairman and CEO Millard “Mickey” Drexler said in the company’s May 29 earnings conference call. December has become “the biggest promotional month in the world,” he said, a fact that retailers can’t escape.

“I guarantee this year—I guess, it’s a personal opinion—that the customers are going to continue to wait [for sale prices],” said Drexler. “I was in the shopping center the last two weeks; there are so many sale signs everywhere. People are smart, they know it, and they will wait.”

For Jason White, it’s not too early to start thinking about Christmas.

The software developer, fed up with confronting a spike in credit card bills every January, is putting money aside for holiday shopping for the first time, rather than going into debt.

“We’ve been trying to get out of credit card debt and we certainly don’t want to go deeper into debt,” said White, who chronicles his progress at FrugalDad.com, a blog he began this year in an effort to take control of his personal finances. “It takes some level of restraint to keep the money in there.”

Economist Scott Hoyt expects more consumers to rediscover the need to save for the holidays.

“We’re very worried about the outlook for holiday,” said Hoyt, chief economist for consumer affairs at Moody’s Economy.com. “The question is: Do we get a turnaround in the labor markets or another stimulus package? If we don’t get one or the other, it’s going to be ugly.”

In the run-up to Christmas, Macy’s is pulling an all-nighter at all its stores in the region.

The flagship department store in Manhattan’s Herald Square and seven area branches will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the four-day stretch before Christmas.

The shop-til-you-drop-a-thon begins at 7 a.m. Friday and lasts until 6 p.m. Christmas Eve.

Macy’s says the idea was tested last year at a store in Queens and was so successful it was expanded this year to its stores in Manhattan, Yonkers, New Jersey and Long Island.

Macy’s stores usually close between 9:30 p.m. and midnight, depending on the branch.

The last minute will be a crucial one for U.S. retailers looking to make holiday sales as data released on Tuesday, one week before Christmas, show that consumers continue to procrastinate and that last week’s wicked weather stymied holiday shopping.

For the week ended December 15, sales at U.S. retail chain stores open at least a year rose 2.1 percent, the smallest year-over-year advance since June 23, according to data from the International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS Securities LLC.

“ICSC-UBS household surveys continue to show that consumers are completing their holiday season shopping slower than at comparable times in prior years,” the ICSC said in a note.

The group said that “to the chagrin of retailers,” consumers are making fewer visits to stores due to the high price of gasoline.

The holiday season, the crucial one for retailers, typically hinges on last-minute shoppers.

But this year that trend is even more pronounced, as consumers, contending with rising food and fuel prices, seek out deeper discounts from retailers closer to Christmas.

When it comes to Christmas presents, Stacey Smith was stumped over what to give to her husband’s grandmother.

“Especially an older person … they really have everything they need,” Smith said.

But now she’s found something that fits perfectly — the “gift of health” through a medical gift card.

“She can use it towards her prescriptions and her medical bills or anything like that,” Smith said.

This gift card can be used for doctors’ visits or deductibles, prescription co-pays, contact lenses and even elective surgery.

“It’s a first of its kind; no one has ever offered a gift card like this,” said Kim Bellard of givewell.com.

The card is issued by Visa, so it can be used anywhere Visa is accepted for health-related services. They are not sold in stores and need to be purchased online or over the phone for up to $5,000.

“The peak audience we believe though is women 35-50, the famous sandwich generation,” Bellard said. “So, they’ve got parents that have health needs, and they’ve got a spouse that has health needs, and older children going off to college or living on their own that have health needs.”

How does the card impact medical deductions? The person who uses it gets any eligible write-off.

“Be sure to record how much you spent on that card because that is a legitimate medical expense that you can use when you fill out your taxes,” said Jack Gillis of the Consumer Federation of America.

And if you’re buying the card ask the typical gift card questions.

“Check out the fees, check out the expiration date, check out what happens if you lose the card,” Gillis said.

Smith is already considering picking up another one.

“We’re actually thinking about getting one for my mother who wants to join a gym and you can use it for a gym membership,” Smith said.

As with many gift cards, this one come with a fee — $5 plus whatever you load onto the card.

What do you do with a real Christmas tree gone dry? Is there really a way to reverse the sad rigor mortis that overcomes all trees after they have been cut? To one family in Wales, the answer is simple: Viagra.

No, I’m not making this up. Viagra is the cure for what ails your sagging…tree. Check this out.

In Italy they have no Christmas trees, instead they decorate small wooden pyramids with fruit.

In Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, it is customary for the streets to be blocked off on Christmas eve so that the people can roller-skate to church.

An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees. A spider web found on Christmas morning is believed to bring good luck.

It is a British Christmas tradition that a wish made while mixing the Christmas pudding will come true only if the ingredients are stirred in a clockwise direction.

A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard.

Sending red Christmas cards to anyone in Japan constitutes bad etiquette, since funeral notices there are customarily printed in red.

In Norway on Christmas Eve, all the brooms in the house are hidden because long ago it was believed that witches and mischievous spirits came out on Christmas Eve and would steal their brooms for riding.

Walmart isn’t waiting until the day after Thanksgiving. They want it now. Walmart isn’t playing games this year with websites who break news of their ads early either. They’re telling everyone first. Walmart is take Christmas serious this year and they want you to know it.

Wal-Mart will offer black-Friday prices three weeks early when the retailer unveils secret in-store specials: extraordinary prices on five of the most sought after gifts this season. Understanding that more and more consumers are using the internet to comparison shop, Wal-Mart plans to reveal online a round of unbeatable savings on Thursday. The items will be available in stores beginning Friday morning, November 2 as the merchant officially opens special Christmas shops.

Visit Walmart’s “secret” web page by clicking here. A 50″ plasma TV for $998? Available right now. A $350 laptop? Get it now.

How smart is this?

It’s brilliant. Given Wally’s demographic breaking this ad the first weekend of the month will give their buyers plenty of incentive to spend month-end paychecks. The values are Walmart trademarks and it clearly sets them aside. Unlike JCPenneys and similar retailers who hold “door-busting” events now year round this sale screams value and it screams Christmas.