The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

How is your Christmas Day going?

Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate this day, the annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ.

Nine-in-ten Americans — and 95 percent of Christians — say they celebrate Christmas, according to a Pew Research Center survey. These figures have generally held steady in recent years. Today, 46 percent of Americans say they celebrate Christmas as primarily a religious rather than cultural holiday.

Consumers spent about $1,007 for the holiday season this year, up 4.1 percent from the $967 spent last year, according to a survey conducted for the National Retail Federation. Hopefully, you kept your receipts so you can return clothes that don't fit or gifts that didn't meet their mark in terms of pleasing the recipient.

Facts and figures for the 2018 holidays

It’s that time of year. The holidays are upon us. Hanukkah has been celebrated and today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the day with the least daylight and the longest night. Christmas is approaching rapidly as is Kwanzaa, Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.

Celebrants

Nine-in-ten Americans — and 95 percent of Christians — say they celebrate Christmas, according to a Pew Research Center survey. These figures have generally held steady in recent years. Today, 46 percent of Americans say they celebrate Christmas as primarily a religious rather than cultural holiday.

How to research a charity

When I was writing about Giving Tuesday on Tuesday, my daughter asked me how you research a charity. I’ve recommended it for years but haven’t done it myself because I give to the same four charities that I’m familiar with every year.

She said when the Trump administration began putting immigrant kids in cages, her daughter asked if there was a way to help them. My daughter picked a charity that she saw recommended on Facebook, the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project or ASAP that is one of the projects at the Urban Justice Center in New York.

I decided to see what I could find out about it.

What are your favorite stores for holiday shopping?

On Sunday, I went to the outlet mall with my daughter and her teenage son to buy his Christmas presents. Now that he’s a teen, he wants clothes for Christmas – and he wants to pick them out.

We went to Adidas. He bought a pair of sweats and we picked out a t-shirt for him also because the Black Friday deal was 25 percent off on the second, less costly item.

Next, we went to Nike. He picked out a pair of running shoes and a sweatshirt. My daughter was excited to find a rain jacket she could wear when running. And, she found a sweatshirt she liked. The deals were better Adidas. Thirty percent off on everything.

The third stop was at the store for my grandson’s sports team. He bought a coral-colored hoodie there.

It was a boring shopping trip. The shops were filled mostly with gray, black, and navy blue clothes. I looked longingly at the pretty patterns and bright colors when we passed by the women’s stores. Later, my daughter said.

My favorite stores for holiday shopping are:

Happy Thanksgiving

Best wishes to you and your loved ones on Thanksgiving.

I’m fortunate that I’m able to spend time with my daughter and her family this year.

What are Americas up to on Thanksgiving?

Ninety-six percent of Americas are expected to gather for a Thanksgiving celebration, according to Nationwide. Nearly 88 percent of Americans eat turkey as part of their Thanksgiving dinner. That’s 46 million turkeys eaten on Thanksgiving Day.

Top 10 stores for Cyber Monday shopping

Cyber Monday isn't just for Black Friday leftovers. Some of the year's best sales will take place on Monday, Nov. 26. So, you may want to save part of your holiday shopping budget for Cyber Monday deals.

Which stores will be offering the best savings? DealNews.com offers 10 suggestions, based on the best sales last year from Cyber Monday and the Sunday before.

1. Amazon

Best for: Gaming, toys, home, and almost anything else you can buy online

While plenty of other retailers offer Cyber Monday sales, none of them match Amazon's. Last year, DealNews.com saw three times as many Cyber Monday deals at Amazon as the next highest retailer.

Watch out for toxic, dangerous toys, consumer group warns

This holiday season, watch out for dangerous and toxic toys. WashPIRG Foundation’s 33rd annual "Trouble in Toyland" report found toxic amounts of boron in slime products and a failure by Amazon to appropriately label choking hazards. Boron can cause nausea, vomiting, and other health issues.

“No one should worry about whether or not the toy they’re buying is toxic or dangerous," said Elise Orlick, director of the WashPIRG Foundation. "But in 2018, we’re still finding hazards in some of the most popular toys. Toy manufacturers must do better to ensure their products are safe before they end up in children’s hands and mouths.” 

For more than 30 years, Trouble in Toyland has issued toy safety guidelines and has provided examples of toys currently on store shelves that pose potential safety hazards to small children. Key findings from this year’s report include:

Baby boomers pondering the holidays, travel, and change

Thanksgiving has always been nice celebration for me and my family. However, in recent years, I’ve been thinking more and more about the criticisms of the holiday.

Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting sheds some light on Thanksgiving. Baer did research and discovered some historical facts not taught in school, at least not when she went to school. Her “A Thanksgiving Story for Adults” isn’t X-rated, but includes details that might shock kids and many adults, too.

Carol Cassara at A Healing Spirit reminds us it's not Thanksgiving yet, and it’s still early in the holiday season. Cassara offers a gift guide for the special people in your life.

Rebecca Olkowski with BabyBoomster.com has updated her holiday gift guide for 2018. Look and see what she recommends for fun gifts you can order online for family, friends, and colleagues. And if you’re looking for something tasty to make for Thanksgiving check out her "Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup" of family favorites.

Tom Sightings of Sightings Over 60 is visiting Charleston, South Carolina, billed as America's most historic city. Take a look at “Discovering the Lost Cause” for a glimpse of the city – and a look at what really went on in its gilded past.

Jennifer Koshak of Unfold And Begin reminds us we’ve all been through change. Some easy. Some hard. But imagine finding out that not only is your husband leaving you for his mistress but that he’s lost all of your money and is leaving you in massive debt. That's what happened to Lee Gaitan who is the most recent Starting Over interview on Koshak’s blog.

Laura Lee Carter of the Adventures of the New Old Farts suffered a close call this past summer with wildfires in southern Colorado. Carter shares her thoughts about those caught in California's recent firestorms, and those who simply don't understand how it feels.

This is the Best of Boomer Blogs #573. Click on the links and see what boomer bloggers have to say. And, be sure and join in the conversations. Boomer bloggers love to hear from readers.

Copyright 2018, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Another mass killing: Let’s do something about responsible gun legislation

It’s been 10 days since I wrote about the last gun massacre. Eleven people were killed and six injured in a shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill, a Pittsburgh neighborhood.

Now, it’s happened again. On Wednesday, 12 people, including a sheriff's sergeant, were killed at a bar in Thousand Oakes, California.

Ian David Long, 28, was dressed in black and wore a mask when he entered the Borderline Bar & Grill. Long threw smoke bombs and used a Glock 21 .45-caliber handgun, which had been modified with an extended magazine, law enforcement officials said.

What is it that people don’t get about 80,000 more people dying each decade under Trump’s policies?

Although the Democrats taking over the U.S. House of Representatives is a good step, I was appalled the Republican party increased its majority in the Senate and won governorships in Tuesday’s election.

It’s disgusting that Trump’s anti-immigrant propaganda is so overwhelming that the public doesn’t get it that he and his cronies are destroying the consumer, clean water, and clean air policies that protect us.

Each decade 80,000 extra people will die due to Trump’s environmental agenda, according to two Harvard researchers.

These extra deaths will affect us all – our husbands, our wives, our children, our babies, and our friends. It’s agonizing watching someone die from chemically induced cancer. My father, a farmer, died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is linked to pesticide exposure. It was horrible to watch him get more frail and die.