Today’s Topics: Deck The Halls | Today’s Christmas Deal | Alcohol Wipes In-stock | 10 Days of Christmas Giving | News to Start Your Day
Happy Monday!
December 14th is Gingerbread Decorating Day and International Monkey Day…gingerbread housing decorating ain’t no monkey business!
I am happy to report that the halls are finally decked at our home! Whew. Apropos for 2020, it did not go down as expected.
We have a great tree: slim form factor, real-feel limbs, pre-lit with lots of bright white lights, not too tall. It usually takes me 2-3 hours to get it set up and decorated, unless of course there are lights that are out. I’m pretty patient and generally take my time finding the problem lights and replacing them. But of course this year is special: the whole middle section is out … and I’m kind of short on patience. I’ll save the long story and just tell you that we are now the owners of a brand new color changing LED-lit tree. I’m choosing to look at the bright side: we no longer have to debate which is better, color lights or white lights, since we now have both – on the same tree!
The girls are thrilled that it is feeling like Christmas at home. We even watched The Santa Clause to make it officially official.
Are you Team Real Tree or Team Artificial Tree? Color lights or white lights?
I’m looking forward to doing some baking next weekend. Off to find a dairy-free, gluten free, egg free cookie recipe. (Oh, what a year.)
Be sure to check out our 12 Days of Christmas Deals and 10 Days of Christmas Giving series (first 5 below)!
Christin
Product Spotlights & Updates from Rebecca:
We are rolling into our 5th deal from our “12 Days of Christmas Sale” with an awesome sale on Fiber Cables!
We are offering 10% OFF All Basic Fiber Cables and 15% OFF All Premium Fiber Cables! This sale spans all OM ratings so you’re sure to be able to get what you need at a great price!
Our Premium Fiber Cables feature Corning® Optical Fiberglass to give you the highest degree of strength and purity along with low attenuation! In addition, our cables are made with Bend Insensitive Fiber (BIF) meaning you can bend and twist away with minimal loss, Low Smoke Zero Halogen (LSZH) jackets, Ultra Physical Contact (UPC) Polish, and Simple Polarity Reversible Function!
As always, ALL of our cables come with a Lifetime Warranty!
Clorox ain’t got nothing on us!
Friendly reminder that we have a selection of alcohol cleaning wipes that are competitively priced, in stock, and ready to ship!!
Individually Wrapped 70% Alcohol Cleaning Wipes – We have some awesome INDIVIDUALLY WRAPPED 70% Alcohol Cleaning Wipes that are perfect for a wide variety of uses! Keep them in your home, your purse, your car, your desk drawer, your kid’s backpack or lunchbox… these things are so convenient and can go anywhere!! We offer these in packs of 50 Wipes, 100 Wipes, or even a case of 2,500 Wipes!
MagiCare Premium Disinfecting Wipes 75% Alcohol – If you’re looking for a pouch of cleaning wipes, look no further than our MagiCare Premium Disinfecting Wipes! These have a 75% alcohol content which makes them perfect for ensuring proper sanitation! Carry this convenient pouch with you anywhere to make sure that you can quickly and easily clean surfaces in under 10 seconds! Act quick though, these are almost gone!
Also, don’t forget about the FREE SHIPPING code PPESHIP.
10 Days of Christmas Giving (Days 1-5), by Corey Swann, our Marketing Manager
Below are the first 5 themed days or ideas to help inspire you to embrace and love in the holiday season this year.
Kindness
The beautiful thing about kindness is that it is free. This is one of the greatest gifts we can give to others during the holiday season. Sometimes kindness extends beyond our attitude into lending someone a helping hand or financially supporting someone in a small way.
Show Kindness in one of, or all of these easy ways:
- Buy groceries or a grocery store gift card for a family in need.
- Send a thoughtful text to someone who comes to mind and may be in need of encouragement
- Pay for a stranger’s coffee behind you while in line at Starbucks or Tim Hortons.
Peace
Peace does not always indicate outward silence but instead inner calmness. The holidays should be full of peace and stillness for all to reflect on the year as well as look forward to the new year.
Show Peace in one of, or all of these easy ways:
- Reflect on the year and all the things you have accomplished, then write out all of your goals for the new year and make them bigger than ever before.
- Take some alone time to enjoy a warm cup of coffee, read a book you have been putting off, or pray for the ones you love.
- Think of an activity you love doing that brings you joy and peace and include someone you love to participate with you.
Hope
Sometimes the only thing we can find to hold on to is our hope. Our hope in ourselves, our hope in the ones we love, our hope in our faith, or our hope in the future. “Hope” truly is seeing the light in spite of being surrounded by darkness. Take this holiday season to choose hope over fear or doubt, and be fully open to celebrating this holiday season with full attention for the ones you love. Maybe you know someone who has dealt with loss or hardship this year and needs a glimmer of hope.
Show Hope in one of, or all of these easy ways:
- Reach out to someone you know who has had a hard year or season to give a word of encouragement or give an act of service to help take the load off.
- Offer to buy a family in need a Christmas tree & decorations and set it up for them. If you want to take it a step further, even purchasing small gifts for the children & parents.
- Print out your favorite holiday recipe with a not of hope & encouragement and send it in the mail with a card to those you know who could use a friend or a good laugh during the holidays.
Love
Love is the glue that holds all relationships together. Whether it is your family, friends, or spouse, the love you share is one of the most amazing things about the holiday season. It is love that drives us to give and to receive. It is love that ignites us to look beyond ourselves and care about others. This quote from A Charlie Brown Christmas sums it up perfectly, “It’s not what’s under the Christmas tree that matters but who’s around it.”
Show Love in one of, or all of these easy ways:
- Gather your loved ones around on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (or facetime!) & read an excerpt from a classic Christmas story such as “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. Then allow everyone in the room to say something they love about the person to their right.
- Make a big pot of hot cocoa, eggnog, apple cider, or whatever drink your family loves to enjoy and serve it in fun cups to everyone while you’re all spending time together.
- Think of someone you know who may not have family or close friends to spend the holidays with and invite them to join you and your family (safely of course) even if you’re not best friends. You never know what someone may be going through and how this could turn their entire year around.
Mercy
One of the most amazing things about the holidays is that it gives us an opportunity to end the year on a wonderful and celebratory note. This being said, let mercy and grace be your guide. If there is anything you need to let go of or forgive, find it in your heart to do it so that you can go into the new year with a fresh mind and a clean slate. Giving mercy and grace for others is what also allows us to receive it from others in return.
Show Mercy in one of, or all of these easy ways:
- While you’re doing your holiday activities, shopping, working, or enjoying a stroll in the park, find ways to always give others the benefit of the doubt or room to make mistakes. Before getting upset with anything, ask yourself first, “Will this still make me upset 5 years from now?” Most of the time, the answer is no. Let it be. Stay at peace. Show Mercy.
- Make imperfect moments fun. Did your holiday pie not turn out Pinterest perfect? Is your ugly Christmas sweater for the party 2 sizes smaller because of your broken dryer that runs 30 minutes too long? Did your child find their Christmas presents hidden in the closet and leave a trail of proof? Give yourself a break and laugh it off. Everything will be okay! You’re doing great. Show yourself mercy & grace.
- Is there someone you can think of that you don’t particularly enjoy being around or that you don’t get along with in your every day? Make an intentional point to do something for them. Write a note telling them you appreciate them and throw in a $5 Starbucks card. Choose mercy and grace over judgment and to see the best in others amidst their flaws (we all have them).
Stay tuned for the next 5 later this week!
Today’s News to Start Your Day:
- As of this morning, there are 20,151,300 active cases worldwide, with 1,620,967 deaths. In the US, there are 6,706,350 active cases, with 306,459 deaths.
- Nearly 3 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are expected to arrive at 145 health-care facilities across the country today, marking the beginning of a huge logistical effort to stop the spread of the virus. FedEx handling the West coast and UPS handling the East coast. Shots will begin this afternoon.
- Germany said it would enter a hard lockdown over Christmas and New Year’s Day with singing in church banned and all shops closed, except those selling food.
- Presidential electors are set to meet today to formally choose Joe Biden as the nation’s next president. The results will be tallied in a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, with Vice President Mike Pence presiding.
- Alphabet’s Google appears to be suffering a worldwide outage that has taken several services including YouTube, Gmail and Google Drive offline. Several people on social media reported issues with the platforms, with Gmail, YouTube and Google Drive all showing error messages earlier Monday. “Service has already been restored for some users, and we expect a resolution for all users in the near future,” Google said in a statement.
- Voters in Georgia begin casting their ballots in early voting today in two Senate runoff races that will decide the fate of control of the Senate and the US Government.
- Popeyes is adding chocolate beignets to its menus nationwide for a limited time, starting Monday. The fried chicken chain only has one dessert on its menu permanently, but it’s trying to create more limited-time treats to lure customers to its stores. Beignets are a dessert staple in New Orleans, where Popeyes was founded.