Susan Suarez

It was our fourth visit to Santa in 1 week to get our little 15 month old daughter to tolerate the presence of Santa near her. There was a small worry in the back of our heads that maybe we wouldn’t get our picture. What parent wouldn’t? Scoping out the lines last week delivered quite a few funny moments. One kid about 7 years old ran past Santa and hid in a store. The mom yelled after the kid, “Come back here” and the kid yelled back “NO!, I don’t wanna!. After a few shouts back and forth, the dad looked over to Santa and said, “We’ll get you on the next round”. Santa laughed and the parents waited in line again….

So on Saturday, we decided it will be our Santa picture day. Avery’s gotta be ok with him now. After waiting in line for 30 minutes at a somewhat early 10am, we walked up to Santa together with our very cautious child. Avery didn’t want to accept the free candy cane Santa offered her, but remained calm…still weary, but calm…her two little eyes never breaking the sight of him. I politely took the cane and passed it to my daughter who quickly then grabbed on to it (as seen in the photo). Although, she gave more of a blank stare than a smile for the photo, at least she didn’t get upset. Kids are quite funny.

Christmas time is proving to feel more hectic and burdensome over the years. Maybe it’s because as we age, we lose a bit of the fun behind enjoying the holiday as we hit the stores trying to find the perfect gift for everyone…and maybe get lucky and find something on sale.

I can’t count how many times I’ve visited the mall in the past 3 weeks, but it’s much more than I would like. Sure I get some exercise pushing around my daughter in the stroller and lifting her out when she can’t stand sitting any longer while mommy stands looking dumbfounded at picking either a brown and white scarf or a knitted checkered scarf, or whether she should get 2 of the same gift for easy Christmas shopping for the relatives.

I already shop online for quite a few things, but visiting the mall has really pushed me to find ALL my answers online. Cards from CardSmart or Hallmark…no more! I’m sending e-cards this year! A new service, Tribbit.com has a service that allows friends AND family to sign an online Christmas Card. Hallmark ornaments? Maybe it’s me, but most Hallmark stores always run out of that last Christmas ornament I’m searching for…hint, hint…like Baby’s 2nd Christmas for girls….so I end up purchasing it online anyways. And Gift cards…Now, this year I’m passing on buying individual cards from a specific store. VISA and AMEX have gift cards which allow your loved one to buy anything they want from anywhere they choose. Visa® Gift Card Lab offers gift cards with any background design – you choose (you can even customize one). I could make a huge list of things I’m doing this year a little differently….but I’m sure you get the idea.

Because it’s the biggest shopping time of the year, it’s very important more than ever as a webmaster to utilize affiliate campaigns and email lists. If you don’t have an email marketing list, check out companies like Constant Contact and StreamSend that offer free trials. They’re very easy to use and comply with CAN-SPAM laws, making managing a list, especially for a newbie, easier and less-stressful to manage. If you don’t have any lists, think about how you can turn things around for next Christmas or set shorter goals of hitting big holidays between now and next Christmas. Set up a MySpace page and see if you can get those that are interested in your niche (check MySpace Groups) to sign up as a friend, THEN try messaging them to sign up for your newsletter. Actively build lists, because they’ll be the most profitable long-run, with spikes during the holiday depending on the market. Having that extra money coming in, will definitely help with buying all those gifts. :)

Referenced Sites in Post:

1) Constact Contact: Email Newsletters – 60 Day Free Trial

4) Tribbit.com – Create an online Christmas card, complete with photos, text, voice, stories, signed by your friends and family. Free!