Lillian Vernon Corporation, a leading national catalog and online retailer, has launched a new sweepstakes. The grand prize is $25,000 of Lillian Vernon products, the first prize is a luxury trip for two to New York City, and the second prize is a year of fresh flowers.

The grand prize winner will receive a $25,000 Lillian Vernon super shopping spree over the next decade. With this prize, the winner can stock up so they never have to shop for a gift again. The winner may choose from over 6,000 products including housewares, holiday and seasonal décor, children’s toys and furniture, organizational products and gifts for all occasions that can be personalized free of charge, a Lillian Vernon trademark.

First prize is a three day/two night luxury trip for two to New York City, complete with roundtrip airfare, hotel accommodations at the Intercontinental Central Park South, an ultimate spa day at the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon & Spa, dinner at the famous Tavern On The Green in Central Park, and two orchestra seats and an exclusive backstage tour to Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out,” Broadway’s Tony-award-winning musical that features music by Grammy Award winner Billy Joel and choreography by the famed, Tony Award-winning Twyla Tharpe.

Second prize is a year of flowers: 52 beautiful, seasonal fresh bouquets delivered to the winner’s home every week from The Flower Club.

Residents of the continental United States can enter by completing the sweepstakes entry form on www.lillianvernon.com. Customers are automatically entered when they make a purchase from Lillian Vernon online or the Lillian Vernon catalogs. Contestants are allowed one entry per day until December 31, 2003, and they are encouraged to visit the Web site to re-enter every day to increase their chances of winning. Complete contest details and official rules are on the Web site and order forms of the Lillian Vernon catalogs. Winners will be chosen in January 2004.

Courtesy of ARA Content

Go to the movies, walk down a toy aisle, or turn on Saturday morning cartoons and you’re more than likely to find all sorts of Japanese influence on current American pop culture.

A prime example of this trend is Power Rangers, the colorful taskforce of teen do-gooders that recently celebrated its 10th anniversary in the United States. But the Japanese have known about the Power Rangers for much longer than that. In 1975 “Himitsu Sentai Goranger!” first premiered on Japanese television and began the Ranger craze. It would take 18 years before Haim Saban would import the hit live action show for American audiences, replacing Japanese actors with a cast as ethnically diverse as the colors of their uniforms. Today in the United States, the Power Rangers craze has taken various forms of entertainment, including a wildly popular television series and top-selling toy line. Numerous licenses, such as books and video games, have made Power Rangers a holiday favorite for boys.

Master toy licensee Bandai America Incorporated introduced Power Rangers action figures, megazords, vehicles and playsets to American kids more than a decade ago. This has earned Power Rangers the distinction of “best selling action figure brand of all time.” Today, enough Power Rangers action figures have been produced to fill toy chest space in two thirds of U.S. households.

Another embodiment of Japanese influence, and extremely popular import fodder are robots. From Astro Boy to Voltron, robotic heroes of all forms have translated well from their native country to the United States. Most recently leading that trend is “Gundam” (and its various incarnations), an animated series and toy line with a rich, 25-year history in Japan that is attracting an increasing, loyal American fan base. Gundam features giant robots controlled by human pilots battling one another in stories set in the future.

In terms of collectibles, what sets Gundam apart from others is its focus on customization. “Action Figure Model Kits” are the core staple of the toy line. Fans assemble a highly articulated action figure from various parts, and are given an array of decals and paint schemes to make it their own. To ensure smiles of glee during this holiday season, Gundam guarantees to be a success.

With giant robots, megazords and black knights, it is easy to assume that only boys are leading this trend. But girls, too, are caught up in the flurry of the holiday spirit and enjoy the popularity of Japanese trends. For example, girls of all ages are attracted to the feline phenomenon known as Hello Kitty. Starting out as a greeting card character for the Japanese company Sanrio in 1974, Hello Kitty proved so popular she quickly adorned everything from backpacks to toasters. She made her way to the United States just two years later, and now you can find a Sanrio Surprises store in almost any mall filled with dolls, T-shirts, stickers and more.

So what is the fascination with Japanese influences and how do they crossover to American pop culture during the holiday season? Besides the unique appearance of the characters and toys, and the appeal of complex action sequences, what is so special about these imports that make audiences respond with such fervor? Some say it is the underlying message that accompanies the stories and images.

“There’s always a unique subtext to a majority of the Japanese characters,” says collector and fan Dan Goldberg. “I grew up watching Godzilla movies on Saturday afternoons, and while the initial appeal was watching these giant creatures battle one another, what you had underneath the surface was a parable about messing with Mother Nature and overarching lessons about good guys and bad guys.”

Following that same ideology, Power Rangers spend much of their time battling villains with less than noble intentions who attempt to wreak havoc with the delicate eco-system of the Earth. While themes of teamwork, camaraderie and victory over evil are constant among the Power Rangers storyline, the franchise is constantly reinventing itself each season with a new cast, new plot and a new line of “Megazords,” motorcycles and action figures — making Power Rangers an ideal gift for your little ones.

Bandai America, which produces toys for both Power Rangers and Gundam properties in the United States, is more than happy to quench American audiences’ thirst for this recent cultural explosion during the 2003 holiday season. “Power Rangers is a proven phenomenon that works in the United States because the toys and the TV show work together to translate the brand’s theme of teamwork and good versus evil,” said Bill Beebe, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Bandai America. It will be difficult not to notice the Japanese influences in toy aisles during this holiday season, which is translating loud and clear to American culture – creating a whole new breed of entertainment in the United States. And what kid doesn’t like the trendiest gifts during the holidays?

Courtesy of ARA Content

Holiday tips will vary according to your means, the city in which you live and the type of relationship that you have with the person being tipped. That being said, here are some general guidelines for a few of the outstanding individuals who might be on your list:

* Newspaper person: $15-$25 for daily, $5-$15 for weekend
* Doorman: $25-$100
* Building Custodian: $20-$30
* Building Superintendent: $30-$100 depending on building
* Housekeeper: A week’s pay or more
* Babysitter: Two nights pay, or a small gift
* Hair stylist: The cost of a session, plus a small gift
* Personal Trainer: $50
* Parking Attendants: A half-month’s garage rate divided among attendants; or $10-$20 per person

If giving cash doesn’t feel quite right, is too formal, or policy prohibits it, why not give a small gift? Of course, the challenge of finding a gift for someone you might just know professionally or see only occasionally is you might not know what one item they would appreciate most.

Gift certificates are a versatile and personal way to show your thanks. And while the USPS does have a policy against monetary gifts to postal carriers, nobody said that you can’t put a gift certificate in the mailbox. But how do you decide from which store to buy their certificate?

Imagine giving a gift certificate where your recipient can choose the store! GiftCertificates.com offers a SuperCertificate® that lets the person receiving your gift pick from over 200 top stores, restaurants, spas, jewelers and more. It’s the gift that’s always appreciated because it also gives the gift of choice.

Other people who might enjoy a SuperCertificate® include:

* Teachers
* School Crossing Guard
* Mail carrier (USPS Policy: “Cash equivalent can’t exceed $20″)
* Co-workers
* Your Administrative Assistant

By giving the gift of choice, you can make the holidays shine bright for someone special with your goodwill. Those who work so hard all year to make you smile are sure to appreciate and remember your generosity.

The annual holidays can be a very stressful time for your cat. This is the time of the year when that strange tree goes up, bright trinkets are hung (but all your cat hears is “No, no, bad kitty!” when she tries to explore them), delicious food is prepared (cats need not apply to eat it!), and lots of strange people come tramping into the house.

Some cats are in their glory, being in the middle of the tree decoration tradition, while others react to differences in the household by cowering in fear. Plus, if the holidays stress you out (raise your hand if they don’t; the rest of us would like to know your secret), it’ll be communicated to
kitty, and she may react in kind. And sometimes that fear and stress manifests itself in your cat urinating outside her litter box.

Here are three steps you can do to reduce holiday stress for your cat.

First, keep the household changes to a minimum. Think about where you might put the Christmas tree. If you put the tree
in a place that normally belongs to kitty, she could be mighty upset with you. Her reaction could range from hiding for days to urinating underneath the tree, if not trying to pull it down. Look for a location that pleases both the human and animal population in your house. If that’s not
possible, and knowing how cats can be, you’ll have to settle for pleasing one or the other. My bet is it’s whoever pays
the bills.

My cat Scout thinks the Christmas tree is a new litter box location. She’ll urinate on the tree cover. That’s a treat to clean! I have to keep a plastic liner under the tree to facilitate the clean up. I make double certain to keep all the litter boxes clean, but she feels a need to express herself creatively at this time of the year. It’s her way to contributing to the tree decorating tradition.

Next, if you own a scaredy kitty, confine her to a safe room when hosting holiday events in your home. If possible, confine your kitty in a place that guests won’t stumble in. Put her food, water, and a clean litter box in the room. Stop in from time to time to reassure her that it’s alright.

If there aren’t adequate hiding spots in her room, think about putting a box or large paper bag in with her, and encourage her to burrow in it.

Finally, purchase some natural flower essence compounds to put in her food or water all during the holiday season.
There are several good remedies that are recommended for situational stress. Add a few drops in kitty’s food or water
twice a day, and you’ll see results within 24 hours. Flowering essences are also safe for human consumption, so if you’re contemplating a fall into insanity, take a few drops yourself!

You can also purchase synthetic hormone substances that come pre-packaged in a bottle that plugs into any electrical
outlet in your home. This remedy lasts approximately a month.

Good luck, and happy holidays to you and your family – humans and animals!

‘Yeah, but I need to pay the mortgage and my kid’s education and we’ve got a holiday planned for the Bahamas and…’

I interrupted. ‘How much do you need?’

‘A hundred grand a year,’ he replied.

‘What’s more important,’ I asked, ‘your happiness or the money?’

Of course he said happiness. Then he got all logical again. ‘But I can’t be happy unless I can pay the mortgage and give my kids the best and have great holidays.’

‘How many hours do you work?’

‘Around fifty.’

‘And how do you feel when you get home?’

‘Tired.’

‘What would your kids prefer, a father who is worn out for forty eight weeks of the year but has four weeks to entertain them per year or a dad who is a real Dad all year round?’

The conversation went on, me questioning, him justifying what he perceived as logic.

Yet it’s not logic, is it? It’s not logic to deny your heart’s desire to change life when it’s hurting you. The mortgage, the kid’s education, the holidays are just stuff. And, like most people find after a heart attack or a divorce or an accident, is that this ‘stuff’ is not that important. What’s important is something else…

Life!

The problem is we got “Conditioned Logic” – “logic” transferred to us by society: friends, family, schools, college, the media, religion etc. We took it all on and felt we had to behave in a “conditioned” way. The repetition of that conditioning is fine for a while, but when we end up doing something we don’t love, each time we do it takes a little of the soul away. Let me put it another way.

What gives you the power to succeed is what you perceive to be logic. Real power is not necessarily doing what society dictates. Real power is often something else. It is that knowing that comes from nowhere to tell you, you must do something different.

It might seem logical to have the house, the car, the private education, the holiday, but is it powerful. What is powerful is, to say I am not happy and things must change; I’m not killing myself for forty-eight weeks just for four weeks of pleasure; I’m not excited by my work and I’m willing to live in a smaller home if it means I can have more peace, less stress and fall back in love with my partner.

It’s not all about the stuff, is it? It’s about happiness and love; happiness and love of your partner; happiness and love of your children and family; happiness and love of your work. If you have that then you have it all.

Now that’s the power to succeed!

Does your current way of living support that?

Best wishes

Neil

What better way to honor seniors in your family and community and pay tribute to their experiences than by undertaking a project together this holiday season. There are a wide range of projects that individuals, families, and social and service organizations can participate in with older adults. In fact, it is a great opportunity for youth-oriented organizations such as school groups or scout troops to get involved with seniors, according to Betsy Reithemeyer, director of the Wal-Mart/SAM’S CLUB Foundation, which funds thousands of projects designed to enhance the lives of older adults. This year the Foundation donated $1.45 million to more than 2,900 youth groups for projects benefiting seniors.

“These activities bring generations together, nurture friendships, encourage volunteerism, and broaden understanding and support in a community,” says Reithemeyer.

Here are a few project suggestions for this holiday season:

* Host a storytelling time for older adults to relate their favorite holiday memories.

* Visit an elderly resident of a nursing home. Many of these individuals never have a visitor at holiday time and would appreciate having someone stop by to share a smile.

*Make a holiday greeting card for residents at a retirement center.

* Make a family photo album as a holiday gift to the family, complete with dates, locations and identifications of family members. Share stories about special events the family enjoyed together.

* Construct a family tree, giving children the opportunity to learn the ancestral line of their family. Strive to preserve particular ethnic or religious beliefs and special holiday traditions.

* Ask a senior to share special talents, such as cooking, sculpting or quilting, which can be passed on to interested young people.

* Volunteer at a nutrition center or with Meals-on-Wheels to prepare and deliver holiday meals or food baskets to elderly shut-ins.

* Design a Web page about a grandparent or favorite older adult.

* Videotape an interview with a senior about his or her life. Show it at a meeting of a youth organization and invite the star of the show to attend.

* Host a game day at a senior center featuring traditional board games enjoyed by young and old alike.

Wal-Mart provides financial support to 501(c)3 youth groups for intergenerational projects every year. Each store makes a donation to fund projects such as delivering fruit baskets to shut-ins, providing lunch for grandparents at a local food kitchen, conducting oral history projects with local centenarians, and visiting nursing home residents whose family members live far away.

“Older adults are a vibrant, contributing part of our communities,” says Reithemeyer. “They have a great deal of wisdom and insight to share, and they deserve to be honored.” The Wal-Mart/SAM’S CLUB Foundation funds the many projects chosen by the company’s associates through the Wal-Mart Good Works community involvement program.

Whether you choose to do a project in a youth group, as a family, or on your own, the holidays are the perfect time to bring together youth and seniors in your community.

Courtesy of ARA Content

Appoint yourself as the producer and bring together the pieces to transform your vision into a reality.

Start a list of what activities would give you the most pleasure, and then decide what the main event(s) will be.

Are you going to be throwing a party? Having a tree-trimming party? Doing charity work? Going on a light-gazing tour? You might need to do meal planning, party planning, travel planning, and/or gift planning.

Break down your holiday event(s) into action tasks. Set priorities and schedules of the activities that need to be carried out.

It’s a good idea to keep all your planning information in a notebook binder. Put all your lists and information in this to use each year. Keep meal plans, special activity plans, party plans, gift ideas, holiday card lists, and travel details in the binder.

Get others involved. Delegate some of the tasks to family or close friends. After all, you’re the producer, and producers do their best when they have a team helping them with the production.

Another piece of the holiday production would probably include meal plans. Decide on the menus and stock up on food early. It’s even a good idea to prepare any food you can in advance. Or, maybe you may want to let someone else cook for you and have your meal catered? If you have helpers, designate a “desert team” to do the holiday baking.

No holiday production list is without a separate gift list. Get creative with gift-giving. Make a list of gift ideas that you can create yourself (or buy at affordable costs).

Think of something memorable and personal, something useful, something consumable, something that grows, maybe some excursion experiences.

If you have some artistic abilities, make a drawing, put your song on a cassette tape, or write some prose and mount it. How about putting together some personal mementos, like an album of photo collections, or a memorable video?

Of course, if you have any gifts that need to be mailed, you must also be timely in shipping these out. With postal security, this is important in ensuring the gifts sent by mail arrive in time.
The same applies to getting holiday cards mailed out. Schedule this on your calendar so that they are received a week or two before the holiday.

Now, a good producer is only as good as they can stay within a budget. So, establish a budget and be realistic on it.

It’s best to try and break down a budget for each activity. More too often, people resort to using credit cards for their spending needs. But try to adopt policy to do cash-spending. You won’t have to look back “after the fact” that you’re heavy in debt.

Decorating the home for the holidays is yet another part of the production that helps put people in the holiday spirit. You can even make a family event out of this.

By the time the holiday events arrive, you just might be nominated to win the Holiday Awards!

Remember the famous line from the hit movie “Harry Potter” which best captures today’s mentality of excessive self-indulgence and a sense of entitlement, “But Mum, how could you get me only 22 presents for X-mass this year…?”

The unholy power and the negative effects of commercialism of the holiday season, which is perpetuated by the media (driven by profits), simply can no longer be ignored. We spend a lot of time and energy in a trance-like manner trying to survive the jungles of shopping malls while getting into further debt just to meet expectations that not only don’t bring us joy at all but also create a sense of resentment as well. We feel darn too drained to even enjoy the holiday spirit and the fruit of our labor. To ease our conscious some of us resort to sending checks but avoiding any personal contact or having any meaningful spiritual connection with others. When the intent behind the act of gift giving is diluted with other reasons such as giving out of a sense of obligation with resentments attached to it, or when it’s for PR purposes with strings attached, it defeats the whole purpose of the true spirit of the holidays.

What once used to be an experience we eagerly looked forward to, had become a major source of stress and even dreadful in some cases. That’s because whether we realize it or not, in the rush to satisfy our insatiable desire to consume and “keep up with the Jones’s” and because we were brainwashed to believe that “He with the most toys lives,” rather then “He with the most joys lives,” we neglect our spiritual roots and the fact that we are spiritual beings experiencing the human experience and not the other way around. As such we were meant to live a life of meaning and purpose by connecting with others with kindness and compassion through the act of giving with no strings attached. When we lose our spiritual foundation, we lose the biggest part of our existence that enables us not only to prosper with dignity and pride but also we experience an artificial type of joy and life itself becomes an empty experience devoid of true meaning and purpose or real joy.

Nowadays the holiday season is not talked about in terms of celebrating the miracle of life, faith sharing, giving and connecting with the community, but rather in terms of dollars and accumulating lots of toys that produce artificial joy. The holiday season is simply a geniuses marketing concept. In fact it has become so commercialized that the holiday season is the biggest marketing season. Businesses rise up or fall just based on that season alone.

But when we ignore the true beauty of a rainbow, we miss out on a great experience and limit our joy. Perhaps when we reflect on what really matters in life, we can once again discover the true spirit of the holiday season which has no price tag, and realize that indeed the best things in life are free, and great things still come in small packages. That’s when we can once again find joy in simple pleasures that comes from connecting with real people which creates real joyful experiences in the face of any adversity or perceived lack.

The holiday spirit is all about faith and miracles too. But when it comes to faith and miracles, it’s shocking to discover how faith in achieving a piece of the American Dream is increasingly fading away. The American Dream is becoming more and more like the Impossible Dream. So much so that most Americans today believe that their chances of winning the lottery are probably better than achieving the American Dream. With the current Enron type of economy, the huge debts and budget deficits (which are really a reflection of our deficit in integrity), most Americans believe that nothing short of a true miracle will restore an economy that was once the envy of the world.

And yes, we could certainly use a miracle to deliver us from environmental and spiritual pollutions (characterized by a lack of integrity and an erosion in morality) and restore failing systems and institutions from our lagging behind the world education, failing family systems, social ills (senseless violence in our schools, higher crime rates on our streets, substance abuse, increased youth suicide, perversion and more) to corrupted politicians who are more concerned with getting elected thus exhibiting love of power rather than power of love and fraud in businesses that has become an accepted practice in our society.

Many Americans believe that America has seen its finest hour, unless we adopt a new attitude. It would take a miracle to restore the greatness of this nation who was once a source of great inspiration and earned the respect of the world, but now we find ourselves going dangerously from a nation of innovative producers into a nation of insatiable consumers willing to get into debt just to support a lifestyle we can no longer afford because we feel compelled to keep up with the Jones’s. This is a by product of the newly evolved American Dream which is based on materialistic values system and drives people to greed and corruption and the erosion of morality and integrity.

Since the holiday season is also about sharing the good news, so here it is. America who is now in a desperate need for healing, hope and transformation, can be revived by restoring integrity and wholesome values system and the true spirit of the American Dream, which was based on perspiration, innovation, risk and reward, creating total prosperity, joy and peace. Now that’s something to get excited about and even sing Hallelujah!

Teaming up with Heifer International, an organization that provides animals to poor families in 48 countries around the world, is a great idea for parents seeking an experience in which their child can find pleasure in bringing happiness to someone else.

While kids might have difficulty in understanding what it means to write a check to charity, they can easily grasp the power of giving an animal — such as a goat, flock of chickens, cow, llama or honey bee hive — to families with extremely limited resources.

Children delight in earning their own money to help make the gift of an animal possible for families to improve their lives through the benefit of milk, eggs, wool, fertilizer, or honey.

Some participate in Read to Feed, an educational program that teaches about places in the world where the children’s lives are much different from their own. Others “Carol for Cows” or make and sell animal ornaments and cookies; or decorate cans with Heifer International catalog pictures. The cans are then placed in stores and restaurants and money is collected to help end world hunger.

From Hanukkah to Christmas to Kwanzaa, Heifer offers a unique way to teach a child about giving back to help the less fortunate. This year, let Johnnie honor Grandpa with a donation to Heifer International in his name. Grandpa receives a beautifully designed “honor card” explaining the gift. Grandpa tells Johnnie that giving is truly better than receiving, especially when it makes a difference in the life of someone who truly needs help. The world is a better place and Johnnie knows he helped make it so.

For more information, order Heifer’s “Most Important Gift Catalog in the World” by calling (800) 696-1918, or visit www.heifer.org to learn about the many ways to get involved.

Courtesy of ARA Content

There is no doubt that the holiday season brings upon us a lot of happiness and cheer. But, it definitely delivers a good amount of worry, stress and even forgetfulness. In order to make sure that your holiday season goes smoothly, here are some tips to help you get it all right. Maybe this year will be better than last? We can at least hope so!

• Make a master list. You’ll need to organize yourself in one notebook. Keep track of ideas that you have for individuals and then put a star by those individuals that you buy for. If it is small enough you can take it with you and jot down ideas as you go.
• Plan for a few extra gifts. If you can, make sure to have a few nice gifts that can work for virtually anyone. You may want to think about a nice bottle of wine, a gift basket of fruit, or a gift certificate to a nice restaurant. In case you do forget, or someone stops by and you don’t have anything for them, you have these back ups to use. And, if you don’t need them, you can treat yourself with them after the stressful holidays are over.

Having the ability to grab a great gift as you need it is important. Planning can help to make the holidays a little more enjoyable no matter how many you have to buy for!