Now this may not be a national event, but sometimes you can find those not so popular venues and make a family outing out of them.
Case in point is the 4th annual Old Fashioned Sweet Tooth Sugarcane Event, scheduled this Saturday (January 12) in Nacogdoches.
If you're a football fan, you know that the Houston Texans had a shot at the #1 seed in the playoffs, which would have given them a week off to rest and await their next opponent. But they lost to the Colts yesterday, and the cards fell in a way that drops them to the #3 seed, meaning they have to play this weekend.
And oh, those Cowboys...what happened this season. Cowboy fans are in a funk today, and taking back all the bragging they did this season on Facebook. The 'Boys are out of the playoffs after losing to the Redskins on Sunday night.
Got your fireworks yet? There are just two opportunities each year to buy fireworks in Texas - near the 4th of July, and new New Year's Eve. Business is good right now at local fireworks stands.
Even though there has been some recent moisture, it's been another dry year. And fireworks and piles of dry leaves don't mix.
On the Friday before Christmas, Ruby Modlin was grocery shopping at Walmart with her family.
The Altoona, Iowa woman noticed that a man was following her around the store. Being a glass-half-filled type of gal Modlin figured it must be somebody who recognized her -- maybe from high school.
All of that spare change tossed into the famous Red Kettles at storefronts, will add up to thousands of dollars for the Salvation Army's charity work in Lufkin.
As my family was about to enter a grocery store last Friday, a bell-ringer was standing at the front and I gave my two oldest daughters some change to drop in. They were so excited to drop the coins in, and even though it wasn't much, they're starting to understand what the holidays are all about. And the bell-ringer was nice enough to hand them a sucker for their efforts. We can't promise there will be a sucker in it for ya at every Red Kettle, but the rewards will add up in other ways.
At some stores and homes, the Christmas decorations were up before Thanksgiving.
Those of us that did put up the Christmas tree before carving the turkey have been accused of breaking holiday rules, but rather than rebellion, we rule breakers argue it's convenient. With the decorating out of the way we could concentrate on matters like shopping.
Now that Thanksgiving is officially behind us, the rule followers are breaking out the Christmas lights too. Lufkin will light up the season with a Christmas parade on Tuesday.
Black Friday 2012 is only a few days away, and many local and national businesses have released store hours, discounts and deals early to get customers ready to shop.
A website called 'The Black Friday' has tons of predictions for this year's deals, if you're brave enough to face the crowds early in the wee hours of the morning!
We'll share more information once we know deals and hours for local businesses. If you've already got the scoop, send us a note!
