By this time, the merry making is in full swing and Christmas gifts have been given and unwrapped. Many are tired from all the partying, booze and, of course, the last minute shopping. It’s the same thing every year. But do you think the Christmas shopping season is over? Definitely not! For many, it has only just begun with more discounts and bargains on the horizon with the traditional day after-Christmas sales. In fact, some people may have been waiting for after-Christmas sales for the bulk of their shopping. With the financial crisis plunging us deeper into economic trouble, this is quite understandable, and practical. Who
says you have to can only give gifts before Christmas? The Christmas season runs through New Year and gift-giving is always welcome anytime during the season.

Experts are predicting even bigger discounts for after-Christmas sales this year. Christmas shopping figures before December 25 all over the world have been rather tame, even disappointing, compared to previous years – a consequence of tight budgets and a world in recession. The economy has been in a recession since December 2007, and tighter credit and more layoffs continue to squeeze consumer budgets. Not even big discounts and bargains could sway some shoppers during pre-Christmas sales. As a result, prices are expected to drop further to sway shoppers to spend.

In the United States, this year’s day-after-Christmas sales is expected to rival those of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that kicks off the shopping season and can put retailers into money-making territory for the year. For the first time, J.C. Penney is opening at 5:30 AM on December 26 and will take orders for wake-up calls on jcp.com. Various other offers from retailers have been advertised online in the hope of enticing shoppers to shop more.

2009 Day-after-Christmas sales offers/day-after-Christmas deals

Aside from JC Penney’s aggressive campaign, here are other offers this season:

Bath & Body Works wants you to hold back some cash because its semi-annual sale, with 75 percent off, starts Monday.

Ikea is promoting its post-Christmas discounts of 20 percent to 60 percent off.

Sears will offer up to 75% off on electronics and 50% off on Craftsman tool storage chests. Kmart will add 40% off to clearance items, already marked down 30%.

Toys R Us circulars in newspapers Thursday will bill the day after Christmas as the “biggest” after-holiday sale with deals including an $81.99 race car set for $19.99 and table games, originally $239.99, for $131.99.

More discounts will surely be announced soon. Be on the lookout for bigger bargains as retailers try to outdo each other to get shoppers’ attentions. This year’s after-Christmas sales may end up as the biggest shopping day of the year.

A word or caution: Though discounts and big bargains will certainly be great for everyone, buy only what you need. No matter how cheap an item may be, it will still turn out to be an expensive buy if you don’t nee it and end up not using it at all.

If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my RSS feed. You can also subscribe by email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox. © iNewsCatcher

Disclaimer: The author claims full ownership of all articles herein but DOES NOT claim ownership of all photos/videos/lyrics posted on this site. If the respective copyright owners wish for their photos to be taken down, feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment below and these will be taken down immediately.

Wanna know where Santa is this Christmas? Is he on his way to your house? Or is Santa already in your neighborhood? Better be ready because your house may be next!

Tracking Santa Claus has been an annual tradition for millions of kids worldwide. But did you know how this all started? In 1955, a Colorado Springs Sears store ran an ad encouraging kids to call Santa Claus on a special telephone hotline. Due to a printing error, the phone number that was printed was
the hotline for the Director of Operations at the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD). Colonel Harry Shoup took the first Santa call on Christmas Eve of 1955 from a six-year old boy who began reciting his Christmas list. Shoup didn’t find the call funny, but after realizing the mistake that occurred, he instructed his staff to give Santa’s position to any child who called in.

Years later, the governments of the United States and Canada combined their respective national domestic air defenses into the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), but the tradition continued. Now major media outlets as well as children call in to inquire on Santa’s location. NORAD relies on volunteers to help make Santa tracking possible. Many employees at Cheyenne Mountain and Peterson Air Force Base spend part of their Christmas Eve with their families and friends at NORAD’s Santa Tracking Operations Center in order to answer phones and provide Santa updates to thousands of callers. About 800 service members and their families volunteer, and shift run from 2 AM MST December 24 to 2 AM Christmas morning.

In 1997, Canadian Major Jamie Robertson took over the program and expanded it to the Web where corporation-donated services have given the tradition global accessibility. In 2004, NORAD received more than 35,000 e-mails, 55,000 calls and 912 million hits on the Santa-tracking website from 181 countries. In 2005, more than 500 volunteers answered questions. In 2006 half a million calls and over 12,500 e-mails were handled from 210 territories. The site now gets well over 1 billion hits.

Norad Santa Tracker 2009. Looking for the 2009 Santa Claus Norad Tracker? Follow Santa Claus with the Norad Santa Tracker 2009 and see where he is. Santa Claus may be near you and you may be his next destination. Just hop on to the NORAD website.

If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my RSS feed. You can also subscribe by email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox. © iNewsCatcher

Disclaimer: The author claims full ownership of all articles herein but DOES NOT claim ownership of all photos/videos/lyrics posted on this site. If the respective copyright owners wish for their photos to be taken down, feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment below and these will be taken down immediately.