If you were to ask my family about my attitude around the holidays, they would probably describe me as generally grumpy. I really don’t mean to seem like a Scrooge. As a matter of fact, I actually love the whole holiday thing – but only under certain circumstances. As long as I don’t feel like something holiday related is going to cause me more stress than I am already under, I’m fine with it. If on the other hand, some absurd holiday activity is going to annoy me (or cost me a lot of money for no good reason), I will be miserable. There isn’t much related to modern holidays that is not expensive, or annoying – so my opportunities to find something I like are almost nonexistent.

Off the top of my head I can think of only a few:

  • Driving around by myself listening to Christmas music on the radio and seeing everyone’s holiday decorations (I like the elegant stuff and the tacky stuff, it’s all amusing to look at).
  • Slacking off at work. Admit it, you do it too – everyone does, so it turns out to be a pretty easy time of year around the office.
  • Holiday themed movies – gotta watch em every year. Some include, “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”, “Elf”, “A Christmas Story” and “Die Hard” – yeah, that’s right, “Die Hard” – it takes place on Christmas Eve, so it counts.
  • Reading holiday/Christmas books to Anna. Obviously “Twas the Night Before Christmas” is on the list, but she has some others, like this book called “The Snowman” (that is nice around Christmas, but a bit annoying when she wants to read it in the middle of the summer).
  • Seeing Anna and the Wife when they get their presents on Christmas day. In Anna’s case, for obvious reasons – I mean, who wouldn’t want to wake up in the morning to be greeted by a room full of new toys? (for me these toys would include a Bugatti Veyron, a Gibson Les Paul and maybe Gulfstream G650 – if anyone wants to provide any of these, I will send you my address). In the Wife’s case, it’s because I try pretty hard to give her at least one present that proves that I do actually pay attention to the things that really matter to her. This is not as easy as it sounds.

That’s about it. Everything else is just stressful and annoying, so I tend to be one of those “bah-humbug” types of people.

So what does our sponsor have to do with this? It seems like the folks at Sam’s Club feel my pain and know that a lot of other people find that the holidays would be much more fun if they weren’t so stressful. As a result, they’ve rolled out a new section of their website and are introducing a whole new campaign called “Holidays Made Simple“. If you are like me and want to find the least-stressful path through the holiday season, then you should go and check out the website.

How does it help us simplify this time of year?

  1. Easy gift guides. Find gifts based on a price range or particular type of person. Whether you’re looking for a really nice present for your spouse, or a cheap but passable present for your office “secret santa” obligation.
  2. Deal of the Day – ridiculously reduced prices on a different item everyday. If you want to impress someone without breaking the bank, pay attention to these deals and you’ll probably find something that will do the trick.
  3. Lots of recipes and party ideas all in one place – saves you from having to figure this stuff out on your own.

The folks at Sam’s Club have done a nice job putting this site together and I’m sure you’ll find it helpful. I already found a great gift – until I realized that I don’t get to give myself Christmas presents, so that was disappointing. Whatever, I am sure I’ll find plenty of other uses for the site.

The company has a number of other great campaigns planned for the season. Keep an eye on our updates since we’ll be announcing many of them on our sites and they will all come with gift-card giveaways (and potentially advance notice on good deals).

Giveaways!
I’m giving away a $25 Sam’s Club gift-card right now (many more to come). You’ll need to be a Sam’s Club member to use it, but I know that many of our readers already have memberships (you can also use the cards towards the purchase a membership, a basic one is $40, so you would only need to pay $15). The Wife is also giving away a $25 card as well.

Don’t forget that we both have Sam’s Club membership giveaways going on right now. We’re currently giving away 4 memberships on each site.

How to Enter:
Head on over to www.samsclub.com/holidays and take a look at the “Gifts Galore” section. Leave a comment and tell me what you found to either give someone else or that you’d like someone to give you.

Rules:
1. You must become a subscriber (or already be a subscriber) in order to participate.
2. Your comment must include the information requested above (what gift did you find on the Sam’s Club website). Comments that ignore this rule and just say “Enter Me” will be deleted.
3. This contest will end on Wednesday November 11th at 10pm. Entries must be received before that time in order to qualify.
4. Winners will be notified via email and posted to this site. Winners have 48 hours to claim their prize, otherwise it will be given to another winner.

Extra Credit
(EVERY extra credit entry needs to appear in a SEPARATE comment):
1. Leave another comment on this post and mention your favorite holiday movie or book. Here’s a site with a good list that might help inspire you.
2. Enter the Holidays Made Simple giveaway on the Wife’s Site (www.theartofbeingmom.com/?p=2109) – 2  extra entries
3. Enter my current Sam’s Club membership giveaway, or the membership giveaway on the Wife’s site (or both) – 1 extra entry for each
4. Follow this site using the Google Friend Connect widget -  2 extra entries
5. Follow me on Twitter and Tweet about this giveaway – 1 extra entry per day (include link to tweet in the comment)
6. Blog about this giveaway – 3 extra entries (include link to post in your comments)


The information provided in this article was shared as part of the Sam’s Club Sharing the Savings blogger campaign. Compensation was received for participation but the views and opinions expressed are solely my own.