The holidays are here marked by greetings of good cheer, merrymaking and all manner of festivities! In the midst of all of the revelry is, of course, gift giving and to many yuletide giving means more than the gifts under the Christmas tree. Along with the sweater for Aunt Sue, the bicycle for Jimmy and the slippers for Grandpa are the gifts to charities and disaster relief organizations.

Unfortunately together with extreme generosity come con artists and opportunists determined to take advantage of your holiday spirit and goodwill by turning your donation into their own personal profit. Ensure your charitable gift reaches the intended recipient by using just a little caution and maybe a bit of research.

• Seek out known organizations and give directly without responding to solicitations. If you’re unsure about the legitimacy of a charity, check the Attorney General’s Registry of Charitable Trusts, www.ag.ca.gov/charities. While registration is no guarantee of legitimacy it is an important indicator. A source for national charities is the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance at (800) 575-4483 or www.give.org.

• Be wary of copy cat names. Did he just say American Cancer Society or Unamerican Answers Society? If you’re talking to someone about making a donation to a charity but didn’t quite catch the organization’s name don’t hesitate to ask for the name to be repeated or even spelled out. After all, if you’re expected to make a contribution shouldn’t you know who will benefit? And while you’re asking questions, find out what the group proposes to do with any excess contributions remaining after the intended purpose is met.

• Any contribution should be made by check, never by cash, made out directly to the charitable organization and not to an individual solicitor.

• Don’t give through email solicitations. Clicking on an email link may lead you to a site set up by identity thieves. If you are contacted by what seems to be a reputable organization, contact their official Web site directly or give by phone (the call being initiated by you) or via regular mail.

Americans give roughly $250 billion to charity annually, with Californians counted among the most generous, not only showing compassion and support for their neighbors but also rushing to the aid of others throughout the nation and the world. The holiday season marks one of the most bountiful times of year for these neighbors, charities and relief organizations. Don’t let your goodwill be affected those few seeking to line their own pocketsjust season your caring and giving with a little prudence.

© 2005 by Lynnette A. Phillips

Lynnette Phillips is a professional notary public and Certified Notary Signing Agent in CA. http://www.yucaipamobilenotary.com

Giving is better than receiving – well it is if you manage to get someone a present that goes down a storm. But not when you get it wrong. Think of the worst gift you have ever received and how it made you feel. Did you laugh, cry, sulk or demand an exchange..?

Once I asked for a specific perfume and got Chanel No 5 instead. I was SO disappointed. The giver had been advised that I’d appreciate it more as it was classy, expensive and a statement. Not so, I hated it. Can’t stand the smell (sorry Ms Kidman, you look geat but you smell awful)!

Another gift that I once received was labelled ‘to help with menopausal mood swings.’ Considering myself rather too young for that, it wasn’t a present that I took great delight in either.

Think now of a gift that you have really loved and how that made you feel. One of the best gifts I have been given was a book of photographs with amusing captions of the year that had just passed. Little expense had been involved but a lot of time and care had been taken in putting it together. In this case it really was the thought that counted.

Buying gifts that are a hit is not the easiest task but there are a few points worth bearing in mind:

• If you are asked for a very specific gift, don’t get something else which you think they will like better. They have probably been very specific for a reason!
• Choose presents that you think the person would like rather than what you like yourself.
• It’s not the cost involved that counts, the thought behind the gift leaves lasting memories (good or bad)!

There are many websites that can give you ideas for gifts for any occasion such as Christmas gifts and gadgets for him. Browse such websites for inspiration but remember you can always ask them for ideas too. It’s better to get them a gift that they’ll enjoy, and you’ll feel better for it!

S Hare
UK Gifts and Gadgets

If you’re looking for great ways to decorate your home this glorious holiday season–without breaking the bank and losing your sanity in the process–here are seven terrific ideas to get you started.

1. You don’t have to concentrate on one sense or the other at holiday time. You’ve got five senses–so make sure to fill them all with delight at holiday time. Use cheerful warm-colored ribbons to highlight chandeliers, play your favorite seasonal music, fill the air with the smell of cinnamon, cloves, and essential oils, share your favorite recipe, and add sumptuous silky fabrics to table cloths, tree skirts, and pillows.

2. You don’t have to use all your decorations every year, especially if you own quite a few. Alternating decorations makes it easier on you, and when you don’t see the same decorations year after year, they tend to have more meaning.

3. You don’t need to add anything to your Christmas tree’s water. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, plain tap water is the best source of moisture for your tree. In fact, the NCTA says that some commercial additives and home concoctions can actually be detrimental to a tree’s moisture retention and increase needle loss. So keep your Christmas tree stand filled with plain water and use the savings to buy a few extra stocking stuffers.

4. You don’t have to buy the cheapest Christmas tree on the lot. In fact, you can actually save money by buying a fuller tree! Since there are fewer holes to fill in a fuller tree, it will use fewer decorations. You can also save money by buying silk flower boughs, cutting the flowers apart, and using them on your tree, in garlands, and as enhancements to your gift wrapping.

5. You don’t have to decorate using generic decorations. Your holidays will be more meaningful if you decorate using your family’s heritage as a guideline. Combining ancestral cultures and creating handmade ornaments will also help your children develop stronger ties with your family’s unique cultural heritage.

6. You don’t need to climb ladders and hang millions of lights all over your house to make a happy holiday statement. You can create an enticing “Welcome Home” atmosphere by simply placing a special emphasis on your front door, surrounding it with colorful lights and garlands of greenery.

7. And finally, there’s no need to completely redecorate for your New Year’s Eve celebration. When Christmas Day has past, you can recycle your holiday wreaths and garlands for use in your New Year’s festivities simply by spray painting them silver or gold.

(c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.

Jeanette Fisher, Design Psychology Professor, is the author of “Joy to the Home” eNewsletter, interior design, and real estate books. For more information on Design Psychology, visit http://www.designpsych.com/

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Women escorts in London are of a much better calibre than anywhere else in the UK. The reason is simply that there are more people here. Call girls in London are also stunning and have manners. The price of a funny escort will vary, some escorts will charge per hour whilst others are usually per evening. Men should expect to pay between 300 pounds and nine hundred pounds. The top price might well get men the most marvellous call girl in the city. Men should consistently give the girl the money immediately on meeting, this is best practise. Hence do not be nervous and try a marvellous escort today.

Tie together two of men’s first quests and you will pinpoint a craze that’s known as a sportsbook gambling site. Really, what could be more resourceful… Envisage a group of sports fans rooting for any given favored team, and almost always lays are placed right along with the ruckus. Keen to get a bit of the action, onlookers will generally endeavor to figure out who is the likeliest to win in the forthcoming meetup. All this evolves into a matey little meetup termed sportsbook gambling site.

Top venue free sports bet no deposit games available through this link.

In order to place any wager, you’ll surf to a sportsbook gambling site, i.e. a setup that admits sportsbook gambling site. In the USA, you will find four states where to go for sportsbook gambling legitimately, but semi-legally you may go for it everywhere assuming that you are able to find a bookie AND happen to be legally of age. Included sporting contests you can choose to wager on are pro and, as well, college class football as well as basketball, professional hockey, professional hockey, and, as well, dog and horse racing. Visitors will have a choice of wagering on the global score of a contest or game, on what round a given opponent will be defeated, and even if a coin toss in a contest or game comes out heads or tails.

The odds makers will depend on statistical methods to aid you come to a decision which team you feel is the likeliest to win. There is the chances, in other words leverage in points tallied to a inferior party that is presumed to take a licking by a specific number points. This constitutes the bookie outfit’s calibrated technique of enabling bets for a sports book. By way of an example you could choose to bet on a contestant that is presumed to take a licking and and regardless win that bet assuming that the party does actually get defeated by a specific number of points.

There are plenty of miscellaneous sorts of wagers: parlays i.e. combined antes on sundry sporting contests, straight bets, where you’ll simply guess the side you’re guessing is the likeliest to prevail or go under, over/unders, teaser bets etc., the straight bets being the general favorite in sportsbook gambling.

So why not give it a shot and entertain yourself simultaneously… But ensure that you won’t get overpowered and squander your complete retirement pension on a whim. After all it’s likely you’ll find yourself full of misgivings all life long.

Mr Bingo Lover

Online bingo is getting progressively popular just about everywhere. Since the public ban on smoking, numerous long-established bingo haunts were shut — this has brought about numerous operators tendering on line bingo as an alternative option. Public personage advocacy from Sharon and Jordan Osbourne have also proved helpful in building up the fashionability of online bingo — encompassing close to 3 million enthusiasts already enjoying recurring games.

We’re able to opt for several on line bingo web pages, every one extending to their members jackpots and immeasurable numbers of other prizes such as new cars, movie premiere tickets and luxury holidays. What’s attractive about on line bingo is that anyone can have a go at it just about anytime anywhere you’ve got a Net account. Games triggered several times per hour you will easily be able to fit bingo seamlessly with your regular everyday life. First it was expected that the social quality of bingo fun would feel the pain because of the closing of the long-established bingo haunts – but, rather English and other bingo buffs have refuted all alarmists… An expanding number have started to register at the platforms tendered by untold on line bingo operators.

Here everyone can forge new friendships, gain from fashionable contests and engage with groups of bingo patrons. Further, independent research reports have corroborated that you’re more likely to gain £1 million by playing online bingo as compared to other forms of laying a bet such as sweepstakes and sports betting. Also, if you become a mite bored with bingo, an unprecedented number of on line bingo web pages are offering a great selection of alternative diversions. These will be anything from slots and numbers games through to caption tourneys and funny tests. In view of so many options it may well be a mite tricky to identify which web based bingo enterprise you’re most comfortable with. It pays to have a stab at some thorough research and analyze who is now propounding the most striking premiums. A great number of on line bingo web pages will let customers some free games of bingo or reciprocate any initial cash deposit at 1:1.

If some of your best friends have signed up with a given on line bingo online page, you’ll want to ponder following their example as the networking side adds to the pleasurable recreation…