1. It’s Okay to Say “No”

We all tend to get overbooked during the holidays. Remember, you don’t have to accept every invitation you receive.

2. Take Some “Me” Time

Yes, the holidays are time for family and friends. But it doesn’t have to be 24/7! This tip goes with the first one. Make sure you reserve some alone time to decompress.

3. Watch the Holiday Treats

Most of what we eat over the holidays is carbohydrates (candy, cookies, etc.). Protein not only helps with weight maintenance, but it takes longer to digest, meaning it takes a longer time to get hungry again

4. Keep Exercising

Don’t wait for New Year’s to resolve to stay fit. Make sure you’re getting plenty of exercise before that ball drops on Dec. 31!

5. Do for Others

Not only is that the real meaning Christmas, but helping others also makes us happy!

It’s a Wonderful Life turns 77 this month. Here are 10 things you probably never knew about this holiday classic:

1. It’s probably the only movie ever based on a Christmas card.

When author Philip Van Doren Stern couldn’t sell his short story “The Greatest Gift” to any publisher, he had 200 copies printed up as a 21-page Christmas Card and sent them to his friends. A copy fell into the hands of the head of RKO Studios. He liked it and bought the film rights for $10,000.

2. Cary Grant was supposed to play George Bailey.

When RKO couldn’t turn the story into a proper script for Cary, they sold the rights to Frank Capra. It was Capra who wanted Jimmy Stewart for the lead.

3. The movie lost over half a million dollars when it was first released.

Most of us know the film bombed at first, but it’s nice to put a price tag on that failure. And back in 1946, that was a considerable box office bath.

4. Donna Reed is deadly with a rock

Although they had rigged the window of the old house to break when Donna Reed tosses a rock at it, they didn’t need to. Reed broke the window with her first throw.

5. That gym that turns into a swimming pool was no set.

The “swim gym” was for real. The scene was filmed at Beverly Hills High. (Where else would you find one?)

6. Recognize the guy who actually pulls the swimming pool prank?

You should. It’s Carl Switzer, better known to us all as “Alfalfa” from the Our Gang comedies.

7. Jimmy Stewart’s sweat was no special effect.

While the film takes place around Christmas time, it was filmed in the middle of summer. Sky high temperatures accounted for much of the sweat you see on Jimmy Stewart’s face in key scenes.

8. No, Bert & Ernie of Sesame Street were not named after characters in this film.

Despite years of rumors, Sesame Street’s first producer swears he and Henson named the puppets without ever once thinking about the movie (which actually wasn’t that well-known back when Sesame Street got started.

9. Zuzu didn’t see the film until 1980!

Karolyn Grimes who played the adorable little tyke said she just never sat down and watched the thing until well after it had become an American institution.

10. The FBI hated the film.

They thought the film subversive, claiming in a memo that the movie made “rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a ‘Scrooge-type’ so that he would be the most hated man in the picture.” They were sure this was the work of some of those notorious Hollywood Communists.

(They may have had a point as blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was one of several writers, including Dorothy Parker) who worked on the script uncredited.)

Many of us do a year-end review of our finances.

Don't overlook shopping around for banks. If your bank is charging you for checking or paying barely any interest on your savings, it may be time to shop around. Many community banks and credit unions offer free checking and online banks often have better interest rates on savings accounts, frequently with no minimum blanace.

So it pays $$$ to shop around!

1. Take a 30-minute walk every day
2. Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night
3. Spend time with a friend or loved one every day - during times of social distancing, a phone call if not a personal visit

Hey, the lady in the ad said:"All my men wear English Leather or they wear nothing at all!"

What was the first made-for-TV animated holiday special? Oh, alright. The title of this post sort of gives it away.

Yes, before Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, before A Charlie Brown Christmas, there was Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol!

Magoo had made the jump from theatrical cartoons to his own TV series in 1960. The success of that show convinced UPA (owners of the character) to make a 60-minute adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic.

First broadcast on NBC on December 18, 1962 with the sponsorship of the Timex watch people, the special took on an unusual “show-within-a-show concept.” Magoo was a great actor, returning to his theatrical roots by appearing on Broadway as Ebenezer Scrooge in a musical version of the famous tale.

Why this gimmick? We really don’t know. Maybe the network suits thought Magoo too familiar a character for the audience to simply buy as Scrooge without first establishing WHY he was playing Scrooge. In any event, they kept the near-sighted gags and Magoo’s already cantankerous personality lent itself very well to playing fiction’s most famous miser.

Jim Backus (best remembered as Thurston Howell III on Gilligan’s Island), as always, voiced Magoo. Also lending their talents to the production were Morey Amsterdam, Jack Cassidy, Jane Keen, and veteran voice talent Paul Frees.

The songs are much better than you would ever expect them to be, written by the accomplished team of Jule Styne and Bob Merrill (who would write the songs for Funny Girl together and many more hits working with other collaborators).

The animation was supervised by Abe Levitow, who worked as part of Chuck Jones’ unit making Looney Tunes at Warner Brothers for many years. Cartoon nerds also recognized UPA’s other cartoon star, Gerald McBoing Boing, pressed into service as Tiny Tim.

The show was very well received when it was first broadcast. In fact, its success led to the creation of an entirely new TV series, The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo – with Magoo playing other famous characters from literature, but never as well-cast as he was as Scrooge.

Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol was a TV perennial right up to 1980. Then, for reasons unknown, it was dropped from network television’s holiday line-up. It made its home video debut in 1994 and was first released on DVD in 2001 and Blu-Ray in 2010. It reappeared on NBC in 2012 and was broadcast on the CW in 2014 and 2015.

The special’s original running time was 53 minutes. Scenes have been frequently cut for additional commercials (most often, the Broadway scenes that open and close the show) since it was first broadcast. Indeed, some footage is still missing from the version available on home video.

Besides jettisoning Scrooge’s nephew Fred from the plot and switching the order of appearance for the Ghosts of Christmas Present and Past, this adaptation is surprisingly faithful to the Dickens original and remains one of the most beloved versions of “A Christmas Carol” for those of us who grew up in the first age of television.

In 2009, animation director Darrell Van Critters published an excellent book about Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol that gives you the whole story of how the special was produced as well as tons of rare animation art and behind-the-scenes photographs. Unfortunately, that book is out of print now and commands a pretty hefty price tag on the second-hand market. But if you drop by the house, we’ll let you look at our copy.

Besides Woody, how many characters can you name?