Merry Christmas Holiday

Macy’s Inc. is keeping several of its stores in the New York metropolitan area, including its flagship store in Herald Square, open until 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

The spending surge may not be enough to offset what is shaping up to be a mediocre December for some retailers. Based on early reports on Sunday, mall operators including Macerich Co. said they were pleased with the spending spree over the weekend, but they were still counting on Christmas Eve and post-Christmas business to meet holiday sales goals in what has turned out to be a nail biter of a season. About 1,000 of Sears Holdings Corp.’ s 1,387 Kmart stores are open for 64 hours straight, beginning at 6 a.m. Saturday and ending at 10 p.m. on Dec. 24, for the first time since 200 With Christmas falling on a Tuesday, shoppers were enticed to wait even longer this season to finish their holiday shopping.

As Leatherneck wrote of the poem’s author in 2003: “Merry Christmas, My Friend” has been a holiday favorite among “leatherneckphiles” for nearly the time it takes to complete a Marine Corps career. The film follows Jack Skellington, the leader of a holiday-themed world known as Halloween Town, who becomes bored of his repetitive lifestyle and eventually stumbles upon the world of Christmas Town; interested in the new world’s culture, Jack attempts to combine the two holidays, with disastrous results.

He said while the day after Black Friday starts off the season, the most intense sales volume comes in the few days before Christmas. NEW YORK - The nation’s shoppers - taking advantage of deep discounts and expanded hours - jammed stores over the last weekend before Christmas to try to grab a hard-to-find Wii or scoop up bargains on other items.

Overall holiday sales gains could come at a cost for retailers, says Sherif Mityas, partner and central region leader at consultancy A.T. Kearney, noting that stores discounted heavily at the expense of margins. He believes that apparel merchants will see their fourth-quarter profits most hurt. Pier 1 Imports Inc., which has been hit hard along with other home furnishings stores by the housing slump, was offering 50 percent discounts on candle gift sets and 35 percent price cuts on holiday potpourri.

A challenging economy - higher gas prices and a housing slump - also made some shoppers hold off until the final days before the holiday. Although it barely fit me, I began to swell with pride, and for one shining moment, I was Marine Corps deep inside. I didn’t want to leave him so quiet in the night, this guardian of honor so willing to fight. Half asleep he rolled over, and in a voice clean and pure, said “Carry on, Santa, it’s Christmas Day, all secure.” One look at my watch and I knew he was right, Merry Christmas my friend, Semper Fi and goodnight.

Soon around the Nation, the children would play, And grown-ups would celebrate on a bright Christmas day. They all enjoyed freedom, each month and all year, because of Marines like this one lying here. Soon round the world, the children would play, And grownups would celebrate on Christmas Day. They all enjoyed freedom each day of the year, Because of the Sailor, like the one lying here.

I thought for a moment, what a difficult road, To live a life guided by honor and code. After all it’s Christmas Eve and the ship’s underway! But freedom isn’t free and it’s sailors who pay. The Sailor say’s to our country “be free and sleep tight, No harm will come, not on my watch and not on this night. Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone, In a one bedroom house made of plaster & stone. I had come down the chimney with presents to give And to see just who in this home did live. Twas the night before Christmas, the ship was out steaming, Sailors stood watch while others were dreaming. They lived in a crowd with racks tight and small, In a 80-man berthing, cramped one and all. Schmidt’s original version, entitled “Merry Christmas, My Friend,” was published in Leatherneck (Magazine of the Marines) in December 1991, a full two years before it was supposedly “written” by someone else on Christmas Eve 1993 (and had appeared in the Barracks publication Pass in Review four years before it was printed in Leatherneck ).

I couldn’t help wonder how many lay alone On a cold Christmas Eve in a land far from home. I think it is reasonable. PLEASE. Would you do me a thoughtful favor of sending this poem to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S. service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities.

Moore died in 1863 and is buried in Trinity Cemetery in Washington Heights, New York. Because of his “mere trifle,” as he called it, 175 years ago Clement Clarke Moore almost single-handedly defined our now timeless image of Santa Claus. Note: Some scholars now believe the poem was actually written by Major Henry Livingston, Jr. Whatever the authorship controversy ultimately determines, this work has become a Christmas favorite. A family friend heard about it and submitted the poem to the Sentinel, a newspaper in upstate New York, which published it anonymously the following Christmas.

Oogie Boogie falls out of the Christmas sleigh into a strange garbage world. There he becomes the horrible monster, “Mega Oogie”. Jack finally defeats Oogie Boogie using all of his powers. Afterwards, Jack apologizes to Santa for almost ruining Christmas again, and Santa thanks him for saving his life. Jack also decides that home and those there are something more important than new discoveries. Freed, Santa reprimands Jack before setting off to correct Jack’s Christmas by exchanging all of the frightening toys for more pleasant playthings. After Santa leaves, Jack asks Sally how she had gotten into Oogie’s casino. Sally tries to tell Jack she wanted to help him, but only stutters. Jack then realizes that Sally loves him. A collectible card game and a board game based on the movie were released in 2005 and 2004 respectively. The Nightmare Before Christmas Trading Card Game and Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Game were both produced by NECA. On September 30th, 2008, Walt Disney Records will release”Nightmare Revisited,” a collection of covers and new recordings inspired by the 1993 film “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas”. Danny Elfman re-recorded “Opening” and “Closing” from the film’s score, and Korn, Amy Lee, Plain White T’s, Rise Against, Rodrigo y Gabriela and Flyleaf contribute their versions of songs from the soundtrack. Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is a 1993 animated musical film written and produced by Tim Burton, directed by Henry Selick and scored by Danny Elfman.

Although the film earned strong critical acclaim and was a box office success, it failed to reach the same level of overall success as The Nightmare Before Christmas. In 1996, Skellington Productions produced another stop-motion musical film, James and the Giant Peach, based on the children’s novel of the same name by popular author Roald Dahl. Although the film boasted a more well-known voice cast than The Nightmare Before Christmas (featuring actors Simon Callow, Richard Dreyfuss and Susan Sarandon, among others), it failed to achieve Nightmare’ s success, grossing far below its predecessor. The Nightmare Before Christmas marked the first time that a stop-motion movie had been attempted at this scale. Because of this fact, a great deal of imagination and inventiveness had to be used in making the film. The characters of The Nightmare Before Christmas have also appeared in the realm of comic books, more specifically in manga. The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge is an action/adventure game developed by Capcom from Japan for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox systems. The Nightmare Before Christmas opened in two theaters and grossed $191,232 for a per-theater average of $95,616, which stands as the thirteenth-highest opening weekend average on record. The Nightmare Before Christmas opened on October 15, 1993 to very positive reviews.

A 2-disc special edition DVD was released on August 26, 2008 with a digital copy, and the original DVD release bonus features, plus the poem behind “NBX”, and a tour of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion Holiday layover.

Incredible miracles can happen even if you do not believe in them. Bring closer this wonderful event by installing this Night Before Christmas 3D Screensaver.