The Holidays Are Here!

Yes, I know Christmas decorations are already up in the department stores, and the Sunday newspapers are already getting fat with sales circulars. But for me, the arrival of the holiday season always comes when the annual cliched stories start popping up in the news. Just this morning, I heard Jim Hickey tell us on the ABC Network news how much more a Thanksgiving dinner would cost this year:

Here's the news from the American Farm Bureau:

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 13, 2008 – Menu items for a classic Thanksgiving dinner including turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin pie and all the basic trimmings will cost just a bit more this year, but remain affordable, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
AFBF’s 23rd annual informal price survey of classic items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table indicates the average cost of this year’s feast for 10 is $44.61, a $2.35 price increase from last year’s average of $42.26.

I don't know about you, but I don't know anyone who serves Thanksgiving dinner for FOUR for 45 bucks, let alone 10! Where does the American Farm Bureau buy its food - the dollar store? And they also don't mention the cost of alcohol, which is really the only way most families can make it through Thanksgiving dinner! You can read the entire press release here.

Now that we've heard the cost of Thanksgiving dinner story, we'll have the Butterball turkey hotline story, followed by the warnings from the fire department about the hazards of deep-frying turkey, and then the mother of all post-Thanksgiving stories - Black Friday shopping crowds! I will be writing and anchoring at WMAL that day, and following a long-held family tradition, Mrs. Matthews shall be calling in to report on the size of the crowds, and on what they're buying!

Happy Turkey Day!