Secret Santa Shops After the Snow Storm

As I have posted over on my Roxiticus Desperate Housewives site, New Jersey has been covered in a wet blanket of eight to ten inches of snow, sleet, and freezing rain since yesterday's winter storm warning closed all of the schools. I hope our Bay Head beach house is weathering the storm without us. I'll probably call one of our good neighbors later today to check on it. Snow storms, as you might imagine, are not a good thing for holiday shopping procrastinators like Roxy. Our family was planning to finish up the Secret Santa part of our shopping over the weekend, and I'm hoping that Ignacio and his band of merry men will be here soon to shovel out the driveway so that Rex, London, Maddie and I can head out to pick up our last minute gifts from Kmart.

Since I've learned that many members of our extended family, including Rex's mom a.k.a. Grammy, read my blogs, I have to be careful about posting the details of any surprise gifts, but I don't think I'm giving too much away to say that London has to buy a Secret Santa gift for her eight year old niece and Maddie has to pick out a gift for her six year old nephew. Since Trader and his wife split up earlier this year, we're hoping to find some High School Musical and Star Wars sheet sets for the kids' new bedrooms at Trader's house.

The challenge may be staying under our $25 Secret Santa limit with shopping budgets tight this year. If we can't find sheets that fit Secret Santa's budget, I know there are plenty of other great holiday gift ideas that we can execute for under $25 at Kmart. For example, Trader could get a Craftsman® 23-inch hand tool box with comfort handle for his brother, TallBoy; someone could give Grammy a set of Martha Stewart Everyday tall nickel pillar candleholders; London could get a Route 66 girls' fashion hoodie or embellished jeans for her niece; and Maddie can choose from a wide selection of LeapFrog Leapster Learning Games for her nephew. The complete Kmart collection of 25,000 gifts under $25 is available in Kmart stores.

With only four and a half shopping days left until Christmas, shoppers can also sign up at Kmart.com to receive the latest Kmart news via e-mail, including updates on special store hours, in-store deals and online-only sales. To help budget-conscious consumers this holiday season, Kmart is one of the few retailers that continues to offer a layaway program and no payments, no interest for six months, offering shoppers the value and savings to make this holiday season shine for one and all.

Please stay safe if you're heading out into the snow to complete your holiday shopping, and from our family to yours, here's a wish for the happiest of holiday seasons!