Tagged: christmas

School’s out and summer means sun tans, barbeques, beach days, and…searching for Christmas Trees?

The hunt for the state holiday tree has begun. Michigan needs a 65-foot-tall evergreen that can sparkle on the lawn of the Capitol building in November.

“Everyone laughs that the process starts in June,” said Kurt Weiss with Michigan’s Department of Technology, Management and Budget, “But that’s when the process starts.”

For Michigan retailers, Christmas is over and now it’s time to focus on After Christmas sales.

Analysts say the unusually long holiday shopping season, stretching from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve, generated sales numbers only modestly better than last year.

Tom Scott is with the Michigan Retailers Association.     He says gift cards were a popular present this year.   Scott says many Michiganders will redeem their gift cards during the next few weeks and probably spend a little more as well.

The holidays bring with them added stress and depression.

Lisa Laughman is an emotional wellness consultant at Michigan State University.

She says there are many reasons why people may feel stressed or depressed this time of year.   This could be the first Christmas without a loved one.    Financial challenges may be making a 'traditional' family Christmas difficult.   Some people say the recent school massacre in Connecticut is also making this feel less like Christmas.