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Friday, December 25, 2015

Last-minute shopping guide: How late are stores open on Christmas Eve?

Stores Open On Christmas

There are only a few hours left before Santa makes his rounds, and last-minute holiday shoppers are hitting the stores for deals during extended hours.

This year, many retailers encouraged procrastinators that were holding off on their holiday purchases by offering Christmas Eve specials and by staying open through the night.

According to the National Retail Federation, one in five holiday shoppers are waited until Christmas Eve to do some shopping.

Shoppers are also spending more this year. A study found that people spent $100 more than they did checking off last year"s holiday wish lists.

If you are one of those people waiting until Christmas Eve to do some shopping, here"s a list of store hours to help you get everything done in the (Saint) Nick of time.

Store hours:

Albertsons - 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Best Buy - 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Cabela"s - 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Costco - 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Fred Meyer - 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Grocery Outlet - 8 a.m. to 6 or 7 p.m. (depending on the store)

JC Penney - 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Kohl"s - Overnight Weds. to 6 p.m.

Macy"s - 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Market of Choice - open until 7 p.m.

Natural Grocers - 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

New Seasons - 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

QFC - open until 6 p.m.

Safeway - open until 7 p.m.

Sears - 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Target - 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Trader Joe"s - 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Walmart - Overnight to 8 p.m.

Whole Foods - 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

WinCo - open until 6 p.m.

Zupan"s Markets - 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Mall hours:

Clackamas Town Center - 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Lloyd Center - 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Pioneer Place - 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Washington Square - 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Westfield Vancouver - 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Woodburn outlets - 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Other hours:

Post offices are open Christmas Eve, but they often have shortened hours and close and noon.

Federal offices run on normal hours on Christmas Eve. State, city, and county offices are closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Most banks are open Christmas Eve but you should check with your local branch for hours.

Source: http://katu.com/news/local/last-minute-shopping-guide-how-late-are-stores-open-on-christmas-eve

Some choicest Christmas quotes and greetings

15 Inspiring Christmas Quotes

Christmas is celebrated throughout the Christian population, but is also celebrated by many non-Christians as a secular and a cultural festival with exchange of greetings, wishes and messages.

In respect of the festival, Pope Paul VI had once said, "We consider Christmas as the encounter, the great encounter, the historical encounter, the decisive encounter, between G*d and mankind. He who has faith knows this truly; let him rejoice." According to Carrie Fisher, Christmas is not necessarily about things, but "t"s about being good to one another, it"s about the Christian ethic, it"s about kindness".

Here are some greetings and quotes you can make use of on the occasion of this Christmas.

Bells are ringing to send my most sincere gretings and blessings to you. Have a good time. Merry christmas!
Celebrate the festival with good cheers and make it the most memorable Christmas ever. Merry Christmas!
May Christmas fill cheers in life and mesmerize us with its magic of joyous spirit. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
May Christmas fill up your life with love, compassion, love, peace and happiness. Merry Christmas!
May the divine grace be with you all during this eve of Christmas. Have a blessed Christmas and a happy New Year!
May you have faith, hope and love makes all things beautiful for this Christmas. spirit. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
May your life be cheerful and shimmering with joy. Let the magic of Christmas spreads around you. Merry Christmas!
Soak yourself with peace, goodwill; hope to have the real spirit of Christmas. Season"s Greeting!
Wishing you all the peace, joy, and love of the season. Season"s Greetings! Merry Christmas!!

Here are a few thoughts selected from the internet to ponder about this auspicious day.

"A Christmas candle is a lovely thing; It makes no noise at all, But softly gives itself away; While quite unselfish, it grows small." -- Eva K. Logue

"As long as we know in our hearts what Christmas ought to be, Christmas is." -- Eric Sevareid

"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas." -- Calvin Coolidge

"Christmas is not in tinsel and lights and outward show. The secret lies in an inner glow. It"s lighting a fire inside the heart. Good will and joy a vital part. It"s higher thought and a greater plan. It"s glorious dream in the soul of man." -- Wilfred A. Peterson

"Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart." -- Washington Irving

"Let Christmas not become a thing merely of merchant"s trafficking, of tinsel, bell and holly wreath and surface pleasure, but beneath The childish glamour, let us find Nourishment for heart and mind. Let us follow kinder ways through our teeming human maze, and help the age of peace to come." -- Madeline Morse

"There are some people who want to throw their arms round you simply because it is Christmas; there are other people who want to strangle you simply because it is Christmas." -- Robert Lynd

Source: http://www.merinews.com/article/some-choistest-christmas-quotes-and-greetings/15912193.shtml

City leaders react to Northlake mall shooting

Shooting in Northlake Mall Charlotte North Carolina Christmas Eve 2015

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

We saw the scared looks on shopper"s faces as they ran out of the mall escaping the gunshots at Northlake mall in Charlotte Thursday.

That same shock is reaching city leaders, wondering how the mall became so vulnerable today to violence.

Images of people running and ducking for cover are the last images people expected to see at Northlake mall on Christmas Eve....

While officers staged a command center to investigate a shooting inside a shoe store.

It"s a tragedy that this would happen on Christmas Eve. Such a holy and blessed time of the year. But that"s the way of our country and things right now, Councilman Al Austin said.

Austin told channel 9 by phone mall management told him last month security was ready for the Christmas shopping season.

Northlake mall has had its share of issues with crime and violence.

Back in November 2014 bullets were sprayed into several cars during a shooting near the mall.

Then in March a fight at Northlake. We reported a fight between teens that forced mall security to step in.

We"ve also covered several break-ins and robberies at the mall. In July when three women assaulted and robbed workers at "downtown Locker Room" in the middle of the day.

There were several other hired officers working the mall, watching over the sea of shoppers.

Police said it was an off-duty officer who shot and killed the gunman.

Mayor Jennifer Roberts said it all just shows the pressure on city leaders to ensure resources to make places safer.

I think we should all be shocked and concerned when there is gun violence in our community. I think we need to continue to work to make sure our community is safe, Roberts said.

Next month city leaders begin budget talks that will include discussing putting more money toward public safety.

Channel 9 reached out Northlake mall for comment about the shooting Christmas Eve and have not heard back.

Source: http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/city-leaders-react-northlake-mall-shooting/nprRp/

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Record-wrecking heat on Christmas Eve in Albany

Christmas Eve Official Trailer #1 (2015) - Patrick Stewart, Jon Heder Movie HD

Updated 11:19am, Thursday, December 24, 2015

Bill Presler wears a elf hat while he washes windows on Christmas Eve at the NBT Bank branch in Glens Falls. By 10 a.m., the temperature in the region was well into the 60s and expected to hit the 70s. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

Ben Syden and Sarah Fist of Loudonville go for a run with their dog Luther on Shalimar Ct. on a warm Christmas Eve. Thursday, Dec. 24, 2015 in Loudonville, N.Y. Temperatures are expected to hit 70 degrees today. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

Record-wrecking heat on Christmas Eve in Albany

ALBANY - By dawn, it was already the warmest Christmas Eve on record in the Capital Region.

At 6:30 a.m., the temperature in the Albany area was already at 58 degrees, one degree warmer than the day"s previous record set on Christmas Eve 1941.

But 10 a.m., it was 66 degrees and the sun was breaking through the clouds.

Another record is likely to fall by midnight: the latest date for measurable snow.

The previous record was Dec. 24, 1928, according to the National Weather Service. But with no snow in the foreseeable future, the region is likely push back that record.

Forecasters said the temperature could rise into the 70s during the day. The National Weather Service in Albany says the temperature record will be obliterated in this region as well as in Glens Falls where the temperature was expected to hit 67 degrees, which is 18 degrees above the previous high of 49 which was sent in 1949.

The morning started out with dense fog. Forecasters predict the day will feature showers and the possibility of thunder.

The temperature is expected to drop into the low 40s overnight before rebounding the mid 50s on Christmas Day.

The daytime temperature is expected to hover in the 40s and 50s on Saturday and Sunday before dropping into the 30s on Monday.

Source: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/At-6-30-a-m-record-breaking-Christmas-Eve-6719249.php

Impromptu "Christmas in Hollywood" duet with Tori Kelly was Michael Buble"s ...

Michael Buble full concert, Best Songs in 2015
Please enable Javascript to watch this videoZap2it: What made you decide to do your Christmas special in Hollywood this year?

Michael Buble: You know, what better place to celebrate Christmas than Los Angeles, you know? When I think of Christmas, I think sunshine, palm trees, leaving fajitas for Santa Claus [laughs].

You know what? Every year has been a different place. Every year has been a different challenge and I think it"s kind of cool seeing Christmas from the perspective of different places all over this beautiful planet that we have. I"ve had a Christmas special in the U.K., a Christmas special, obviously, in New York; I"ve come home to Vancouver and now in beautiful Hollywood. So either I"m incredibly brave or I owe the first four places money.

RELATED: Instagram doesn"t play well with "Michael Buble"s Christmas in Hollywood" requests

Zap2it: In your special two years ago, you did a terrific improv version of "Blue Christmas."

Michael Buble: Yeah, I remember we opened with that. That wasn"t even supposed to be our opening, by the way. We had a completely different opening but we were messing around in the hallway and we went, "You know what? This could be fun. This could be a fun way to start the thing."

Zap2it: Do you have anything like that this year?

Michael Buble: Yeah, we do, actually. One of the things that I love most about this special is getting to connect via social media with the fans and fans all over the world. So we did that again this year and this year Tori Kelly actually joined me in one of those moments where someone asks for a certain song and I thought it"d be great to do it with her, so I asked her if she was up for it and it was very impromptu. She came up and did it and it"s always my favorite part, to be honest with you. I really love doing it and it"s cool ...

Source: http://zap2it.com/2015/12/impromptu-christmas-in-hollywood-duet-with-tori-kelly-was-michael-bubles-favorite-part/

Zach Hodskins marca pontos de ouro sem uma mo

Zach Hodskins Highlights
O facto de ter nascido sem a mo esquerda nunca impediu Zach Hodskins de jogar basquetebol. A vida deste jovem de 19 anos tem sido feita de pequenas conquistas e agora alcanou mais uma: marcou os seus primeiros dois pontos no campeonato universitrio norte-americano (NCAA). Foi na vitria dos Florida Gators sobre Jacksonville (89-65), um cesto muito festejado pelo pblico e pelos companheiros de equipa. "Estou feliz pelo Zach, um jovem incrvel que nos mostra como possvel ultrapassar uma adversidade. um orgulho", disse no final o treinador, Mike White.

Chegou universidade no ano passado, jogou alguns minutos mas nunca conseguiu marcar qualquer cesto. Em 10 encontros tinha feito ao todo cinco lanamentos mal sucedidos, mas desta feita a bola entrou.

Zach um bom atirador (tem uma percentagem de trs pontos a rondar os 60 por cento) e no foi em vo que foi escolhido pela universidade da Florida (no entrou com bolsa de atleta). "H muitos jogadores que quando me veem em campo adormecem, acham que no sei jogar, mas quando passo por eles e a bola entra no cesto, eles acordam logo, encaram-me como um verdadeiro adversrio e a eu sei que ganhei o seu respeito. o que mais quero", contara o jovem Hodskins numa entrevista ao USA Today, no incio do ms.

Autor: Isabel Dantas

Source: http://www.record.xl.pt/modalidades/basquetebol/detalhe/zach-hodskins-marca-pontos-de-ouro-sem-uma-mao.html

Bowling Green adds Marcus White as co-def. coordinator, D-line coach

NCAAF / Week 01 / 05.09.2015 / Bowling Green Falcons @ (25) Tennessee Volunteers

Faulkner University defensive line coach Marcus White is the new co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach for Bowling Green coach Mike Jinks, according to a source.

Its a reuniting of Jinks and White, who previously worked together at Texas Tech. This season was Whites first at Faulkner after spending the last two seasons in an off-field role at Texas Tech.

The 34-year-old White was an offensive quality control assistant at Houston in 2012, Tarleton States offensive line coach in 11 and worked another year at Houston in 10 as an offensive graduate assistant. A Theodore, Ala., product, he was an assistant at St. Paul"s Episcopal in Mobile, Ala., in 09 and the defensive line coach at Jackson Olin High in Birmingham, Ala., in 08.

White was a defensive tackle for Auburn before finishing his collegiate career at Murray State. He also played for the NFLs Tennessee Titans and in the Arena Football League.

Jinks was named Bowling Greens coach earlier this week after spending the last three years as Texas Techs running backs coach. He was also the programs associate head coach this season.

A well respected former Texas high school coach, Jinks won a Class 5A Division II state title in the Lone Star State in 2010 at San Antonio-area Byron P.Steele IIHigh. He replaces former Bowling Green coach Dino Babers, who took the same position at Syracuse.

The Falcons (103) won the MAC championship this season and play Georgia Southern (84) in the GoDaddy Bowl on Dec. 23.

Source: http://www.si.com/college-football/2015/12/11/marcus-white-hired-bowling-green-defensive-coordinator