This year, Union County is ringing in the holiday season with many family-friendly events offered to the community and visitors. While the leaves of a late autumn season are peaking, the county is beautiful, and now that the fall carnivals, hayrides, and visits to the pumpkin patch are wrapping up, it is time to mark your calendars for some spectacular Christmas events.
Cut your own tree

Thanksgiving is a time of family fellowship, thankfulness, and tradition. Spending time building memories with family and friends should be priority. The thankfulness of the holiday seems to be taken lightly by some as they are already preparing for the Christmas season. A season that should be of similar nature, geared around happiness, giving, and togetherness, now seems to have progressed into a more common time of stress, rushing and shopping. As the years pass, it seems as though festive stress is the commonality that comes with the Christmas season rather than the spreading of cheer.

While holiday shopping can get you into the spirit of the season, it’s often accompanied by a nagging feeling that you’re overspending. Listening to that nagging little voice will be the best thing you can do! Busting the budget is a holiday tradition that you may pay for months into the new year. A holiday spending plan can help you feel comfortable and in control, but a common mistake is not considering the hidden expenses that come with the holidays. Here are tips for making sure your budget covers even those hidden costs:

A fond memory from my childhood is packing the whole family, and quite often several friends, into the vehicle nearing the Christmas season. All of us children, and our parents too, itching with excitement waiting on the darkness to fall so all of the dainty lights could glow through the car windows. Simple or extravagant, that did not matter. The cruising, the laughing, and the twinkle from those beautiful Christmas lights that we had looked so forward to admiring are a strong memory from our youth.