The holiday season, from Thanksgiving through New Year's Day, is also the most wasteful season, as American household waste increases by more than 25 percent. All that added food waste, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows, ribbons and more adds up to an additional one million tons a week to the landfills in the United States.

Note: This is the latest installment in an occasional series of posts focusing on ways to celebrate the holidays without spending a lot of money.

If you've got kids on your Christmas or Hanukah shopping lists this year, you'll want to take a look at a new set of coupons on Hasbro toys and games.

Note: This is the first in an occasional series of posts focusing on ways to celebrate the holidays without spending a lot of money.

I'll be stopping in at Kroger this week to do a little Christmas shopping.

It's not as crazy as it sounds.

Here's an opportunity to do a good deed and get a good deal at the same time.

All this month, Lynn's and Daphne's Hallmark stores in the Triangle are collecting donations to send recordable storybooks to soldiers serving in Afghanistan who won't be home to celebrate the holidays with their kids.

The gallery has launched! Tech Junkie loves shiny stuff and we find holiday lights, large and small, enchanting. We want to collect & share photos of inspired holiday displays. Geeked out and over the top is good, but so is simple. Share your photos or even a location tip.

REMINDER: the St. Nicholas European Christmas Market will be 1-6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4 in Cary.

Among the items for sale will be homemade pierogies, smoked kielbasa, strudel, nut, poppy and apricot kolachkes, stollen and Christmas cookies. They also will be selling hot cabbage plates for eat-in or take-out, bratwurst from Cary’s Bavarian Brathaus, Ukranian ornaments and more. The Little German Band will perform from 1-2:30 p.m.

The sale benefits St. Cyril and Methodius Parish in Cary. The sale occurs at the church, which is located at the corner of Tryon and Piney Plains roads in Cary.

For more information, call 851-9266.

Or  to pre-order, send an e-mail to sscyrilmethodius@hotmail.com.

Mark your calendars: the St. Nicholas European Christmas Market will be 1-6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4 in Cary.

Among the items for sale will be homemade pierogies, smoked kielbasa, strudel, nut, poppy and apricot kolachkes, stollen and Christmas cookies. They also will be selling hot cabbage plates for eat-in or take-out, bratwurst from Cary’s Bavarian Brathaus, Ukranian ornaments and more. The Little German Band will perform from 1-2:30 p.m.

The sale benefits St. Cyril and Methodius Parish in Cary. The sale occurs at the church, which is located at the corner of Tryon and Piney Plains roads in Cary.

For more information, call 851-9266.

Or  to pre-order, send an e-mail to sscyrilmethodius@hotmail.com.

Stationed next to our newsroom scanners, I hear fire calls all day long. Fortunately most are doused by our local firefighting heroes preventing the worst, but even a relatively small fire can wreck what should be a time for fond memories.

It's a ritualistic time of year, and here's an annual evergreen I always enjoy: the "alternative" musical holiday gift guide, the 2009 edition of which includes everything from Bob Dylan singing Christmas carols (!) to turntables that cost a cool six figures (!!). If the idea of Dylan going Christmas makes your head spin, check this. And if nothing on this year's list tickles your fancy, check out some our past alt-music guides here or here.

Whenever I see Kristin Chenoweth on TV, I get excited.

She's so darn cute, this naughty mix of retro and modern.

She can do that rat-a-tat banter like in a Kate Hepburn movie, but she's far more girly.

She's what makes "12 Men of Christmas" (Lifetime, 9 tonight) worth watching.