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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to celebrate off season. When you plan

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Speaker 1: fun things at slightly less conventional times, you just might

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Speaker 1: have more fun all around. Every year I make a

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Speaker 1: holiday fun list things I want to do to make

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Speaker 1: the Christmas season feel special. In general, I plan to

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Speaker 1: do these things before Christmas, or at least before the

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Speaker 1: New Year. But as I've made the schedule, I've realized something.

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Speaker 1: Many places keep their holiday decorations up into January. Many

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Speaker 1: Christmas shows run into January two. On some level, it

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Speaker 1: makes sense the twelve days of Christmas are actually after Christmas,

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Speaker 1: though people seem to forget that they run right into

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Speaker 1: January six. Since many folks have mentally moved on by

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Speaker 1: that point, the crowds might be smaller, tickets might be

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Speaker 1: cheaper or at least easier to get. I am part

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Speaker 1: of one group that has a holiday party in early January,

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Speaker 1: precisely because everyone is so busy in December. It is

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Speaker 1: a lot easier to get people to come. It isn't

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Speaker 1: just one more thing to do on a weekend that

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Speaker 1: is already packed the opportunity cost is lower. I found

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Speaker 1: that some truly frugal families intentionally have their celebrations post

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Speaker 1: Christmas so people can buy gifts for each other at

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Speaker 1: deeply discounted prices. Plus, many people need their spirits lifted

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Speaker 1: in the dark days of January, when the holidays are

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Speaker 1: for the most part over, why not stretch out the fun.

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Speaker 1: All of these are good things. When the opportunity costs

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Speaker 1: us lower, it is easier to make things work. This

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Speaker 1: is true with the holidays, but it's true for lots

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Speaker 1: of other things as well. My kids schools tend not

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Speaker 1: to start until several days into September, so we can

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Speaker 1: often travel places that are still having summer weather, but

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Speaker 1: without the summer crowds. As another idea, I have noticed

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Speaker 1: that many ski towns are in lovely mountainous places that

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Speaker 1: are quite pretty in the summer, and yet far fewer

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Speaker 1: people visit in the summer. If you'd love to buy

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Speaker 1: your sweethearts some roses, the worst time to do that

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Speaker 1: is on February fourteenth. At any other time of year,

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Speaker 1: you could probably be far more extravagant for far less money,

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Speaker 1: and since the bouquet would be more unexpected. It might

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Speaker 1: truly make someone's day. In any case. By stretching the

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Speaker 1: window of when you might do things, you can often

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Speaker 1: create more opportunities and have fewer trade offs. January is

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Speaker 1: an option for holiday lights, but I also booked tickets

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Speaker 1: in mid November at those places that opened early. November

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Speaker 1: weekends tend to be less busy than December weekends. As

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Speaker 1: a result, we could do more festive activities then if

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Speaker 1: we were only looking at the three December weekends before Christmas.

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Speaker 1: Whenever you want to do something, think about when most

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Speaker 1: people would do that thing, and then think about whether

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Speaker 1: it might be workable at another time. When you celebrate

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Speaker 1: off season, you might be able to avoid crowds, save money,

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Speaker 1: or even make it easier for people to say yes.

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Speaker 1: Time is just what you make of it. We can

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Speaker 1: feel festive whenever we'd like. In the meantime, This is Laura.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

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Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

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Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four. Then

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Speaker 1: Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an

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Speaker 1: email at before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot

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Speaker 1: com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For

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