Hello everyone! Christmas is almost here! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. My wife and I will be traveling on the snow covered roads today, so wish us luck!

With Christmas right around the corner, several bloggers banded together to do a group writing project - The 12 Days of Christmas - Personal Finance Style. If you missed it, here is the entire collection of writings:

• 12 Frugal Things (to cut your budget) @Being Frugal
• 11 Ways to Get Paid (…for Pipers…) @ Mrs. Micah: Finance For A Freelance Life
• 10 Creative Ways to Cut Up Your Credit Card @ Gather Little By Little
• 9 Financial Lessons @ Cash Money Life
• Eight Maids a Milking @ Rocket Finance
• Seven Tips When You’re Swimming (in debt) @ Working For Financial Freedom
• Six Streams of Income @ Moolanomy
• Five Golden Rules For Snowflaking @ I’ve Paid for This Twice Already…
• Four Calling Tips @ Plonkee Money
• Three Paid Credit Cards @ DebtFREE-Revolution
• Two Guaranteed Ways to Financial Freedom @ Credit Withdrawal
• … and The Best Way to Manage Money @ BeingFrugal.net

Also from around the personal finance blogosphere:

• Consumerism Commentary was selected in the BESPy Awards. The BESPy awards are an annual award to celebrate blogs, education, software/sites, and podcasts focusing on personal finance and investing. Congrats, Flexo!
• Fellow M-Network member blog, Christian Personal Finance is having a Christmas giveaway! He is giving away an iPod, a CD, a copy of You Need A Budget, and a copy of Zen to Done - a productivity e-Book by Leo, the author of the blog Zen Habits. All you have to do is leave a comment to enter!
• It’s a Wonderful Life and the Value of Social Capital @ Get Rich Slowly. JD writes about the value of social capital, or using your real life connections for business and more. It amazing the wealth you can build with a lifetime of relationships - and I’m not just referring to money. This is a great article.
• No Man’s Credit is as Good as His Money @ Paradigm Shifted. This is an interesting article that asks the question for those who claim to be free from credit card debt, “where did that freedom truly come from? Is it from the knowledge that credit will never bind you (even if you inadvertently find yourself trapped in it) or from the fear of letting it bind you again?”
• Wear Sunscreen and Retire Early @ Early Retirement Extreme. This is a take on the tune, “Wear sunscreen,” which was popular, oh around 10 yeas ago. It’s still solid advice.
• What Would DaVinci have Paid? @ Wise Bread. This is a thought provoking article that asks what certain people would have paid for technology that is far more advanced than what was available to them at the time. An example is Da Vinci. How much would he have paid for modern art supplies? He would have been more productive and his works would have been of better quality. I agree with a lot of the points in the article, but somehow I also think that the passion and innovation Da Vinci demonstrated may have been somewhat stifled by an easy way out. Those who are truly passionate will always find a way - and often break new ground in he process.
• The Over-Gifting Relative @ The Simple Dollar. Trent shares a dilemma he has with his grandmother, who gives very thoughtful and sometimes extravagant gifts, even though she probably cannot afford it. There are some nice comments about how others have dealt with similar situations. Being graceful and thankful, is always key.
• Saved! Portable Power Supply Saves My Bacon @ Credit Withdrawal. Portable power supplies are handy little tools to keep around!
• 2008 Roth 401(k) For Me! @ My Dollar Plan. I want one of these!

This week’s carnivals and festivals:

• The Carnival of Personal Finance Naughty or Nice Edition was hosted at Get Rich Slowly. My article, How to avoid counterfeit goods, was included.
• The Festival of Frugality #105 - The Holiday Edition, was hosted at Fire Finance. My article, Where to Find Inexpensive Flu Shots, was included and selected as an Editor’s Choice. Thanks Fire Finance!
• Take Charge of Your Healthcare Special Holiday Edition @ Take Charge of Your Healthcare. My article, Where to Find Inexpensive Flu Shots, was included.

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