Black Friday behind us

As soon as the Thanksgiving leftovers were tucked away, it became official. Christmas shopping season is upon us.
I don't do the Black Friday frenzy. I'd rather sleep in, have pumpkin pie for breakfast and think about dragging the Christmas tree out of the garage. The contemplating comes early on. The action comes later.
I got one of those forward to everyone you know or you don't love America emails that advocated leaving the China imports on the shelf and reaching out to local businesses to meet our gift shopping needs.
I admit I am the first to delete mass emails. They suck away my time, clog my inbox and frankly are usually perpetuation of myth, faulty logic and/or outright bs. What prompted me to skim this one instead of promptly hitting delete, I don't recall.
The gist was an idea of giving gifts of local services and goods to those on our list, to provide a useful and meaningful - and often needed - gift while contributing to the economic health of local businesses. Keeping those businesses and local services alive helps us by meeting our needs, helps them by supporting their livelihood, helps provide jobs for the people our demand for their business helps them employ, and on and on.
Some ideas: Buy a manicure/pedicure gift certificate for an aunt; monthly car washes for a nephew; grocery store gift cards for seniors on a fixed income - you get the drift.
Why not?

Oklahoma State Memorial

Gallagher-Iba Arena is filling up with the orange and black most familiar here at Oklahoma State University.
More black than orange today.
Students, staff, alumni and fans gather to remember women's basketball coach Kurt Budke, assistant coach Miranda Serna and alumni Olin Branstetter and Paula Branstetter.
All four died in Arkansas Thursday after the Branstetters' plane nose-dived into a hillside during a recruiting trip.
Gov Mary Fallin, an OSU, alum, will attend the memorial. She also is asking the state's universities to review their travel policies. A decade ago 10 people affiliated with OSU men's basketball died in a plane crash in Colorado.