Liz the Squeak and Sandra in Sydney: I don't think that making Christmas decorations/crafts counts as commercialism. Quite the opposite -- it's anti-commercialism! You go, girls; keep up the good work.

Same goes for Rapaire (except for the "girl" part?) -- Christmas-season charity doesn't count as commercialism. Not sure why you're waiting till Christmas to give those poor, cold Kentuckians some coats, though. Brrrr.... ':-/

VirginiaTam: Love that word "manky"! So true about the chocolates. They didn't have chocolate Advent calendars when I was a kid, just the paper cards with windows, but I remember that I could never resist opening more than one window a day. Can't imagine that the chocolate behind the last window stays there that long, either!