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Turn Spirits destination store into a fun outing, not a spending trap

• Decide before you go: is this a fun outing or a shopping trip? Set a small treat budget and give kids a photo hunt instead of saying yes to everything

• For big decor and inflatables, price-check other stores on your phone and only buy now if it truly beats what youd pay after-Christmas clearance

• Treat Spirit Christmas as your stocking-stuffer/white-elephant stop, set a per-gift price cap, and save the practical fillers for cheaper grocery or discount stores

Spirit Halloweens sibling brand, Spirit Christmas, has officially opened 30 pop-up stores across the Northeast and Great Lakes, each transformed into a full-blown Peppermint Lane winter wonderland. Think animatronics, inflatables, ornaments, ugly sweaters, novelty gifts, photo ops, and Santa visits, all layered on thick with twinkle lights and nostalgia.

Its meant to be an experience, not just a store, which is funand also exactly how you end up spending way more than you planned. Heres how to enjoy the Spirit of Christmas and keep your budget intact.

Treat Peppermint Lane like an attraction, not a shopping cart

They have named their in-store experience Peppermint Lane this year and it includes interactive displays, a themed photo booth, and a Santa meet-and-greet in some locations. All ploys designed to keep you in the store longer which often means more impulse buys.

Decide before you go: Is this a family outing or a shopping trip?

If its just a fun family outing, almost like going to check out neighborhood Christmas light displays, I recommend setting a hard treat budget (for example, $25 for one ornament and one small toy or accessory) and stick to it.

If youre going specifically to buy decor, be sure to bring a list and snap photos of maybe items instead of blindly tossing them in the cart. You can then price-check the items at home and only go back for the actual deals.

Pro tip: Consider giving the kids a photo mission, not a shop and spend mission. Let them hunt for the funniest sweater, the wildest inflatable, or the cutest ornament and take pictures instead of asking for everything.

Compare big decor to big-box prices in real time

Spirit Christmas is heavy on animatronics, inflatables, and large decor, which are high-margin categories almost everywhere.

Before you commit to the $150 inflatable snowman, pull out your phone and check comparable options at Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, Target, and Costco.

Look closely at size, materials, and warranty. A slightly pricier item at a home-improvement store may come with better durability and return terms.

Pro tip: Always assume a must-have item will go on clearance right after Christmas. If its something you dont necessarily need this year, wait until their after-holiday sale and potentially get the item for 50-75% off.

Play the stocking stuffer and white-elephant only game

These stores are tailor-made for stocking stuffers and white-elephant gifts. Think things like ugly sweaters, funnysocks, mugs, gag gifts, and themed accessories.

To avoid turning just a couple small things into a $90 checkout, be sure to set a price cap per person (say, $5$10 for stockings, $15$20 for white-elephant).

Use Spirit Christmas for the fun item, then fill in the practical stuff (candy, basics, gift cards) at discount or grocery stores where unit prices are lower.

Plan for end-of-season deals (and maybe next Halloween)

Like Spirit Halloween, Spirit Christmas is a seasonal pop-up, which usually means markdowns as the holiday gets closer to December 25 and especially in the final days. Then from December 26^th to the 28^th expect some great deals as they try to clear everything out.

Make a quick note of the big-ticket items youd definitely buy if they were discounted. Things like specific inflatables, tree toppers, or high-end ornaments.

Swing by in the final week before Christmas or right after to see whats left on clearance.

Pro tip: Consider cross-season items that can serve multiple purposes. Some lights, generic winter decor, or even certain animatronics can pull double duty for next Halloween with minor tweaks.

Satisfaction climbs in both independent and assisted living

• Satisfaction climbs even as assisted living and memory care costs rise about 10% and independent living rents rise 7%9% year over year

• Independent living communities see a 25-point gain in overall satisfaction; assisted living/memory care rises 12 points

• Improvements in pricing perceptions, staff performance, dining and activities drive gains across segments

Rising prices arent dampening how residents and their families feel about senior living communities. In fact, satisfaction is moving sharply higher, according to the 2025 J.D. Power U.S. Senior Living Satisfaction Study, released Wednesday.

Overall satisfaction among independent living residents reached 753 on J.D. Powers 1,000-point scalea 25-point increase from 2024. Among family members and other decision-makers rating assisted living and memory care communities, satisfaction rose 12 points to 867.

Andrea Stokes, J.D. Powers hospitality and senior living practice lead, said the growth reflects residents feeling they are getting good value, even amid steep increases in the cost of care. Were seeing noteworthy gains in satisfaction across all areas of the senior living experience, even in prices paid for services, she said.

Independent living gains led by value, staff and amenities

Independent living providers earned major year-over-year increases in satisfaction with price paid for services (+28 points), community staff (+25) and community buildings and grounds (+21). That rise in staff-related satisfaction is notable for an industry still grappling with persistent workforce shortages, J.D. Power noted.

Family members and decision-makers reported higher satisfaction with the assisted living experience thanks to improvements in dining (+11 points), resident activities (+8) and resident living units (+7). Quality-of-care scores also hit new territory: satisfaction with staff care in assisted living and memory care communities reached an all-time high of 8.89 on a 10-point scale.

LCS leads independent living; Discovery tops assisted living/memory care

For the seventh straight year, LCS (Life Care Services) ranked highest for independent living satisfaction, scoring 831. Discovery Senior Living followed with 761, and Five-Star Senior Living ranked third with 757.

In the assisted living and memory care category, Discovery Senior Living led with a score of 884, followed by Atria Senior Living (879) and Frontier Senior Living (877).

How the study was conducted

The 2025 study reflects 2,917 responses from independent living residents and from family members or decision-makers for assisted living and memory care residents. Results were collected from May through August 2025. J.D. Power measured satisfaction across six key areas: community buildings and grounds; staff; dining; pricing; activities; and living units.

More information about the study is available at the J.D. Power website.

The CEO's choice of headgear drew boos from environmentalists despite the investment in hybrid manufacturing

Toyota on Tuesday unveiled a $912 million investment in U.S. plants, most of it going to ramp up hybrid vehicle production in the U.S., an announcement that was overshadowed by CEO Akio Toyoda hosting a red, white and blue NASCAR event in Japan while sporting a Trump-Vance shirt and red MAGA hat.

The investment ispart of a previously announced planto invest up to $10 billion in the U.S. by 2030, whichPresident Trump revealed last month. Most of the investments are expected to be completed by 2027. Toyota already leads hybrid vehicle production with more than 51% market share through the third quarter of this year, according to Motor Intelligence data.

The company is looking to further increase manufacturing of hybrid-compatible engines and vehicles at certain American facilities.

Customers are embracing Toyotas hybrid vehicles, and our US manufacturing teams are gearing up to meet that growing demand, Kevin Voelkel, senior vice president of manufacturing operations, said in a statement.

Political repercussions

Toyoda took note of recent US-Japan trade tensions during his bold display of pro-Trump sentiment but tried to maintain a neural stance the subject of tariffs.

Im not here to argue whether tariffs are good or bad. Every national leader wants to protect their own industry, Toyoda said ahead of the race.But environmental forces were quick to pounce.

By wearing President Trumps face on his chest, Chairman Toyoda has shown he will do anything to appease and cozy up to this anti-EV and anti-climate administration,said Adam Zuckerman, senior clean vehicles campaigner with Public Citizens Climate Program. "Seventy-five percent of polled Republicans and 90% of polled Democrats who own Toyotas said that the company should support stronger emissions standardsstandards that Toyota has worked with Trump to dismantle.

Electrification Toyota's way

Toyotas $912 million hybrid-investment announcement is aclear signalthat it is scaling up its U.S. manufacturing of electrified vehicles but the EV (battery-electric) portion of that strategy is still under development. But it's important to note that the focus is on electrified vehicles (specifically hybrids in this instance) rather than 100 % battery-electric vehicles only.

The $912 million will include expansion at plants in West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee and Missouri.Shifting production of hybrid-compatible engines/components to the U.S. helps mitigate import-tariff risks and respond to growing U.S. market demand.

Toyota notes that to date (U.S.) it has sold more than 6.6 million electrified vehicles (hybrid, PHEV, BEV, fuel-cell) in the U.S. since 2000.

It plans to launch two U.S.-made all-electric vehicles (BEVs) in 2025, and expand to seven EV models in the U.S. by mid-2027.

Connected cars stumble when the signal drops

• Cars increasingly depend on the same fragile cell networks as smartphones
• Coverage gaps can cripple navigation, safety features, and remote apps
• Automakers are scrambling for solutions, from multi-carrier modems to satellites

Automakers have spent the past decade selling the promise of the always-connected cara vehicle that can download new features on the fly, report maintenance problems before drivers notice them and automatically call for help after a crash. But that promise runs into a hard limit: the same cell phone dead spots that frustrate everyday smartphone users.

Modern vehicles depend heavily on 4G and 5G cellular networks to power telematics, navigation, over-the-air updates, and remote-vehicle control apps. When coverage disappears, so do many of the features consumers increasingly take for granted. As more car systems rely on cloud connectivity, the impact of these gaps grows larger.

Dead spots create problems drivers can feel

Dead zones appear in all the familiar placesmountain passes, rural stretches of interstate, tunnels, bridges and remote coastal or desert regions where carriers simply dont have enough towers. While a phone losing service is an inconvenience, a connected car losing service can quickly present a more serious problem.

Navigation systems may stop receiving real-time traffic data, leaving drivers with outdated or incomplete routing. Electric vehicles can lose access to live charger availability, forcing drivers to rely on old information. Remote functions like lock/unlock or remote start often fail because the car briefly goes offline. Even streaming services built into the dashboard may freeze or buffer endlessly.

These interruptions dont always last long, but they happen frequently enough that consumers routinely complain about the mismatch between what automakers advertise and what their cars actually deliver.

Some outages carry safety implications

Beyond convenience, certain dead-zone failures can matter in an emergency. Automatic crash notification systems may not be able to send data to call centers if the vehicle is out of range. Stolen-vehicle tracking systems lose the ability to ping the cars location. Some advanced driver-assistance features that depend on cloud-fed hazard or road-data updates wont refresh until coverage returns.

Most vehicles can still make a traditional voice 911 call if any carrier signal is present, but in true dead zones even that backup may fail. As automakers lean harder on telematics for safety and diagnostics, coverage gaps become a more critical point of failure.

Automakers try workarounds, but none are perfect

Manufacturers are experimenting with ways to smooth out the gaps. Some vehicles now use multi-carrier SIMs that can hop between wireless networks, although switching isnt instantaneous. Others cache limited map or hazard data so the vehicle can function briefly without a connection. Still, anything requiring live informationtraffic, weather, remote commandssuffers.

Over-the-air software updates may stall or restart if connectivity drops mid-download. Infotainment features that depend on real-time data simply shut down until the signal returns.

A satellite-assisted future may be on the way

Long term, the industry sees satellites as the escape hatch. Low-Earth orbit constellations could provide a backup layer of coverage for emergency services and essential telematics, eliminating the most dangerous dead zones. Several major automakers have announced partnerships aimed at integrating satellite capability into upcoming models, though most consumers wont see it before the late 2020s.

Until then, the connected car is only as connected as the nearest cell towerand for many drivers, that remains a shaky link.