The holidays are just around the corner. Stores will be moving seamlessly from Halloween candy and pumpkins to Thanksgiving foods and decorations and finally to Christmas.

The old song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” will surely be playing on the continuous loop of holiday music in malls and stores across America, but for some the holidays are really a time that slaps them with reality.

Everyone who hasn’t been completely devoid of any news source knows the economy is bad and with that comes lay-offs. Yet and still Christmas time will roll around.

It’s easy to tell kids you can’t afford something in the day-to-day life, but at Christmas time the pressure mounts even more.

Also more fortunate people have boxes of presents full of unopened and unused gifts of all kinds.

These to circumstances tend to lead to a peak of break-ins and robberies around Christmas time.

Sometimes the perpetrator is a desperate person and other times it is an opportunistic one. Either way it could be you who is a victim of larceny.

In the coming months, be mindful to lock doors and windows, set alarms and work with neighbors to keep your house and theirs safe.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to help out those struggling either through an organization like Angel Tree.