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Open House

Hurricanes Strain Power Grid In New England; Tips For Saving Electricity; Last-Minute Gift Ideas; Regifting Etiquette; Get Your Home Ready for Holiday Guests

Aired December 24, 2005 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: "Now in the News" in Mosul, Iraq, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld meets and greets the U.S. troops with a bit of Christmas cheer and holiday dinner. He told them most Iraqis believe progress is being made in the war zone, but Rumsfeld's Christmas spirit is somewhat tempered by ongoing insurgent attacks which killed at least eight Iraqis today in Baghdad.
It's been almost one year since the Indian Ocean tsunami swept away more than 200,000 lives. In Thailand, tsunami survivors and relatives of victims laid wreaths and offered prayers for their lost loved ones. The earthquake spawned waves that struck a dozen South Asian countries last December 26th.

And American retailers have a few more hours to lure those last- minute Christmas shoppers but experts are predicting those hopes will be dashed, noting Christmas Eve deals rarely bring out big crowds of shoppers.

And if you still have that last-minute shopping to do, don't worry. Hang with us for "OPEN HOUSE" with Gerri Willis. We'll show you how to get everything you need done in time for the holiday. That's "OPEN HOUSE" and that's next, here on CNN.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN ANCHOR: The minutes are ticking away on the East Coast; you've less than nine hours before the stores close. On the West Coast it's less than 12. Good morning, I'm Gerri Willis.

Welcome to our OPEN HOUSE Christmas countdown. We'll show you how to get everything done today from the very last-minute gift buying to getting ready for guests, but before we get to that, some news every American needs to hear. You could be faced with blackouts this winter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS (voice-over): After the one-two punch of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico is way off. Because it's used to produce electricity, especially in New England, that can strain the power grid over the next few months creating wintertime blackout. In response, the six New England states are taking immediate action.

The "Wall Street Journal" reports state agencies and utilities are already rehearsing how to manage a worst-case scenario and it says Maine's Governor John Baldacci is prepare televised power warning announcements urging consumers to turn off as much electricity as possible between the peak hours of 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

Though heating fuel is not threatened specifically, some homes use electric heat and that's raising concerns that some people can go without heat.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: So what can we do to start saving electricity now? Bill Prindel joins me from Washington. He's deputy director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

Bill, welcome.

BILL PRINDEL, AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT ECONOMY: Thank you and good morning.

WILLIS: So, I thought this whole problem was over. I thought we had energy capacity back online after the hurricanes and everything was supposed to be, well, normal.

PRINDEL: Well almost. We still have some natural gas production the Gulf of Mexico that's not back online yet so that's squeezing supplies a little bit and especially in the northeast where the pipelines reach their end and not a lot of pipelines have been built lately that's where the crunch could potentially come.

WILLIS: So, it's not necessarily a supply problem right now.

PRINDEL: Well, a little bit of both, but in the northeast, in particular, it's more a pipeline delivery problem, having enough pipeline to get the gas there.

WILLIS: All right, well you know, they're talking about rolling blackouts. Now, what is that going to mean as a practical matter and how should I cope?

PRINDEL: Well, if it happens, and we hope it doesn't, there's a possibility that there might not be enough gas on some really cold days to run all the power plants that are needed. If that happens and the utilities will most likely rotate power cuts, area by area, so everyone might be off for an hour, 45 minutes, something like that. Short enough that you don't freeze your pipes or freeze your pets or anything like that.

WILLIS: OK, but of course, kids and the elderly would be at risk even with rolling blackouts. Is there any suggestion you can give us for people who would be in that situation, maybe people with elderly parents and young children?

PRINDEL: Well, certainly dress warmly. Certainly, you know, be prepared with whatever contingency plans you might need. If there's a medical problem, try to make sure you get someone to a facilitate stays warm, for example, hospitals will stay on during blackout.

WILLIS: Right. What if you have home-based medical equipment? That could be a problem as well, particularly since they're asking people to turn down the energy usage between four and eight, it may be difficult for some houses.

PRINDEL: Right. Well, hopefully folks who have life-critical equipment will have some kind of battery backup or generator backup. If not, if it's a real emergency you might have to go to a hospital.

WILLIS: All right, well let's talk about quick fixes for reducing your energy consumption and I think this should play out for everybody in the country whether you live in the Northeast or out West, you're always using energy for something, you know, even air- conditioning, heating, whatever. How -- what's the best way to make that quick fix to make sure you're using less energy?

PRINDEL: Well, to avoid blackouts you want to try and save both natural gas, if you have it for heating, and electricity because so much of the electricity we use is generated by gas. So, we recommend that people make sure their furnaces and boilers are tuned up by their local contractors and the filters are...

WILLIS: Clean those air filters, right?

PRINDEL: Make sure the air ducts, if you have them, are sealed uptight and then of course, the whole house needs to be sealed up: Door frame, window frames and any potential air leakage site could be a recessed lighting fixture, could be a door to the attic. Make sure you use weather stripping and caulking to seal...

WILLIS: All right, I'm going stop you there because I want to ask you about getting that house air tight. You want to have the right insulation. What can you tell people about getting enough insulation and getting the right insulation in their homes?

PRINDEL: Well, if you have an existing house the most likely place you'll be able to ad insulation easily is in your attic. And that could be either rolled in the form of bats or blown in as loose insulation and there are contractors out there who can do it, you can do it yourself if you're willing to crawl around up there a bit.

WILLIS: Well, and it's not tough to do. You know, the good news is that next year, there's actually a tax break for people who are making improvements to their home to increase its energy efficiency.

PRINDEL: That's right.

WILLIS: So you might want to actually make that trip to your local home improvement store after the first of the year. Right?

PRINDEL: Right. Starting January 1 there are federal taxes in it for insulation, replacement windows, replacement furnaces, replacement air conditioners and even some water heaters. They have to be relatively efficient, but we've helped establish a Web site, actually, for information on that.

WILLIS: What is that? Tell us your Web site.

PRINDEL: That's www.energytaxincentives.org.

WILLIS: All right, Bill. Thanks so much for your help today, we appreciate it.

PRINDEL: You're welcome.

WILLIS: Coming up on OPEN HOUSE, the crunch it's on. The relatives are en route and you still need a gift for Aunt Sally? Back away from the fruitcake, we've got some better ideas for a last-minute gift buying. And later, ready, set, regift: The dos and don'ts of regifting etiquette. OPEN HOUSE will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: Welcome back to OPEN HOUSE. The Christmas countdown is on, we're just hours away from gift giving, but all you true procrastinators out there, we're talking about you fellows. Fear not, we're here with help from last-minute gift ideas. Robyn Spizman is author of "Make it Memorable" and she's joining us from Atlanta.

Robyn, welcome.

ROBYN SPIZMAN, AUTHOR: Hi there, how are you?

WILLIS: I'm great. You know, the real problem here, Robyn. You wait until the last minute you end up spending more money than you intended to and you blow the budget.

SPIZMAN: Time, money and energy, they are priceless, but you can wait until the last minute and also get great gifts. You can make it memorable. The key is, of course, to add your personal touch so it doesn't look like you waited. Now, if you're online and you know someone who is an online shopper, they appreciate, they check for e- mail minute by minute.

WILLIS: Right.

SPIZMAN: They're a perfect candidate for target.com that will instantly deliver an e-card where you can go shopping online. Not available...

WILLIS: All right, let me interrupt you there Robyn, so you like gift cards, but you also said make it personal. How is a gift card personal?

SPIZMAN: Well, the key is if you know where someone likes to shop and do a little bit of being a Sherlock Holmes so that you know that they shop there, they love the store. That then makes a match and it's all about matchmaking. Now, I would ad a coupon, maybe then if they're new parents and that's a great place, then add baby-sitting services. Coupons, you know, are fun, it's the kind of old, you know, retro throwback to a gift that gives time...

WILLIS: That's a nice idea.

SPIZMAN: Instead of just giving something you purchase.

WILLIS: Well, what about warmth. This is a great year to give warmth. We've got this incredibly cold holiday season, the winter is supposed to be frigid. It's a good year to give gifts that inspire warmth, right?

SPIZMAN: Absolutely, just thinking about practical gifts. You know, we're going get cold, so, you know, cold hands, warm heart. Give them a scarf, cashmere is always en vogue.

WILLIS: That's a good idea.

SPIZMAN: But you can also run out to any retailer at the last minute and find a wonderful hat, you know, scarf, gloves.

WILLIS: All right. Let's talk about the dos and don'ts of last- minute gift giving. So say there are actually guidelines you can follow so you don't get in trouble blowing the budget and you really deliver something that's personal.

SPIZMAN: Exactly. You don't want to give someone a gift that they're not going to appreciate. They're on a diet? You don't want to give them food, so give them the gift of health. Perhaps running to the grocery store, fill up a basket or a bag of pears and tell someone you're glad you paired up with them for the holiday. You know, at the same time you also don't want to give a gift that doesn't show thought -- it's generic, too plain. So you can add your personal touch by knowing just a little bit about them, perhaps you know their

WILLIS: OK.

SPIZMAN: Name, perhaps you know their

WILLIS: OK.

SPIZMAN: You know, their...

WILLIS: OK.

SPIZMAN: So you know what they're interested in, they have a pet, then give the pet the gift, for example run to the grocery store...

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIS: That's a good idea. Robyn, let me interrupt you for just a second if I could with a question because you know a lot of people out there, today, are thinking I've got to go out and find something right now. So you say you can go to the drugstore and find something good. Tell me about that.

SPIZMAN: All right. For example, at CVS, which is even -- a lot of them are open late on Christmas Eve, they have a one-time single use DVD recorder. So instead of giving the camcorder that would break the budget, you can now for $29.99 give a one-time use recorder that takes $12 to develop it at CVS. All righty...

SPIZMAN: And it only requires an hour.

WILLIS: Robyn, I'm sure you can get gifts like that at any drugstore. We appreciate you're being with us today. Thank you so much.

SPIZMAN: It's my pleasure.

WILLIS: You still don't think you'll have a chance to run out and you may already have the perfect gift sitting right at home, but there are dos and don'ts to regifting. Joining me now is Thomas Farley. He's editor of "Town and Country's" "Modern Manners." Welcome. Good see you.

THOMAS FARLEY, EDITOR "MODERN MANNERS": Thank you, Gerri, nice to be here.

WILLIS: This is one of my favorite topics, regifting. It's so much fun. But, I got to tell you, a lot of people feel like it's not personal. But you are saying you can make it personal. How do you do that?

FARLEY: I think at its best, regifting can be wonderful for the giver and the recipient. The key is to put some thought into it. A gift says a lot about you and if you're scrounging at the last minute in the closet, five minutes before the party thinking, what I can give so-and-so, probably not be a successful gift.

WILLIS: So, how do you come up with that thing? What things are good to regifts? Because I've seen people give things that I thought, boy this is something somebody gave you that was personal and now you're handing it off to me.

FARLEY: Well, certainly you don't want to give anything that's been monogram or that's been personalized with a little gift tag. You want to make sure the gift tag is long gone when you give it. I think also, give something that's not so individual or unique, you know, something that somebody gave you from their trip to Zimbabwe which clearly is not something that you purchased. Give something that is generic enough, yet shows feeling about, and knowledge about the person you're giving a gift to.

WILLIS: Who do you regift?

FARLEY: You can regift anyone, but just put some thought into it. I recommend, if you're giving gifts throughout the year, save them. put them aside in the closet, think, you know what, this would be really great for so-and-so, come birthday time, come holiday time and that way you're ready, you're not doing the last-minute scramble.

WILLIS: But Tom, you know, if I regift to my husband, I'm in big trouble. Are there people you should not regift?

FARLEY: I think you -- don't be afraid to be honest when you're regifting. Say, you know, I was at this party and I was given this and it's really, it's something I already have or it's something that just -- I know I won't use, but I think you'd enjoy it and I hope you do. So being honest sometimes, honesty is the best policy.

WILLIS: And you got to make sure you get the tag off and it doesn't have your name on it, right, and there are little details you have to watch out for.

FARLEY: Absolutely. Absolutely, that's key. You don't want to have any sign of the fact that it was given to you, unless again, you're being honest. But, rewrap it, don't use the same wrapping paper that the person gave you. Make sure the gift tag is gone, again, put a little bit of thought into it. Make sure, you know, a good gift would be maybe a DVD or a bottle of wine or a book. Make sure the book hasn't been signed. Something that's...

WILLIS: That would be a disaster, wouldn't it? You open it up and there's an inscription to somebody else.

FARLEY: Absolutely.

WILLIS: What a nightmare.

FARLEY: It's -- this is not the chance to clean out the closets of all of the junk that you just can't stand and you want to get rid of on your friends. Show some thought and your friends will really appreciate the fact that you've thought of them in this way.

WILLIS: All right Tom, I feel like we know the rules of the roads now for regifting. Thank you so much.

FARLEY: Thanks for having me.

WILLIS: It's not just the gifts, it's the company. We'll get you ready at home. And later, going over the top: We'll show you the brightest in outdoor decoration, first, the mortgage numbers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: You've got the gifts, you've got the guests coming, now get your home ready for Christmas. Even if your place is a mess, you can pull things together in just a few hours, at least that's what my next guest says. It's Carolyn Sollis, she's style director at "House and Garden" magazine.

Carolyn, great to see you.

CAROLYN SOLLIS, STYLE DIRECTOR, "HOUSE AND GARDEN": Hi Gerri, nice to see you, too.

WILLIS: All right, let's talk about those guests coming because I have the guests coming, OK? How do I make them feel at home?

SOLLIS: Well, so many people have stayed in incredible hotels that you want to make your own house feel colorful, festive and comfortable, so make your guestroom, even if it's a pull-out sofa, just feel divine.

WILLIS: How do you do that?

SOLLIS: Well, we've prepared a guest basket which is very easy to do and you can make it very extravagant or you can make it incredibly affordable. But what you should think about your guests in the guest room, they close the door and everybody's away from one another and you'll need beautiful towels, we have things that...

WILLIS: You have great stuff here.

SOLLIS: Things that smell good, we've got a candle...

WILLIS: DVDs.

SOLLIS: We've got cinnamon sticks, DVDs, "Wonderful Life," can't go through the holidays without that and something charming and sexy from France, "Moulin Rouge!," a delicious box of chocolates.

WILLIS: Everything that you possibly could think of is there including the champagne.

SOLLIS: Everything and the champagne and homemade cookies. Everybody makes cookies, so these are from my friend Amy and Sabine and I couldn't resist tucking one in the basket.

WILLIS: All right, well let's talk about, if you're not going go at this level, you can do things around the house that are natural that will appeal to people. Now, this is my style. I bring in the boughs from outside, make it natural. Any suggestions for making it really pop?

SOLLIS: Well, that's what's so easy. You know, use what you have. If you're in the Northeast, hopefully you've got a pine tree somewhere nearby or pine cones or beautiful berries, even grocery store fruit, you can put it together and put it in a beautiful silver bowl and it looks incredible so get a theme going.

If you're doing to all naturals, kind of stick with that, do beautiful greens -- evergreens, fruit, flowers, pine cone, things that are really sort of from the outdoors that you can find either out your backdoor or in the grocery store, or the nursery.

WILLIS: And just bring it right inside and maybe some ribbon and you're done.

SOLLIS: Absolutely, and it's so easy and just do a few strategic decorations. You don't have to put something on every single table. You know, just do it strategically and more than one thing is better than a lot of dinky things all over the place.

WILLIS: I agree with that. Let's talk about my favorite topic, food.

SOLLIS: Food. My favorite, too. We all eat at the holidays, but what you want to do if you haven't done anything and you're panic stricken, use maybe some things you might have made ahead and then go to a grocery store, go to incredible Whole foods, go to Stop and Shop, go to wherever you live, there's a place that has everything. You go to the grocery store.

WILLIS: Carolyn, are suggesting that you cheat.

SOLLIS: You cheat a little bit, because -- buy things that are incredible. Go to the deli section, go to the bakery section, go to the flower section, but when you bring the food home, put it on your own platters, you know, bring out your own beautiful things that you've collected so it looks like you've made it and you can combine things you haven't made with maybe some of the things you have, so it all looks wonderful any people are happy to be there no matter what you're serving.

WILLIS: Any other entertainment tricks you can suggest?

SOLLIS: Well, I just think it's nice to maybe have an activity planned, if you could. Sometimes people have had their food, they've had their drinks and they're kind of sitting around. We used to play an old game called the Tray Game where you put 25 things on a tray, people look at that time for two minutes and you have to remember everything you put there. It's incredible.

WILLIS: Oh boy, I could never do that.

SOLLIS: And the kids always win.

WILLIS: So, what about the bathroom? You've go this great basket, but in the bath you want to make people feel like, not only comfortable, but if they forgot something that you want to have it on hand...

SOLLIS: Think about that because, you know, maybe somebody has a headache and you need something to get rid of that. Maybe you need beautiful lotions. I put this in the guest basket, but pretty lotions and shampoo, maybe even band aids, you just never know. But, clean it up, make it fresh and make everything there just attractive and, I said before, just like a wonderful hotel.

WILLIS: OK, Carolyn. So, we don't have much time left. It's last-minute shopping for everybody out there. If you have to go out and buy one thing for guests, what should it be.

SOLLIS: Gosh, I think it should be something that smells good, something wonderful that they can spoil themselves because you might have towels in your linen closet, you probably have nice sheets anyway, so get something that it's yummy that they can tuck next on their bed that makes them feel special.

WILLIS: Well, it's all right here, right now, I can tell you, Carolyn. Thank you so much for being with us today.

SOLLIS: You're so welcome.

WILLIS: Not everyone waits until the last minute. Some houses are so decked out every Christmas, it must take months to plan, so we set out for the suburbs to find the brightest bulb in the pack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS (voice-over): Let it glow, let it glow, let it glow. Holiday decorations are a time-honored tradition and sometimes a competitive sport. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This, I start about the middle of October and it takes me probably until the first week of December to get done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The day after Halloween we start, until the day of Thanksgiving. So we finished by thanksgiving.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a full-time project, because on from the beginning of April 1 up until now. It takes about seven months to put everything up and there's a full time crew here, basically that does do this all year long.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a lot of competition now, everyone's starting to put up more and more and more every year. So, I mean, I think it's starting to become, people are trying to beat us out. But I don't know how that's going to work.

WILLIS: And make no mistake. It takes a lot to deck out these homes in holiday cheer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's 19 million lights -- 19 million light bulbs. We count them every year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's hello 450 pieces. Lights? I don't know, there's thousands of lights, I never count just the lights.

WILLIS: What about those electric bills.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Electric bill? I'm not sure. I'm not sure what the charge is for this. It's probably better I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I haven't got my electric bill yet, but it runs into the thousand.

WILLIS: But these homeowners say it's worth it. People come from all over just to catch a glimpse of the displays.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Believe it or not, they've come from Spain, some people came from England and South Africa. You know, they've been here from all over. Actually when president Nixon was living and he was coming here watching and parked in his limo in my driveway.

WILLIS: As for the neighbors?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My neighbors love it. And if they probably see this on TV they'll probably start yelling at me, but -- now, but they have a good time with it. They don't have a problem. They're all -- I have to say they're all great neighbors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A couple of people, a couple of neighbors they called me and they say thanks for bringing Christmas into this neighborhood.

WILLIS: Others only want to visit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Um, there's always so much light, so we can't fall asleep. WILLIS: That's all right. At least you know Santa will find the place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We never saw one like this. Never. This is beautiful. This is beautiful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, more spectacular every year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: I can't wait to see what they come up with next year. Still to come, the last-minute gifts that can mean the most.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: There's one gift that you won't have to have ready to go December 25, charitable donations. However, you will want to be sure to give to your favorite charity by December 31. That's because you can deduct the full value of your gift from your taxes next year if you itemize.

Now, if you volunteered or sheltered hurricane victims this year you may be eligible for a deduction from $500 to $2,000. Charitable giving can be its own reward, but it can be a great gift for friends and family. After all, Uncle David may not need yet another sweater.

We want to hear from you, send us your comments or your questions to openhouse@cnn.com and you'll find more on today's guests and topics on our Web site, cnnmoney.com/openhouse.

Thanks for watching OPEN HOUSE, we'll see you here next week. The day's top stories are next on "CNN Saturday." Have a merry Christmas and a happy Hanukkah.

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