You Choose The News for Tuesday, Dec. 11th 2018

KRISTEN'S STORY - 

This Grandma’s Adventure Box Is The Best Gift Idea For Kids

While most of our kids really don’t need more toys, some loved ones, especially grandparents, are known to go over-the-top anyway for the holidays. But one grandma came up with the best alternative to giving her grandkids more stuff - she gave them the gift of time instead and made it an adventure.

Last Christmas, Darlene Waller gave her two oldest grandsons an “adventure box.” Her 11 and nine-year-old grandsons unwrapped a chest filled with envelopes and a note explaining that she was giving them family time adventures for their Christmas presents.

Each boy received 12 envelopes, labeled one per month with a specific theme. Inside each one is a different preplanned and paid date for them with grandma, them with their parents, or them with their aunt and uncle. “Some you choose, some I choose,” the note explains. “But they are all fun as a family activity for us to do together.”

The kids have to wait to open an envelope at the beginning of each month to see what surprise they could look forward to, including activities like going to the movies, laser tag, bowling, and a baseball game. Waller’s grandson’s loved it and their parents did too because it gave them time together making memories and didn’t add any toys they lose interest in to the clutter.


JASON'S STORY - WINNER

A Potluck Party Email Turned Into 'ReplyAll Gate' 

"STOP THE MADNESS!!!!," and "dear lord" were just a few of the responses to what was meant to be a routine email Friday about a seasonal potluck party in a Utah state office.

What caused the holiday hubbub: The email meant for one department was accidentally sent to more than 25,000 employees throughout the state, leading to what Newsweek calls  "a cascade of curt, angry, and confused responses" when recipients started hitting "reply all" in their return correspondence.

Unable to simply ignore the mass email, hordes of workers, both irritated and amused, tried to get off the "reply all" chain by 
 replying to all with that request, which only deepened the communication quicksand.

"It's Replyall-gate 2018. Adventures in state government," one worker tweeted as it was happening.

A Utah communications professional offers some advice to those who want to avoid the same "reply all" fiasco happening when they have their own email to send out. "Prevention is key: send large group emails to yourself w/ bcc to other recipients, and hope somebody doesn't 'loop' others in," he tweeted. Neither the person who sent the email, nor the department, had been IDed by EOD Friday.


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