Small Businesses Lean Into ‘cozy’ And ‘festive’ Trends This Holiday Season

The author (not pictured) learned to stop competing with her ex when it came to buying holiday gifts.svetikd/Getty ImagesThe hardest part of divorce was being without my kids, especially during the holidays. I felt overwhelmed with pressure to compensate by making them extra special. Relaxing on what I thought the holidays were supposed to look like has allowed us to start new traditions.

A lawyer advising Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants the FDA to revoke approval of the polio vaccine. Before vaccines were available in 1955, polio caused 15,000 cases of paralysis in the US each year. The US eliminated the disease in 1979, but unvaccinated travelers can still carry polio in. Iron lungs line up at the Ranchos Los Amigos Respiratory Center circa 1950.

A four-day week for kids and working parents might be the solution to the mismatch in schedules. Elizabethsalleebauer/Getty Images/RooM RFHoliday school vacations can be difficult for working parents. Experts would like to see more flexible work schedules and four-day workweeks. Year-round schooling could also help alleviate pressure, they say. Even before November started, I was stressed about the number of days my kids had off over the coming two months.

Bargains, socials, and AI dominated the App Store charts in 2024. App StoreTemu tops 2024 Apple App Store downloads, surpassing TikTok and ChatGPT in popularity. The Chinese e-commerce app offers big discounts on a wide range of products. Americans appear to be exploring budget-friendly options through in-app deals. The App Store favorites of 2024 include social media platforms and one popular AI assistant, but the most downloaded app of the year was Temu.

Ring app users are using the "Neighbors" forum to speculate about possible drone sightings. Smith Collection/Gado/Gado via Getty ImagesOngoing drone interest has led Ring users to use the "Neighbors" forum to discuss possible sightings. Some users shared frustration on Reddit about the influx of posts on the app unrelated to home security.

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn moreYou can get a Bandolier case for almost all iPhone models. Crystal Cox/Insider; Sally Kaplan/InsiderWhen everything you need is right at your hip, you can move a lot more freely. There are many iterations of the wearable phone-wallet case, but Bandolier does it best for our needs.