The season of getting!

The holiday season is all about generosity, love of family and friends, the serving of meals, the making of toasts and the giving of gifts to those we cherish and prize above all others. The "spirit of giving" characterizes the holiday season and that's why it's called the "the season of giving."

The holiday season very often reflects the "spirit of getting" and can even be called "the season of getting." Little kids sitting on Santa's lap never say, "And I want to give the following gifts to Mommy and Daddy and my little sister Lulu. I also want peace in the world. I want to donate my allowance to all the poor boys and girls in the world."

Indeed, I once spoke to a Santa who said some kids came in with a toy list so long and expensive that he had to politely cut them short by saying, "And some of these could be for next year too." He added, "If the parents had to buy so many gifts they would go broke."

Now, in the true "spirit of getting" let me turn towards the great "gets" you can receive during the holiday "season of getting" in the casinos.

The month of December, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, has some of the lowest room rates for non-players or low-stakes players; and those months have generous comps for any kind of casino table or slot-machine play, comps that often translate into free rooms and plenty of free buffets. There are also bargains galore on two-for-one meals for non-players, discount tickets to shows, drawings, tournaments, cashback for players, along with other niceties.

The month of January, except during Superbowl weekend, also has plenty of great deals in the casino world. Since most people think in terms of vacationing in the spring, summer and fall, those winter months have many wonderful opportunities to cut costs and get the benefits of fun weekends and even weeks in various casino venues.

If you love "getting" then consider the holiday season in Vegas or Atlantic City or a host of other casino cities and towns. You'll get what you deserve, which is a lot with as little effort as possible.

The winter months are also great times for slot clubs to give out amazing offerings to their regular players to get them to come in for a stay. Since holiday shopping and family gatherings take up so much time, the casinos would be deserted without such generous offerings. Casinos need to get players into their hotel rooms because then they will inevitably get those players onto their machines.

If you don't belong to a slot club, one of the best times -- if not the best time -- to sign up is during the "season of getting" because a lot of one-time-only sign-up deals, gifts and premium comps are offered during this time.

The slot clubs need you during the winter season more than they do at any other time of the year. So take advantage of that. In the "season of getting" the casinos are quite generous with regular players and new players too. They want you to take a long list of great things from them and they would be very disappointed if you didn't do just that. Gee, how could you hurt those casino executives' feelings by ignoring their amazing generosity? You must take from them while the getting is good!

You might also find that during this season, even airline flights are reasonable -- though they are obviously not reasonable during Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year's week. Still, outside those specific times you can get some decent deals from the airlines. Just call and ask.

And here's another piece in the "spirit of getting" advice: If you like to travel, always use an airline credit card that gives you miles for every purchase you make. It's a great way to occasionally fly for free. Figure out the venues you like to visit and get the airline credit card for the airline that has flights to those areas.

So the bottom line is to seriously think in terms of a winter vacation between the holiday dates. Check out the air fares if you wish to fly and seriously think in new ways about vacationing. Who needs a summer vacation? Winter is a great time to travel (OK, not so great if it snows); costs are low; casinos are begging for your business -- and you can get a little peace and quiet, and some gambling excitement, away from the relatives and friends you love so dearly who, truthfully, annoy the heck out of you during the holiday season with their greed and selfishness.

The "spirit of getting" must enter your generous heart during the holiday season. You can't just think in terms of giving and giving. That isn't normal. Think of yourself as a little kid with a toy list fourteen miles long of all the things you want and need in order to be happy for a couple of days. Then go get them! After all, getting is the true spirit of the holiday season.