How was your holiday? Did you get lots of neat presents? Were you able to celebrate with family and friends? Were you exhausted when it was all over?

I was fortunate because I was able to celebrate Christmas twice. My daughter from Spain came for an early celebration and my daughter from Sacramento drove up to Washington state for the early festivities, too.

We had a great time including lots of wonderful food and presents and a great turkey dinner.

Then, when Lisa went home, I flew to California to have a second Christmas with Mona and her family on the farm east of Sacramento.

It, too, was great, especially with cocktails, two free Christmas trees, and a smoked turkey.

However, Southwest Airlines added an unplanned wrinkle to the festivities. Read all about at “If Your Flight Is Canceled by the Airlines, Ask for a Refund” and “Travel Tip: Don’t Put Your Laptop in Your Checked Luggage.”

I didn’t spend more than I usually do on the holidays because I didn’t go to Madrid. I’m not ready to Travel yet for nine hours in airplanes where hardly anyone is wearing a mask.

More than one in three Americans overspent during the holidays, according to WalletHub’s annual “Post-Holiday Shopping Survey.” WalletHub is a personal Finance website.

Consumers likely added about $80 billion in credit card debt during the fourth quarter of 2022, said Jill Gonzalez, a WalletHub analyst.

“Overspending during the holidays is not a new phenomenon, as the final few months of the year are when we typically rack up the most credit card debt, but consumers seem increasingly comfortable borrowing Money to fuel holiday festivities,” Gonzalez said. “Roughly 23 percent of people say it’s worth going into debt for the holidays, per WalletHub’s survey.”

Other findings from the survey are:

Inflation. Fifty-nine percent of Americans said inflation affected their spending.

Debt: 43 percent more people say it’s worth going into credit card debt for the holidays, compared to last holiday season.

Economy: 59 percent of people think the U.S. economy won’t go back to normal in 2023.

Regrets: Nearly one in four people say they regret holiday purchases.

Scams: 23 percent of Americans encountered scams while trying to do their holiday shopping.

Credit card debt: 19 percent of Americans expect to have more credit card debt at the end of 2023.

Interest rates: The average annual percentage rate or APR among credit card offers for people with good credit increased from 18.98 percent in 2021 to 22.5 percent in 2022.

So, best wishes to us all in 2023. Since the economy is so uncertain, be sure to have an adequate emergency fund, review your budget, and save as much money as you can.