The holiday season is right around the corner. Bringing with it annual celebrations, festive outings and of course, buying presents for loved ones.

With Thanksgiving being the nearest, we'll begin with what is a relatively new facet of the holiday. The deep-fried turkey. The allure of fried food is mighty and hard to deny. And when you combine that craving with a giant turkey, it becomes almost too much to handle.  However, the cautionary steps to take aren't too much to keep top of mind.

First and foremost is to never deep-fry that bird in any kind of enclosure. I'm certain you know not to cook that bad-boy in your living room, of course. Though some like to do the deed in their garage, or outbuilding. Frying the big bird near anything that is flammable is a poor decision. Always fry outside. Secondly, when it comes to the crispy critter, make sure your turkey is fully defrosted. Any frost remaining on the foul will result in a near explosion of 350 degree oil.  A nasty fire hazard to say the least.

Leading up to and beyond Thanksgiving, is the purchase of presents. With many of us utilizing some sort of online purchasing platform.Those packages have to be delivered and that can lead to unwanted attention being paid to your porch.

"From a police perspective, theft overall tends to rise in the months of November and December and for obvious reasons," says Commander Athena Clark with the West Richland Police Department. She adds, "The best thing we can do is make sure that we secure everything we can, which includes locking your cars, trucks motor homes. Also, leave your lights on at home while you are away. We're in the fall season when it's starting to get dark earlier. Thieves are looking their opportunities to approach homes that they think are not occupied."  She advises just leaving your lights on can be a deterrent to potential porch pirates and other thieves.

Our final tip may be one that you haven't considered.

According to Commander Clark, "Every year we have issues with those power cords and people who run them through windows or garage doors." She warns, "If you're running an extension cord through a garage door you need to make sure you're able to pull that door completely shut." She says if you can't completely close the door, or window for that matter, then it's not secure and you're allowing an access point for someone potentially trying to get into your home."

The holidays are meant to be spent reveling in family fun and seasonal delight. Not wasted by filing out police reports and re-purchasing your gifts. Be safe and hug your family and friends this holiday season. Cheers!

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