I hope you are taking advantage of the punch cards that will enter you in the big holiday drawing when you do your Christmas shopping in Peabody. There are big bucks to be had! First prize is a whopping $700.

There has been some confusion about how the tickets work, but it really is not all that complicated. Here is the basic premise: each ticket has a spot for five punches and you qualify for a punch by spending $10 with a participating merchant. The hitch is that the five punches on the ticket must be from five separate businesses. You cannot have more than one punch per ticket from a single business.

If you spend $50 at the grocery store, you qualify for a punch on five tickets. If you then take your tickets to the drug store and spend $30, the clerk will punch three of those tickets. Spend $20 more on gas at Food Mart and presto — all five of your tickets have two punches each.

Carry the tickets with you when you shop in Peabody and if you spend at least $10 with a participating merchant, your punches will begin to add up. After a ticket is full, fill in the backside with your name and phone number (so they can call you when you win) and put the ticket in the drawing box at a participating business.

Spending enough to fill up a card is not as overwhelming as you might think. While the merchants would like for you to buy a lot of Christmas merchandise and get punches for those purchases, any money you spend locally could put you in the winner’s circle. The first cards I got were for vehicle repairs at Peabody Farm Service. Next, I paid my city water bill and then I got some prescriptions filled at the drug store. I have already turned in 10 cards (shhh … don’t tell The Mister) and I haven’t yet done much Christmas shopping. That part comes next week.

The winning ticket will be drawn at 2 p.m. Dec. 23, location to be announced. So get your hair done, buy wrapping paper, cards, and gifts, buy that hot water heater you know you will need, or get the new puppy spayed. Be sure to support your local merchants with your gift-buying dollars, but don’t overlook your regular expenditures when looking for ways to fill up your punch cards.

Good luck! However, I must warn you that my bill at Peabody Farm Service was a bit more than $200, which means I left there with a punch on each of 20 tickets. I love a challenge and it remains to be seen whether I can fill that many tickets, but remember that I have turned in half of them. I figure I am a shoe-in to win.

You should give it your best and knock me out of the running. Shop ‘til you drop.

— Susan Marshall