5.) Drink hot chocolate –- always use milk, not water, and add a little vanilla, gingerbread or peppermint creamer! Or add pumpkin spice ice cream to your coffee. Mmm. Don't have time? Stop at Starbucks and grab a special holiday beverage.

6.) Burn, baby, burn. Light the fireplace –- a crackling fire whether gas or wood burning makes the room extra cozy. Just don’t burn anything you shouldn’t and avoid smoke.

7.) Give –- yes, it’s fun to give gifts to loved ones so go ahead (just don’t go overboard or into debt), but please don’t forget to choose a worthy nonprofit like International Justice Mission, Salvation Army or your local homeless shelter/food pantry and donate money or other resources (plus many of these offer gift catalogs). Remember, it’s your last chance to get a tax donation this year. Some places need volunteers to cook meals right around the holidays so take your family and go. It's a great way to give back.

8.) Stop and smell the snow –- make a snowman, have a snowball fight, build a fort, or just watch the snowflakes fall. Kids love snow and snow days. Take a walk. Get outside. (You'll need the exercise after all the holiday food.)

9.) Enjoy friends and family. Invite people over even if the house isn’t clean and the kids misbehave. Get together. Drive or fly distances if you have to. And try not to yell or argue. Consider inviting single friends or those who may not have a place to go. We've done this a few years when we didn't go out of town to spend the holiday with family and it was great to have a house bustling with people, laughter, food and games.

10.) Wear warm, fluffy socks and cuddly sweaters.

11.) Watch Shrek the Halls, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life and all those other holiday favorites that remind us what really matters.

12.) Eat lots of cookies –- gingerbread men, frosted sugar cookies and whatever tickles your fancy. We make and decorate a gingerbread house every year. The frosting doesn’t even harden before we’re tearing into it. If you don’t have time to make cookies, BUY them. Forget Martha Stewart and Paula Dean and trying to make everything perfect. For crying out loud, buy all the Christmas/holiday food (I love Trader Joe’s) or get takeout Chinese or pizza; just don’t stress yourself and everybody else out!

Whatever you celebrate and wherever you are, it’s all about giving to others and being thankful for what you have.

(Photo: my neighborhood)