Think of others over the holiday season. Volunteer at soup kitchen. Buy gifts for a toy drive or angel tree. Send a care package to a soldier oversees (http://soldiersangels.org/).

The holidays can be extremely busy times. When making your master family Holiday calendar, consider which events are “Must attends” like your daughter’s band concert, which are “Would be nice to attend” like the town Christmas parade and which are “I would rather have a root canal than attend” like your neighbor’s annual open house. If there are events that you can edit out of your schedule with gentle excuses, you will make the holidays more about spending time with the people you love doing things you love to do.