For the last several years my less is more mantra has never rang truer than during the holidays, and this mantra has proven particularly practical since becoming a parent. My Simplifying the Holidays guest bloggers have shared so many fantastic ideas; now here's what my family and I do during the holiday season to keep “random stuff creep” to a minimum and encourage creativity and mindfulness in giving within our family and community. Also excellent, many of these ideas can involve your kids -- this is great for bonding and saves you from spending precious alone time on errands and holiday preparation.

Make a plan. I loved Melissa Massello’s piece on prioritizing and planning holiday spending. Follow Melissa’s plan (we’re now in the final holiday stretch but the general concept remains relevant) or devise a plan that fits your family. For example, I have a large immediate family (six siblings) and a few years ago we decided to stop exchanging gifts, instead focusing on time together and optional small tokens. My holiday plan typically involves crafting some cool handmade tokens for my siblings and doing a bit of gifting for my mom and my husband’s family following the parameters below.

Shop local. While I love the convenience of online shopping, I am very committed to supporting local businesses and artisans. We’re fortunate to have a wonderful array of independent stores and galleries within reach (and don’t forget Etsy as a resource) and I love shopping with Laurel. We always marvel about handmade things and the artists who make them, and she loves helping to think about what gifts certain people would love. Taking Laurel shopping also helps her learn about money; it’s been very touching to have her offer to chip in for gifts from her piggy bank.

Gift usable items. I have a strong aversion to tchotchke so I gift people with things they can use. You can’t go wrong with food gifts such as magic salt, spice rubs, cookie or soup jars, or baked goods, and these projects are great to assemble with kids. In the past I’ve also made candles and soaps. Our go-to gift this holiday is painted pottery because it’s a fun activity for Laurel, creates usable items (e.g., plates, mugs), and supports a local art studio. And for my sibling token, I’ve already crafted these fabulous photo bookmarks.

Use what you already have. Laurel generates a lot of artwork. So one year we made holiday cards entirely using her paintings as background (I simply cut the pieces to fit our envelopes and attached a printed message and photo). Other years we have gifted her paintings in inexpensive matted frames. And for a super minimal approach, simply assemble a series of artwork in a stack (if you have a lot of variably sized items, mount on construction paper), punch 2-3 holes along one side, and fasten with ribbon. Voila! A beautiful, heartfelt art book. (Side bonus: tidies up your house.)

Encourage teaching moments. We parents are responsible for helping our children become thoughtful community members. And the holidays offer plenty of opportunities to encourage teaching moments. You can teach older kids about everyday philanthropy; for example, engaging their help to knit or crochet goods for those in need. Or your family can volunteer a few hours at a local shelter. We talk to Laurel about families in need and contributing to food, clothing, and toy drives. I take her shopping for these drives and she helps pick items to give to other families.

Give the gift of the arts. A great way to avoid playroom clutter? Give the gift of the arts. Not only is it fabulous to support local arts organizations, but these experiences are so multisensory for kids that they really stick. Laurel has incredibly strong memories of the live performances she has seen, and they need not be expensive, particularly with little ones with a limited attention span. Look into inexpensive performances by your local high school, college, church, or community arts group. And when your child gets older and can make it through a longer show, splurge on something like The Nutcracker (this was my sister Stephanie’s gift to Laurel this year and Laurel was blown away). It will be an experience your child will never forget.

Give gifts with longevity & purpose. Instead of the latest fad toy, consider giving gifts with longevity and purpose. Books are a great gift because when they can be passed on to a younger friend or donated to the local library when your child outgrows them. Art and craft supplies offer fun for play time as well as inspiration for gifts. Another great idea is a donation to Heifer International, where your child could pick the animal to gift to a community. And Jon and my gift to ourselves is that we’re in the process of signing up for a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program; it’s an investment in our community farmers and a gift to our health.

The gift of time. Finally, I wanted to remind people of a non-material gift that often is overlooked: the gift of time, even if it’s as simple as offering to spend an hour or two together. More than any one thing, Laurel often just wants to be with the people she loves. A couple of weeks ago when she decided to make a Christmas list, the first (and actually, the only) thing she wrote was, “Have Grandma Nancy move closer to us.” For a mother bent on minimalist living and who values family connection, this simple wish was the best Christmas gift Laurel could ever give me.

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Image credit: Boston Ballet's The Nutcracker

There was a lot of holiday cookie talk on Twitter yesterday, which reminded me that I wanted to share a fantastic recipe for gingerbread people (we're equal opportunity bakers around here). Derived from my trustworthy Baking Illustrated, what I love about these cookies is that they aren’t rock hard crunchy -- testing your dental strength and spraying crumbs all over your shirt with each bite. These cookies are a touch crispy around the edges but chewy throughout, and the sweetness level (not overly sweet) is just right. Laurel and I made these cookies for a holiday party last weekend and people went crazy over them.
I used the cookie recipe from Baking Illustrated, and in the absence of an accompanying icing recipe (odd!), dug up an icing recipe in Nick Malgieri’s How to Bake (I’ll also need to test Nick’s gingerbread cookies some time). I was a little weirded out by the idea of using raw egg white in the icing but apparently that’s how it’s done. The icing hardened up beautifully, just like bakery cookies.

Laurel had a grand time decorating the cookies; I simply cut the corner off a plastic bag and filled it with frosting. She has a remarkably steady hand and decorated the entire batch herself.

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Thick and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies*

*I'm listing the title as it appears in the book so it's easy to find if you purchase Baking Illustrated, but I modified the process and directions from the original since I wanted thinner cookies (the original recipe calls for rolling out dough to ¼” and no additional flour is used in rolling out).

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 ½ stick) unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into 12 pieces

3/4 cup molasses

2 tablespoons milk

1. Process dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a food processor until combined, about 10 seconds. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture and process until mixture is sandy and resembles fine meal, about 15 seconds. With machine running, gradually add molasses and milk; process until dough is evenly moistened and forms a soft mass, about 10 seconds. (You can also follow this process with a hand mixer.)

2. Divide dough into four pieces. If dough feels sticky, sprinkle with flour until it firms up a bit (and isn’t spiky sticky). Then roll out dough between two sheets of parchment until about 1/8” thick. Leave dough between parchment layers and place in freezer until firm (about 10 minutes). You can also make the dough the day before and refrigerate sheets overnight. Note: this refrigeration/freezing process is important! The dough will cut and release easier from the cookie cutters when very firm.

3. Adjust oven racks to upper and lower positions and heat to 350 degrees. Spray baking sheets with nonstick spray, or use a Silpat mat (I adore these mats; they make cookie edges come out perfect every time). Remove one dough sheet and peel off top parchment sheet and gently lay back in place. Flip over and peel off other sheet. Cut gingerbread shapes (we used 3 inch cookie cutters). Transfer shapes to sheet, spacing about ¾ inch apart. Collect scraps and roll out between parchment and freeze as above. Repeat process until all dough is used up.

4. Bake cookies until set in the center and dough barely retains an imprint when touched very gently with a fingertip, about 8 minutes. Do not overbake. Cool cookies on sheets 2 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. Allow to cool completely.

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Decorating Icing

Malgieri's recipe calls for 1 pound confectioners’ sugar, 3 large egg whites, 1 drop of lemon juice or vinegar (and food coloring if you wish). Simply mix together until smooth. I cut the recipe in half and it was plenty. If you’re just doing simple line and dot decorations (i.e., not covering the whole cookie) as Laurel did, you could go with 1/3 of the recipe so you only need to crack one egg. That is what I will do next time.

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My little worker bee...

My respect, admiration, and affection for Liz Gumbinner and Kristen Chase of Cool Mom Picks is multidimensional. I met them for the first time in real life at BlogHer Chicago in July, but I have “e-known” them since the early CMP days, followed their hilarious personal blogs (Mom-101 and Motherhood Uncensored, respectively), and interfaced with Kristen through Parent Bloggers Network and also via Kristen motivating me to become one of the original wave of Shredheads. Liz and Kristen are such talented, generous, and funny women, and for the thirteenth installment of my Simplifying the Holidays guest blog series, I’m thrilled to share their savvy shopping tips to help you survive the last minute holiday shopping crunch.

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From Liz & Kristen:

So it’s officially the holiday rush. And by that, we mean even if you think you’ve crossed every person off your gift list, there’s still someone you’ve forgotten -- a hostess, a caregiver, your daughter’s ballet teacher, the kid who walks your dogs.

We’ve spent a lot of time this year trying to find more frugal options for our readers, from great holiday gifts under $20 in our holiday gift guide, to free (but fabulous) e-cards, to décor that you can reuse year after year.

But the truth is, for parents -- especially those of us who work outside the home too -- at times it can be worth it to pay a little extra to help get some of the many things off your overflowing plate and simplify your life. Here are three tips for surviving the last minute holiday crunch:

1. Shop online!

This is, by far, the number one hassle-avoider now or any old time of the year. You can comparison shop and search out discount codes on the spot (we often post them on our site), and best of all, you never have to wrangle the kids in and out of the car seat. Even if you pay for shipping, it often ends up being less than what you might spend in gas, parking, and cheese fries at the food court so keep it in perspective.

Little indulgence: Have the gifts wrapped and sent right to the recipient.

2. Get the return address labels

It is sooooo worth the few dollars extra to get preprinted address labels with your holiday cards. We particularly like the ones from Minted and Paper Culture. Even Shutterfly will print them right on the envelopes for you and their prices are great.

Little indulgence: Red Stamp has an address and send service, so if you’re Just That Busy, you don’t even have to sign your cards yourself.

3. Buy local

Skip the malls and keep your blood pressure at a reasonable level by hitting a local craft marketplace instead and supporting a small business. Or if you head over to Etsy, you can search by location and find a fantastic local crafter who might be able to get it to you quickly, or maybe even drop the holiday gift of your dreams right to your door. You can find everything from décor to hostess gifts to handmade toys for the kids.

Little indulgence: Accessory shopping! Instead of buying a whole new holiday outfit, grab a hot new red scarf or a funky headband to spruce up that little black dress. Suddenly everything old is new again.

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Liz Gumbinner and Kristen Chase are the publishers of Cool Mom Picks, the influential shopping and design blog called "the online arbiter of cool for the swingset crowd" by Parents, and named one of Real Simple's favorite three blogs for parents. You can find them on Twitter at @coolmompicks where they'll be tweeting tons of last minute deals and gift ideas. Liz is also the author of Mom-101 and Kristen is the voice behind the always provocative Motherhood Uncensored. They tweet at @Mom101 and @mublogger, respectively.

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Image credit: Vegan handmade soaps by Boston-based DeShawn Marie Handmade Soaps (via Etsy).

I feel as if I've known Kristin Brandt and Erin Kane of Manic Mommies forever; in reality, I’ve known Kristin since college (well, that kind of feels like forever ago…) and Erin since the Disney mom bloggers mixer. They both are smart, hilarious, and impressive in their juggling of work and home; whenever we meet up there's a lot of laughter and also serious parsing of all things social media and family life. For the twelfth installment of my Simplifying the Holidays guest blog series, I’m thrilled to welcome Kristin; read on to learn about the important lesson she learned from her mom, plus a series of holiday tips that have served Kristin well as a full-time working mom.

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From Kristin:

When I was a kid, we begged and pleaded my mom to decorate our house for Christmas. My brother and I loved all the twinkle lights that adorned our neighbor's homes, and wanted our house to twinkle in a similar fashion. But my mother refused, telling us that the decorations were tacky. Fast-forward 30 years, and today my parents' home (the same one I grew up in) is decked out for the holidays - complete with twinkle lights, animatronic reindeer, a toy soldier, and much to my disbelief, an inflatable Santa Claus. When I asked her why the change of attitude, her answer was simple: "I was a working mom. I didn't have TIME to keep up with the neighbors."

And so, I received my first valuable lesson about how to survive the holiday hoopla while holding down a full-time job and managing the multitude of commitments that have clogged our schedule: don't try to keep up with everyone. Here are some additional lessons (some may call them concessions – tomato, tomAto) I've learned since become a parent:

Set your DVR. You could buy DVDs of all of the holiday classics (Rudolph and the Red Nose Reindeer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town) or you can save a few bucks by setting up "Season Passes" for each. That way, you don't have to remember to record them each year -- they will just appear, like magic, on your DVR.

Go faux. I love the smell of a real Christmas tree, but I also love the time saved by my pre-list Christmas tree from Sears. We bought the tree the year our second child was born, mainly because I could not face dragging two children out into the snow to find a tree. Four years later, I continue to happily avoid the tree-seeking activity, and can set up our tree whenever the mood strikes (or I find a stray hour). Did I mention that it also doesn't drop any needles and doesn't need to be watered and disposed of?

Stick to traditions. I always set up our creche in the front foyer, the tree in the "solarium" (a fancy way of describing our back room), and the Santas on the map drawer. We have Swedish meatballs for Christmas Eve dinner, cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and Paula Dean's Foolproof Standing Prime Rib Roast for dinner.

It's not that I'm not interested in trying something new, it's that traditions such as these keep things easy, and reduce the amount of stress. And, they become something regular and anticipated for the kids.

Take a day off. If you have the time available, consider taking a day off before the holidays are in full swing. Bring the kids to school or day care then use the "free" time to get holiday chores done – gift shopping, holiday card addressing, decorating, whatever!

Forget perfect. While we all want to plan the "perfect" holiday, the truth is "perfect" doesn't exist. Remember, a little goes a long way (for example, you don't have to decorate every surface of your home to make it feel festive). If you can manage your expectations, you are sure to enjoy the season!

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Looking for more holiday tips from the Manic Mommies? Check out these posts from their Real Simple Simply Stated blog:

Tips for managing the card chaos
Holiday food tips from a non-domestic diva
Hosting Tips

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You can follow Kristin on Twitter at @kristinsb, Erin at @emkprgal, and the Manic Mommies at @manicmommies.

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Image credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Pursuant to last week’s local and indie awesomeness post, if you want to shop local and support artists and crafters this weekend, there will be plenty of crafty awesomeness to be had at the SoWa Holiday Market in the South End, CraftBoston at the Cyclorama, and the Cambridge Center for Adult Education Holly Fair in Harvard Square. Enjoy!

Image credit: Made in Lowell, showing at SoWa Holiday Market

I met Amie Adams of Mamma Loves… at the Brand About Town inaugural advisory board retreat in October, during which time I was struck not only by Amie's warmth, humor, and smarts, but by her photography skills. You could almost see the wheels turning when something would attract her eye and she’d pause briefly, capture the perfect image, then resume conversation. It seemed natural and effortless; clearly a part of her creative flow. So I’m thrilled that today, for the tenth installment of my Simplifying the Holidays guest blog series, Amie shares easy and fabulous tips for capturing gorgeous photos this holiday season.

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From Amie:

I received a call from a friend recently. She was a little frantic, what with juggling four kids and their homework and family coming in town over the weekend for their annual hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. We were scheduled for a photo shoot of all of the cousins and she wanted to settle on the details.

“We’re having a major discussion over what the kids should wear” she said. What they should wear? “Do your kids always dress alike?” I asked, knowing her house is as crazy as mine and that like me, she’s lucky if her kids choose clothing that is appropriate for the weather.

“Let’s capture them as they are,” I suggested. “Let’s tell the story of who they are right now.”

Does that take the stress off of your holiday photos a little? I hope so.

When you’re capturing this holiday season for posterity, think about the story you want to tell. What are the details that make your celebration memorable? Each family has its own traditions. What are yours? What is special about this year? Your children will never be this age again.

Pick up your camera and try to shoot those details that will make you smile when you see them again in February or July. Get up close. Not every shot needs to contain a smiling face.

I promise you’ll like those photos better than the one of all of the kids lined up in front of the tree—unless listening to your kids whine and complain and fighting with them to smile at the same time is a big tradition in your house.

Now how do you capture those details in a pleasing way? You have more power in your point and shoot then you ever imagined. And if you own a DSLR and you’ve never switched out of auto mode, we have to talk.

1. Whether you own a point and shoot or a DSLR, there is a portrait setting on your camera. It usually looks like a person’s head. Switch over to the portrait setting for those close up shots. You’ll notice that you’ll get shots that leave your subject in focus and the background a bit blurrier. Pros refer to that as depth of focus. The rest of us just call it awesome.

2. Take your subjects outside to capture the action if it isn’t too cold. Morning and late afternoon light is the best for avoiding harsh shadows.

3. Need to stay inside? That’s okay. Move to the closest window. Have your subject stand near the window and stand to their side to capture the light falling on their face.

4. Work off a few of those extra holiday calories by moving around a bit. Take your shots from different angles. If you’re shooting kids, get down to their eye level. If you want to get closer to your subject, move your feet, not your zoom button. Crawl under the tree and see what kind of shot you get shooting up into the branches. Changing your position can result in more interesting photos.

<img alt="amie-adams-5.jpg" src="http://s3.media.squarespace.com/production/2381826/19415521/images/2009_12/amie-adams-5.jpg" width="350" height="235"

5. Changing the position of your subject in your viewfinder will definitely result in more interesting photos. Don’t center your subjects. Photographers think about photos in thirds—whether horizontally or vertically. Place your subject off-center. If your subject is landscape, don’t center the horizon line.

Have fun with your camera this holiday season. Try these tricks and shoot away. The greatest part about digital is that mistakes don’t cost you a thing.

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When Amie Adams isn’t getting ready for the holidays, chasing her three boys, running off to work, or practicing her photography, she’s sharing embarrassing stories or ranting and raving on her blog Mamma Loves… You can follow Amie on Twitter at @mammaloves.

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Image 1 credited to FreeDigitalPhotos.net. All remaining images credited to Amie Adams.

Today, parent educator Hetti Wohlgemuth of Alphabet Soup 4 Parents shares tips for bringing back your holiday mojo:

“Many of us have a love/hate relationship with the holidays. For example, I love spending time with my family, playing board games and cards fireside, finding a special gift for each of my girls, attending Christmas Eve services, winter walks, and more. Then there’s the stuff I hate: the excess, the stress, and sometimes my memories of Christmases past. Here are some classic holiday related struggles and how to cope with them.
Identify friction and look for an alternate solution. Although my husband and I are Jewish, Bob grew up celebrating Christmas and I was amenable to continuing that tradition. But as our daughters grew, the tree got bigger (not Bob's plan) and the presents got more plentiful (probably my fault, I do like to shop) and I felt more and more alienated from the whole concept until Christmas just felt very wrong to me. To cope, I decided that while the family decorated the tree, I needed my own activity that worked for me. So, I baked cookies: for my family and for gifts. Christmas has since evolved to be less about gifts and more about hanging out together. We focus on what special food our Christmas morning breakfast might include (monkey bread this year) and what movie we should see on the day (last year it was Slumdog Millionaire). Identifying friction and finding an alternate solution has made the season cheery once again.

Focus on the real meaning of the season. We need to focus more on the simplicity and real meaning of the season -- offering warmth and kindnesses -- and keep material gifts to a minimum. Admittedly, that's hard for me: I love to shop. I love the malls and the town centers and I love finding the perfect present for that special person. I used to buy in excess; not wasteful or daffy gifts, but still too many. We have since scaled back and now that our girls are older, each of us buys or makes each other one gift, and Bob and I also get some small stocking stuffers for our daughters. And all through the season, we keep in mind giving the good way: saying something nice to someone or spending quality and fun time with friends and/or family. It feels healthier now.

Find traditions that everyone can look forward to. Over the years, we've identified some great traditions. For example, Bob is a nervous shopper; he has no clue what I want and even if he did, he's sure I wouldn't like it. So every year, we go out for a nice dinner a few weeks before Christmas, then window shop. I’ll point to something I like and he goes back and buys it the next day. Sometimes we enjoy dinner so much that we barely get to the shopping, which doesn’t matter a bit. It’s the simple ritual that’s fun. We also go to a Christmas Eve church service with friends who have children the same ages as our girls and then we eat a festive family dinner together. Christmas day, the four of us choose a movie and eat Chinese food (this is considered a Jewish Christmas). We're not reinventing the holiday wheel but we’re enjoying treading on it.

Mourn Christmases past. I am a huge fan of confronting one's past. I'm also a huge believer that much of holiday misery stems from bad memories. We think we're weak if we dwell on the past. And we believe that harkening back will make us more miserable. Not so. Facing the un-decorated, unadorned past frees us. As Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish say in How to Talk So Kids Will Listen, "Not until the bad feelings come out, can the good feelings come in."

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Image credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

One of the great things about BlogHer Boston was that it gave me the opportunity to emerge out of my blogging cave and meet fabulous local bloggers in real life. And one of those bloggers was Roxanna of Miguelina. Roxanna is a lovely person; smart, kind, and funny, and mysteriously, she always manages to look perfectly assembled despite tweets that might otherwise suggest she’s unraveling (to her credit, she’s allowed some unraveling…she just delivered her third son in October). Perhaps that’s why she’s so adept at blogging beauty. I’m thrilled that today, for the ninth installment of my Simplifying the Holidays guest blog series, Roxanna shares a wicked easy makeup routine so you can spend less time fussing in the bathroom and more time enjoying time with family and friends.

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From Roxanna:

Everyone is busy around the holidays and there is very little time to worry about something as frivolous as beauty -- except that everywhere you turn there's someone with a camera ready to save the way you look (post-holiday stress and with very little sleep) for posterity.

They do this out of love, of course.

The best way to look your best in pictures is to get plenty of rest, drink water, and eat healthy. But when you're talking about the period between Halloween and New Year's that's the exact opposite of what you're doing (if you're doing it right!).

I'm here to help. Here is a very simple makeup routine that will see you through the holidays and beyond. Because life is too short to hide from the camera.

1. Eyes

A little concealer will go a long way to making you look more polished and rested. Don't listen to the old advice and buy a concealer that's too light for your skin tone -- it'll only turn your dark circles gray. Concealer should be a shade lighter than your foundation at most. My favorite concealer is by Bobbi Brown (their site has a shopping guide to help you choose your shade).

After applying concealer, swipe some light eyeshadow over your lids and add some black mascara for a simple eye, or line your top lid as close to your lash line as possible for more polished results.

2. Cheeks

Apply blush to the parts of your face that would be more sun kissed in the summer. How do you find that? Smile. Highlight what stands out. Don't suck in your cheeks to "sculpt" your face, unless you want to look like one of the girls in that Robert Palmer video.

3. Lips

Since your eyes will be very simple, this is where you can have fun! I know everyone loves gloss these days, but if you're truly pressed for time lipstick is a better bet. Gloss needs to be reapplied over and over, so if you want to look polished in candid pictures and videos, go for an old-school tube of lipstick. Wear a darker color than you normally would -- maybe even red! -- to add a little excitement, but don't wear something that will make you self-conscious. Real Beauty offers an excellent roundup on how universally flattering red, brown, and deep berry lipstick can be.

That's it! Now get out of that bathroom and enjoy the holidays!

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Roxanna lives in the Boston area and blogs at Miguelina and Everyday Treats. She's currently a contributing editor for BlogHer, writing about lipstick and bubble bath at BeautyHacks. You can follow Roxanna on Twitter at @Miguelina.

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Image credit: Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer Kit

From our very first e-mail -- back when I was just starting out and she was very much established already -- Asha Dornfest of Parent Hacks has always amazed me with her warmth and openness. Asha is funny and smart and clever and I just adore her; I only regret that neither of our scheduled in real life event meet ups this year have worked out. The good news is that Asha is so effective at translating her warmth and smarts online, which is what makes Parent Hacks so great (and gives me my Asha fix in absentia). I’m thrilled that today, for the eighth installment of my Simplifying the Holidays guest blog series, Asha shares her favorite holiday hacks; a useful mantra plus tips for maintaining your merry and bright this holiday season.

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From Asha:

I'll put this out there right up front: I'm perplexed by "holiday stress." Stress? Because of a holiday? Now I'm not 100% Pollyanna; I get that this time of year is fraught with family politics and time/money pressures, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the stress caused by too many party invitations, or sub-par decorations, or last-minute shopping, or getting just the right tree, or cooking just the right food, or wearing just the right outfit. Are these things really worthy of your stress?

I submit to you my number one holiday hack: Be kind to yourself. You and your family deserve this time to rejoice. You have worked hard all year -- in your jobs, in your homes, raising your kids -- and you deserve a break. Go only to those parties filled with the people you want to see, and politely decline the rest. Keep the decor and the food simple, and let the company make it special. Do those things -- and only those things -- that make the holidays happy for you and your family. Then sit back and relax with some egg nog.

And now for some of my favorite holiday hacks, all submitted by the very smart readers of Parent Hacks:

How to buy gifts for young kids when they're always with you at the store.

How to organize a holiday gift for your kid's teacher.

Simplify shopping with kids by taking pictures for the "wish list."

Number the gifts under the tree to keep the kids guessing which ones are theirs.

On Christmas Eve, let Santa take away the old toys, too.

How to involve your kids in Christmas tree cleanup.

Skip time-consuming return lines; donate unwanted gifts instead.

Have a wonderful holiday. You've earned it!

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Asha Dornfest is the founder and editor of Parent Hacks, a site that has been described as "McGyver meets parenting." She's also one of the moms of Momversation -- the twice-weekly video show that brings together outspoken mom bloggers to talk about what matters most to them. You can follow Asha on Twitter at @parenthacks.

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Image credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net