'Christmas Season Hints I Practiced This Year' (or 'How I've Managed To Not Offend And/Or Kill Anyone Yet')

1. Stay out of the mall or any stores larger than your livingroom
2. If you must give presents, shop well before Thanksgiving and give gift cards wherever possible
3. Try at all costs to avoid the 'Merry Christmas/Happy Holiday' debate
4. Say no, thanks, to as many holiday parties as you can. If you feel you absolutely must go, show your (smiling) face to as many people as possible in as short a time as possible and then quietly leave
5. Bake, cook, make jam, quietly and alone in your kitchen. The 'making of something' is very soul-satisfying
6. Despite common practice, limit your time with children to the ones you really like a lot. They insist on being excited about the holiday season and will drag you in. Children you don't like are unbearable even at the best of times, so don't even think about it now.
5. Don't bother with Christmas cards. They're a lot of work and expense and they get thrown out in a week. Instead, wish people you actually see or talk to Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays -- whatever). Don't respond to a card with a card; it will just perpetuate the practice
6. Get a lot of time on your own, if that's what you need. You can always escape to a movie, and you don't have to talk to anyone at all
7. Only play the Christmas Game if and when you choose. That blank vacant smile is a great tool!

I'm only partially kidding about all of the above!

Purchase a plane ticket to go to Hawaii in January... that made me feel a LOT better
;-)