christmas stress simplifier

We have a tradition-- sometime around the Christmas Season we soak up the atmosphere at the Wilderness Lodge at Disney. Sometimes it's warm enough that Northerners are outside swimming in the pool/ lagoon.
My niece now has a german teddy bear!
Heather & Bruce discovered a special bakery on the Food Channel -- Babycakes! Its showcase store is in NYC, but they also have a kiosk in Orlando at the Disney Marketplace. They have yummy desserts that are gluten free, (also vegan, aka without eggs), which made everyone happy.
I love the Wilderness Lodge-- it's fireplace is as majestic as the tree. Think: Grand Canyon or another mountain- situated national parks' lodge.
So the waiter asked my dad: "Can I get you a little more tea?"

Christmas smiles! :-) No matter when you schedule it, I'm never fully ready for the gift exchange until the last minute.

I've discovered a "Christmas- stress- simplifier": do the family gift-giving a week early-- (yes, for those of us who know that Santa does not bring the gifts). We celebrated early for other reasons, but here's a side effect: now that we've done our gift exchange, we can concentrate on other important things... such as visiting a good friend in the hospital, attending the funeral of a neighbor's mom, writing Christmas cards, catching up with friends, getting ready for my aunt's visit, & prep-ing for a big Christmas Eve service (at the new "re-birth" of a church here in Tampa that my family is involved in)!

What is your new or tried- &- true Christmas- stress- simplifier??