Holidays need not be so stressful

By Doreen Nagle
Gannett News Service

Help your children make gifts themselves with paint, photos, stickers and objects found around the house. Gannett News Service

Gifts from the heart:

• Ask family members to write something nice about each of the other family members; toddlers and preschoolers can make a drawing or cut pictures out of magazines. When the sentiments are gathered, wrap them up like other gifts.
• Nothing says loving like homemade. Spend a family day making gifts for each other. Out of ideas? Get a crafts book from the library.
• Haven't gotten that must-have toy yet and can't face another store to look for it? Cut its picture from an ad and slip it into a greeting card with an IOU for an afternoon alone with you — after the holidays.

Share your family's good fortune:

• Donate a gift. Take your child with you to choose the name of a child in need from a coordinating agency. Match the recipient in age and sex to your child so she will be more empathetic and appreciative.
• How about asking your children to write one thing they are grateful for each day during December?
• Exchange an evening with people of a different faith. If you are Jewish, ask Methodist friends in to explain why they celebrate Christmas, then show them how to play dreidel and explain its significance.
• Cultural opportunities: Take your little ones to holiday concerts and ballets.

Doreen Nagle is author of "But I Don't Feel Too Old To Be A Mommy" (HCI, $12.95).