FOOL'S EYE VIEW
Top 5 Ways To Survive Christmas

By David Berger
December 13, 2001

At the risk of sounding like a Scrooge / grumpy git / spoilsport (delete as appropriate, or circle all options), here are five ways to survive this challenging time of year:

1. Call a moratorium on present giving

Each person is allowed to give only one (1, uno, un, eins) present to each other person. This is especially true for presents to children, although, out of the goodness of my heart, stocking fillers (value £1 or less) are excluded from this diktat. Such a policy will result in less mess, fewer returns of unwanted presents to place of purchase, a less tortuous present-opening process (thus delaying onset of all-important Christmas dinner) and, finally, and most crucially, less credit card pain. If you are still suffering credit card trauma from last year, go to our Get Out of Debt Centre for tea and sympathy and then our Credit Card Centre to try and get a better deal.

2. Give useful stuff

And here, by a sheer stroke of happenstance, are some excellent gift ideas which will educate, benefit and instruct the recipients. They are none other than our Motley Fool books, a fine addition to any library. Other useful stuff which will remain relevant beyond December 26th includes an ISA, or simply a unit or investment trust without an ISA wrapping, which would be particularly suitable as a gift to a child (although perhaps in this case it would be unwise to make this the only gift). Read more about Investing for Children.

3. Work over Christmas

Now, this is getting Scrooge-like, but if you're a bit of a Christmas-hater, then there can be very good money indeed to be earned over the holidays. It's not available in all, or even most jobs of course, but where it is available, you could be looking at two or three times the regular rate. The other advantage of this is that it's a prime excuse to be out of the house ("But look how much I'll be earning – I can't pass this kind of money up!") without getting into those endless arguments about why you don't like Christmas. It works very well – take this one as a personal tip from me.

4. Go Away for Christmas

This is going to cost you a bit, but does get you away from the rampant commercialism of a British Christmas and, naturally, prevents all but the most determined of your extended family from coming to stay. There are some things which are beyond money.

5. Fresh Air

There's only one solution to the horrors of a foetid, post-Christmas dinner atmosphere, with its background of video game screeches, three-year olds having tantrums and Cousin Jack and Uncle Fred squaring up for a punch-up. At all costs, you have to manoeuvre the assembled multitude, or as much of it as you can, outside. The colder it is, the better, although rain on such occasions is a bit of a downer. Even a few minutes walking to the park and back can relieve mountains of tension and avert family rifts which can otherwise last for decades. It's a shame there's no such simple solution for Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat.

And that's it. From here on in, you're on your own. Good luck. I hope these five tips have been useful to you. And in answer to the question of whether I follow my own advice...

Do I, heck!