Judith Arnold’s Holiday Survival List:

1. If it’s chocolate, eat it.

2. Buy a gift for yourself. This way you’ll guarantee that at least one of your presents is something you want.

3. Don’t be too rigid about avoiding violent toys. If your kids want violent toys, they will turn any toys you give them into advanced weapons systems. One year when my sons were young, we gave them waffle blocks, little plastic dinosaurs and Legos. Within a half hour, they’d constructed a village with the waffle blocks, had the dinosaurs attack the village and then bombarded the dinosaurs with missiles constructed out of Legos. Another year, we gave the boys remote control cars. The controls had retractable antennas. It didn’t take long for the boys to extend the antennas and start fencing with them. These boys are the sons of two confirmed pacifists, and they’re both pacifists, too. But…boys will be boys. And toys will be weapons.

4. Avoid any store playing Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride on its sound system. Sleigh Ride is a pernicious ear worm. Once it’s lodged inside your skull, it will remain there until Memorial Day.

5. Forget all your grudges for a few weeks. When January arrives, you can resume resenting your parents/siblings/children/coworkers. You can reignite your feuds with your neighbors over their refusal to secure the lid on their trash can or their cat’s habit of using your rhododendrons as a toilet. You can once again remind your grandmother that she always showed favoritism toward your cousins. All that satisfying indignation will be waiting for you in the new year. You can set it aside until then.

6. Eat, drink and be merry. Exercise moderation in the eating and drinking, but do not restrain yourself when it comes to being merry. You can not gain weight or get drunk by indulging merriness to the max. Go for it.

7. Get some exercise. Walking through Macy’s or Best Buy does not count. Walking around the block does.

8. Don’t feel guilty about reusing old gift boxes, wrapping paper or bows. It’s called recycling. You’re saving the planet.

9. Hug your loved ones, every chance you get.

10. When all the holiday hoopla becomes overwhelming, grab a good book, curl up in a chair and lose yourself in the glorious world of fiction. Read, read, read! (And munch on a piece of chocolate while you’re at it.)

Have a wonderful holiday!