No matter how much care you give to hanging the stockings by the chimney, the Yuletide season has a way of presenting challenges.
Here at Holiday Advice HQ, we feel your anxiety.
While we can’t guarantee your kids will corral everything on their wish list — that’s between them and whomever slides down the chimney — we’ve put together some holiday advice covering a half-dozen perilous areas.
Re-gifting
So your sister-in-law has given you a perfectly dandy corkscrew for the holidays. Thing is, your kitchen drawer already boasts five perfectly dandy corkscrews. But it’s no problem if you’re willing to pass it on to someone else, preferably a person living in a corkscrew-free zone.
“Re-gifting has such a negative connotation because people think it’s just transferring your trash to someone else with no thought,” says Jodi Newbern, author of “Regifting Revival!,” a guide to the practice. “But you can make it gracious instead of tacky. People always get gifts they don’t need or can’t use.
“As long as you take some time and thought with it, and personalize it and enhance it, why not?”
Newbern’s re-gifting tips:
• Ask yourself, “Would this person actually like this?”
• Remove all tags or signs of previous ownership.
• Never re-gift something given to you by your schoolage children or something handcrafted by an elderly but still living relative.
• Gussying up a re-gift with a monogram is a nice touch.
Drop-in guests
Yes, Miss Manners says people should call before dropping in on friends, but the holiday spirit dictates graciousness on your part when the doorbell unexpectedly rings. (No pretending you’re not home, especially if your car is in the driveway.)
Drop-in guests can easily be accommodated by keeping a few holiday staples on hand: cookies, mixed nuts, a couple of cheeses and some crackers.
Having soda and fruit juice on hand helps, plus a bottle of sparkling wine in the fridge if you’re so inclined. (Gruet makes a fine bubbly for about $16, and you’ll have the novelty of telling your guests it’s from New Mexico. Also, most area wine stores offer proseccos, the classic Italian sparkler, in the $12 range.)
Pop on some holiday music, and you’re ready to be the host with the most.
Which brings us to . . .
Loading the holiday iPod
Christmas-song preferences vary, depending on personal tastes and whether you’ve been subjected to Alvin and the Chipmunks singing “The Chipmunk Song” since Thanksgiving. Here are six sure-fire seasonal albums worth downloading.
• “White Christmas,” Bing Crosby. A must-have at 61 years and counting.
• “The Christmas Song,” Nat King Cole. Mel Torme penned the title song, but singer-pianist Cole made it his own.
• “A Very Special Christmas,” Various Artists. Bruce Springsteen’s “Merry Christmas, Baby” and Chrissie Hynde’s ultra-sultry “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”
• “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” Vince Guaraldi. A holiday jazz classic.
• “Soul Christmas,” Various Artists. The tinseled R&B titans include Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, King Curtis, Solomon Burke and Booker T. and the MGs.
• “Light of the Stable,” Emmylou Harris. Backed by a stellar band, Harris locates the sublime and stately heart of such standards as “Silent Night.”
Open mouth, insert foot
“Wow, you’ve really lost weight in the last year! You must feel great!”
“Um, actually, no. The chemotherapy has been awful . . .”
Ah, the holiday party, a veritable minefield of potential social gaffes. Parties bring together a pair of potentially volatile elements: alcohol and strangers, or at least people you might not have seen in months.
You can go a long way toward avoiding foot-in-mouth disease by minding how much you imbibe. Secondly, lobbing open-ended questions to the person you’re talking with lets them take the conversational lead. “So what’s new?” can spare everyone the awkwardness that more pointed questions about jobs and spouses can elicit: “I was laid off” . . . “We separated four months ago.”
Year-end tipping
Tipping recognizes the relationships we form with the people who render services.
Here are some holiday tipping guidelines offered by Jodi Steiner and Lori Weiner, authors of “Good Manners are Contagious.”
• Hairdresser/barber: $15 and up.
• Day-care service: $25 and up.
• Paper carrier: $20 for daily delivery; $10 for weekend only.
• Favorite bartender: $20 or a gift certificate.
• Apartment handyman: $15 and up, depending on service.
“Remember,” Weiner advises. “Do only what you can afford. A personalized card of appreciation or a letter of recommendation to their supervisor goes a long way.”
Snagging last-minute restaurant reservations
First of all, bluster doesn’t work. Front-of-the-house people have heard it all, and the last thing they respond to is the, “Do you know who I am?” approach.
Bribery doesn’t cut it in area restaurants, either.
“The standard line is, ‘I’ll give you $100 right now,’ ” says Paul Attardi, co-owner and maitre d’ at Fruition, a top Denver restaurant.
The best approach: A low- key, hat-in-hand approach. If there are special circumstances, make your case, but don’t shine the host on. An experienced maitre d’ can smell insincerity like a dog smells fear.
William Porter: 303-954-1877 or wporter@denverpost.com
