Believe it or not tonight is what astrophysicists might call the Event Horizon of 2014. After tonight there will be no escape from what AAA and economists think the most manic, crowded, guilt-ridden holiday season since before the Great Recession. Nearly 50 million Americans will be traveling over this long weekend, the most since 2007. Weirder still, despite the trend towards online shopping stores are going to be packed with some experts saying holiday gift spending could be up more than 5% over last year.
It's exciting times for kids but any parent knows creating the magic can turn the cheeriest Santa into an unrecognizable psycho-Grinch. Fear not: Here are four tips for surviving the next five days without wrecking your budget, your marriage or your kids' memory of family vacations.
1. Have a little perspective. There are more than six billion people in the world. One in five don't have save drinking water. Your flight being late is decidedly a rich person problem.
2. You have a choice. Between on-line shopping, Skype and movie streaming most Americans really don't HAVE to be traveling or waiting in line at the Best Buy parking lot. The truth is studies show that most of the best shopping deals don't happen on Black Friday at all. If you can't stand the crowd just go home and log on.
3. Don't yell at the service reps. Strategically the clerk or flight attendant you're venting at is the only person with the power to help you. It makes no sense to enrage them. From a human perspective always remember that CEOs are seldom handling customer complaints. Make an ally of the rep.
4. Act like you're being watched; you are. Between smartphones, YouTube and your kids we live in a post-privacy world. Beyond that, and this sounds a little touchy feel-y but families are about the holidays. Your kids will model their behavior off how they see you act under stress. Do them and your whole family a favor... take a deep breath and mellow out. This too shall pass, my friends. There's only 29 days until December 26th.
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