San Diego Reader 2014 Holiday Guide

You don’t have to be a movie critic to know the cinematic cliché: you don’t get to choose your relatives, but you do have to spend the holidays with them. And hey-ho whaddya know: every year, the same carnival of contention, the same personality potholes, the same disastrous dinnertime debate. But here’s the upside to that repetition: you can plan for it. You can anticipate. You can prepare your countermeasures. Do something together; sitting in the same room with your various digital devices doesn’t count. Maybe start by getting out of the house. Go shopping with Grandma to some little boutique (or thrift store) that works for both of you. Take that problem nephew somewhere he can work off his excess energy. Find something free (Christmas lights!) or maybe splurge on something memorable. A little forethought, a little help from this list, and maybe, just maybe, the holidays could really be happy for you and yours. — Matthew Lickona

The List:

Are you Santa enough? by Ian Pike

Let there be nutcracking by E.V. Hepworth

The Grinch to steal Christmas by Ian Anderson

Crossborder holiday guide by Chad Deal

Skip the same old gatherings by Barbarella Fokos

On the holiday hunt by Vanessa Horne

Don your red suit by Elizabeth Salaam

Get metaphysical by Bill Manson

The biggest Christmas show in San Diego by Eve Kelly

From Las Posadas in Old Town to ziplining in Wrightwood by Matthew Lickona