This time of year is busier than ever. With parties and potlucks and a million other places to spend your time and money, it's easy to feel suffocated by holiday to-do's. Not to fear! Instead of drowning in holiday hustle and bustle, follow these quick holiday hacks to breathe new life into your classic traditions. Your mama may have put the Christmas lights away in a tangle, but you never will if you follow tip #4. Your ancestors may have froze their thumbs off a thousand winters ago, but you'll stay warm and cozy when you follow tip #1. So grab your ugliest sweater and celebrate Christmas cheer - afterall, you've got nothing but time on your hands now!

Wrap your dog in your scarves/jackets before you put them on yourself. Bonus: By the time you put them on they'll be nice and warm. Plus as an added bonus--you'll smell lilke dog wherever you go!

Winter Hack

Wrap a bow around a roll of wrapping paper. Yes, indeed - give the gift of wrapping paper - and why not? It's a great gift to give someone and in return they can use it to wrap you a gift! You give and you get.

Play videos of fire from your iPhone for a hyper-realistic fire effect. For an added bonus, actually light your phone on fire and enjoy the genuine warmth of melting lithium. (We kid, we kid.)

Crackling Fire Hack

Put hundreds of mini Santa gnomes all over your lawn. Not only do they make an adorable (read: creepy) decoration but they'll scare off all those pesky neighbors.

Decor Hack

Avoid holiday weight gain by closing your eyes while you eat. Scientific studies prove that if you can't see what you eat, calories don't count. So dig into that pumpkin pie, girl!

To keep your kids from hanging their tacky school-made "ornaments", train a cat to sit in your tree and attack anything made of construction paper or popsicle sticks. You may end up with no ornaments whatsoever, but hey, a bare tree has it's charms, right?

Force your oldest child to dress up as a real-life Elf on the Shelf and lay hidden in a corner all night. When your younger kids wake up they'll have a grand old time finding him/her! Elf on the Shelf just got real yo'. Real creepy, that is.

Save time on wrapping presents by piling all of the gifts into the middle of the floor and covering them with a big blanket. SURPRISE!

Wrapping Hack

Dread the yearly Christmas light untangling? Keep your holiday strands nice and straight by leaving them up all year. When December arrives, you just plug those bad boys in, toss back spiced bourbon, and pat yourself of the back for being the cleverest damn decorator on the block.

Christmas Light Hack