If you know of someone or a family struggling this holiday, the next time you plan to cook dinner make two of whatever your fixing and take one over to them.

If you have children get them involved in the act of selfless giving. You can make cookies and take to the local Fire and Police Departments. You can do this one even if you don’t have children!

Put a smile on a child’s face. There are so many charities that benefit children around the Christmas season. Operation Christmas Child and Angel Tree are just a couple. To some of these kids receiving Christmas presents is just in their dreams. You can brighten the life of a child by giving to one of these charities.

Donate your time. I know that during the holidays it seems that we are constantly overextending ourselves. But by just giving some of our time can make a huge difference to someone else. If you have some vacation time, help a friend out by watching their children. A few days of not paying for daycare or a babysitter can really help.

First, make some family time during the busy holiday season. Sit down together and watch a Christmas movie, or bake a batch of cookies together, or go around the neighborhood singing Christmas carols. It doesn’t matter what you do–what matters is that you do it together. These small moments spent together as a family may not seem like such a big deal now, but they will stand out in your kids’ minds when they remember Christmases “growing up.”

Second, help bolster their belief in Santa Claus. Kids today are becoming more smart and savvy at an earlier age, and are starting to ask the tough questions far before we did. If your kids are demanding proof that Santa is real, provide it! You can send them letters from Santa or you can go one step further and sign them up to receive phone calls from Santa. There’s nothing cooler when you’re a little kid than hearing Santa Claus say your name and tell you what a good girl or boy you’ve been.

Third, make Christmas Eve more special by making a special batch of cookies for Santa Claus. (But don’t make too many…remember, he has a lot of cookies to eat that night!) Leave them out with some milk, and watch as your kids come downstairs to find a plate of crumbs and an empty glass. This is a long-lived Santa tradition that you probably remember doing yourself, but that doesn’t make it any less special.