You cannot go wrong buying someone a book as a gift—um, unless they’re illiterate of course. After the jump, 15 books we totally fell for, that would make just about anyone with a shelf happy.

Sure, the holidays are filled with great food, fun parties, and general good cheer (I was at a crowded Macy’s yesterday, and I wasn’t shoved once!), but for a lot of people, this is anything but the most wonderful time of year. Those of us in periods of transition—even positive ones—are especially susceptible to the feelings of loneliness, frustration, depression, and the stress the holidays can elicit. After the jump, a few tips for surviving the holidays during some of life’s biggest transitions.

Surviving the holidays is always stressful.  And if you’re single, it’s the perfect time to eff the pain away! Thanksgiving weekend provides a few days to hunt for hotties—especially if you’re traveling somewhere. But even if you’re stuck home alone, make sure you take full advantage of all the seasonal action by following The Frisky’s Guide To Getting Some Gravy On Thanksgiving!

According to today’s New York Times’ Business section, travel is expect to be down—way down—this holiday season and last minute deals on airfares and hotels could dip just as low. This is bad news for the economy, but great news for people like moi, who hate all the over the top cheer of the holiday season. I’d like nothing more than to escape the twinkling Christmas lights and street clogging shoppers and spend my holidays lounging on a beach with a cocktail in one hand and a gossip magazine in the other. And with the promise of doing it on the cheap, I just may.

Every year we mean to send out holiday cards, and every year we get so sidetracked by all the pretty lights and mistletoe and marshmallow snowmen that we never get around to it. And after the holidays we even go so far as to stock up on holiday cards that are 75% off at all the stores so we can save money and have cards when the next holiday season rolls around. But by then, we have no idea what has happened to those cards and once again, we get sidetracked by the prettiness of the holidays and we never get around to buying new ones. WELL NO MORE! This year we will start early, we will get cards before we are sidetracked. We will buy pretty cards, like these, and we will write in them and address them and mail them off in record time and everyone will love them! Only, it will have been so long since they’ve heard from us they won’t remember who we are. [Box of 12 for $18, Shop Red Bean]

Children love anything that is one-of-a-kind or with their names on it. But newsflash, so do adults, especially if they have uncommon names that manufacturers neglect to put on novelty items. Customized or personalized gifts are the best to give because they show you know the receiver rather well and the gift wasn’t a last minute idea.  Plus, you can design and purchase all of these gifts online, so you can avoid the holiday shopping frenzy all together. We suggest you order these gifts early because it can take a couple of weeks to complete the order.

Spoiler alert: Santa doesn’t exist. Strangely, the inclusion in my stocking of practical items like toothpaste and lotion never tipped me off to this. Why would Santa give me boring things like that? I suppose he might have thought I wouldn’t enjoy my chocolate-covered raisins if I had cavities, but these thoughts never occurred to me. This year, don’t make your loved ones aware that Santa is fictional by stuffing their stockings with boring nonsense like travel-size shampoo. Instead, fill their giant socks with junk that has a little pizazz. A shower cap with ears? I can only hope the fat man in red gives me one of those next month.

There comes a time in every free-wheeling, fun-having relationship where a lady has to suck it up, buckle down and meet the people who spawned her beloved. Nine times out of ten, this happens around the holidays, and there is almost always a festive meal involved. The most wonderful time of the year? Yeah, right.

The first thing you need to do is get the skinny from your man. What are his parents like? Are they churchgoers? Recovering hippies? Military? You need to know what you’re up against. Though each set of parents is different (and once you throw in stepparents, you could be dealing with a couple sets), there are some universal things you should definitely not do if you want to make a good impression. Here are a few examples:

Already, the holidays are right around the corner, and before you know it, they’ll be here. But come Christmas Day, if everyone’s supposed to be brimming with cheer, why is mom crying at the stove and Uncle Pete hanging out down at the local bar? Probably because of all the baggage we carry into the holidays. Luckily, First30Days.com has created a how to guide to surviving the season. It all comes down to the Three F’s: family, finances, and food—and if we can add a fourth—fun! After the jump, how to handle your family during the holidays.

Yesterday I posted about the Leading Lipstick Indicator, “a surprisingly reliable theory that suggests consumers turn to inexpensive little treats, like lipstick, when they start freaking out about the future.” It seems that included in those inexpensive indulgences, we women are splurging on sex toys to get us through the hard times. At a benefit last night for the New Space Women’s Center hosted at Babes of Toyland, owner and co-founder, Claire Cavanauh, told NYMag, “Right around when the AIG bailout started, and people’s consciousnesses were really being raised about what was going to happen, our sales went up 26 percent,” an increase she said the store hadn’t seen since just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks (the same time lipstick sales reportedly soared for leading cosmetic companies). The idea, explained benefit attendee and “Gossip Girl” actress Michelle Hurd (Eleanor Waldorf’s assistant, Laurel) is, “You can stay home, it’s free! And it’s warm, especially since here in New York it’s getting so cold.” She even bought her mother the Rabbit for Christmas last year, a vibrator made famous by a memorable “Sex and the City” episode. While I can appreciate a vibrator’s place in these trying economic times, I’m not quite sure I’d give the gift that keeps giving to the woman who gave me life (a tube of lipstick may be a more appropriate stocking stuffer), but what about you guys? Would you ever give someone — your mother or anyone else — a vibe as a holiday gift? [via NYMag]

Today is Sweetest Day, that odd Hallmark Holiday that remains the awkward teen stepsister to the slightly more tolerable and decidedly more popular Valentine’s Day. I first heard of Sweetest Day years ago when I was a floral designer in Chicago and some poor guy came into to the shop on his lunch break throwing around twenties and begging me to create the most gorgeous Sweetest Day bouquet money could buy. “I need to convince my girlfriend not to dump my ass,” he whined. “Well, why would she dump you? What did you do?” I asked. “I cheated on her,” he replied. And that’s when Sweetest Day was forever branded in my mind as the occasion to atone your relationship sins…or at least spend a bundle on flowers trying. That impression was further molded a couple years later when I was on a first date with a guy who, while flipping through his planner before the movie started, said, “Oh, crap! Sweetest Day is this weekend. I gotta get something for my girlfriend.” “Your girlfriend?!” I asked in disdain. “Yeah, she’s great.” He answered. I opted to skip drinks with him after the movie ended.

So, here’s to Sweetest Day…and hoping none of you get surprised with a gift from your sweetie this year.

Before Michelle Obama appeared in a Thakoon dress at the Democratic National Convention, the designer had no idea she would be wearing one of his creations. “I saw her on TV and I couldn’t even look, I was so embarrassed from being excited,”  Thakoon Panichgul said. And now we’re embarrassed for being so excited because Thakoon has been named the next GO International for Target designer! Come December, all of your holiday party dress needs will be answered—if only finding presents for everyone in your family were as easy. [WWD]

Today is Kiss & Make Up Day—are you fighting with someone and want to take this opportunity to mend things? I am, but I have tried to mend it, to no avail. Perhaps the person who’s refused my attempts to make peace will consider this another invitation. And after the jump, some celebrity couples we’d like to see kiss and make up—Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams got there before we could!

Say you and your boyfriend break up after celebrating many holidays together. There was the Christmas he gave you the diamond earrings, the birthday you got a Tiffany necklace, and the anniversary he screwed a Cartier love bracelet around your wrist. It feels sort of weird wearing them after the fact, doesn’t it? Well, there are a couple sites, such as ExBoyfriendJewelry.com and Ex-cessories.com, that let you sell jewelry from an ex you want to forget. Or you could put them on eBay (but hooray for entrepreneurs!). [Reuters]

Previously: Debate This: Do You Have To Return The Ring If The Engagement Ends?

Think we have too many lame romantic holidays in the U.S.? Don’t visit South Korea. There, marketers have cooked up even more days to make single people feel bad about themselves. White Day, on March 14, is when men give gifts to women. (Local custom dictates that women give men presents on Valentine’s Day.) Black Day is today, and it’s when singles wear dark colors and commiserate over meals of black food, the favorite being Chinese-style noodles topped with a thick black bean paste sauce. Yum. If Valentine’s Day, White Day, and Black Day aren’t enough for you, there’s Green Day in August, but it hasn’t gotten much traction. Celebrating Green Day involves drinking cheap liquor from green bottles and walking in the woods. [Reuters]

Valentine’s Day might be my least favorite holiday in the entire year. I hate that I can’t go out to dinner with friends, wear red or pink (unless I want people to think that I dressed for the day), or pick up a prescription without being bombarded by those disgusting-tasting conversation hearts at the drugstore. But I’m not allowed to say that because people will think I’m sad and bitter about being single. I’m neither of those, but I am beginning to think that the way I feel on Valentine’s Day might be the way Jewish people feel on Christmas. But at least there are lists like these to make me feel solidarity with others who aren’t so hot on the holiday. [Times Online]

Sure, this time of year is generally when people tend to remember what they’re thankful for—things like health, work, family, and friends—but the holidays are also ideal for cheating on your significant other. Who knew! With holiday parties and frantic shopping sprees as excuses, we have plenty of opportunities to deceive each other, which is really sad, because if you can’t be faithful around Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza, when can you? We think cheating around the holidays would make someone an even bigger ass than he would be if he cheated at any other time of year, so if you have a bad feeling about someone being a scumbag, here are a few things to be on the lookout for (and how we think you can prevent such suspicious behavior)…

People holding traditional jobs with company-wide holidays aren’t the only ones who will be spending time at home with their families, sipping hot cocoa, and decorating trees with tinsel this coming week. News 24 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, reports that sex workers usually take a few days for themselves, and many spend holidays with their children. They deserve a break, too, because December is a busy month—one woman who works in the “adult entertainment industry” said she has five or six clients a day during the month. We just hope she uses one of her days off to get tested for STDs. [News 24]