For many families, gift-giving is the most stressful part of preparing for the holiday season. It's where the rubber of our budget meets the road of our expectations. Will our gifts be enough? Will we send the right message? Can we afford them? Will we find the year's hot toy ... or should we even look for it?

There's another, brighter side to gift-giving. Reading assignments this week will help us draw closer to the true meaning of the holiday season. Remember that holiday gifts and holiday giving are only pale reflections of the true holiday gift.

Today's essay, In Praise of Simple Gifts, is intended to get us off to a good start.

Ready? It's time to take on the gift list and get ready for Christmas!

Coming to the end of Reality Check week, we tidy up loose ends today, declutter before we decorate, and consider whose house for the holidays.

to do today: declutter before you decorate

The decoration tide sweeps in with September's falling leaves, breaks against Halloween's goblins, and is streaming full-force by Thanksgiving's turkeys and pilgrims. Come Christmas, the average home is drowning in tinsel.

Do your visual field a favor: declutter tables, counters, mantels, shelves and the entire surface of your refrigerator before you decorate.

American Thanksgiving is on the way, and it's time to get organized? Check out this free customizable Thanksgiving holiday planner from OceanSpray.com!

To print pages for a Thanksgiving holiday planning book, check off items from a list of planning pages, menus, recipes and tips. Click the "create book" button at the bottom of the page, and the site will generate a .PDF file containing all the information you requested.

Don't miss the Holiday Countdown! A November calendar, it sets out a four-week schedule to prepare for Thanksgiving Day. Nice!

Thanksgiving Holiday Planning Book

American Thanksgiving is a celebration of family and fruitfulness, but it's hard to cultivate a grateful spirit when you're trapped in a kitchen disaster.

Solution? Follow a Thankgiving countdown to create a step-by-step road map for a stress-free holiday meal.

Put the focus on the feast--not the fuss--with Thanksgiving tips and a day-by-day checklist from RDLiving.com:

No-Fuss Thanksgiving Checklist

For many of us, the Christmas season causes more than usual chaos on the home front. Do you shove stacks of mail and magazines into dark closets to hide them from drop-in visitors? Does your dinnertime schedule fall off the rails when faced with multiple evening rehearsals? Does Mount Washmore raise itself to new heights in the laundry room, only to be scaled in panic an hour before the Nativity play?

Forewarned is forearmed! A simple housework plan--and family cooperation--will keep things humming at home, holiday or not!