Christmas is a great holiday to go completely over the top without really offending anyone. What, so you put up a ton of lights on the outside of your house and the inside looks like Santa’s village?  Awesome! Don’t tell me, you bought your friends and family way too many presents? Well, golly gosh I guess that’s alright. If you’re self-conscious about the sheer volume of Christmas spirit in your life, then you’re doing it wrong.

-Dimensions: 10.5″ x 13″ x 1.125″
-Old school style holiday wreath
-Flickering yellow LED in each coin
-Uses 2 AA batteries (not included)
-Made of durable EVA foam

Do you have pets? If so, are they masters of destruction? What am I saying? Of course they are. Even the cutest of furballs are wired to chew on things they shouldn’t, but they’re cute so they can get away with it. That’s no accident. When little Fluffy isn’t sampling one of your designer shoes, he’s probably just lazing around the house. Wouldn’t it be nice to know if he was getting his exercise?

-Pedometer for pets
-Clips onto collar
-For any dog size
-Adjustable
-Uses one button cell battery (included)

I wish it would just hurry up and snow already! I mean, how are we supposed to properly celebrate Christmas without any snow? I’m not asking for blizzard, just a couple of inches, maybe a foot, that’s all. We only need enough frosty precipitation to do all the traditional winter activities: snow angels, snow men, and most importantly, snowball fights. Seriously, is Mother Nature bah humbugging or what?

Ok, so it hasn’t snowed yet, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be prepared for the eventual tundra war with the Snowball Slingshot (Hammacher Schlemmer, $39.95). There are a lot of different ways to arm yourself in a snowball fight and yet hardly anyone chooses the slingshot method. Perhaps if they knew this slingshot could hurl a snowball up to 60 feet through the air they’d feel differently. Yes, there are some concessions to be made here, like the fact that you can only shoot one snowball at a time but it’s not like your low-tech arm is doing any better than that. At least this shooter uses medical-grade elastic tubing, making it virtually unstoppable, and can withstand rigorous winter battles. There’s even a target to improve your skills!

Ok, I’ve done my part, now you have to do yours. Start looking up “snow dance” and let’s get those flurries started!

4 out of 5 stars.

Specs:

• -Dimensions: 19″ x 5″ x 12″
• -Weight: 5lbs
• -Hurls snowballs up to 60′
• -Holds softball sized snowball
• -Long range tactical advantage
• -Powered by elastic tubing
• -Include target for practicing accuracy
• -Ages 8 and up

While I am a fan of the Christmas season, I don’t usually go overboard with the decorations. Naturally, I have a tree and I hang stockings, but that’s about it. Although I might not be all about the holiday, my favorite Christmas adornment has to be the lights. I would love nothing more than to display an obnoxious amount of Christmas lights outside my place, but unfortunately I don’t have an outdoor power source. Stupid electricity!

With these Solar Powered Christmas Lights (Taylor Gifts, $19.98), it doesn’t matter if you have outlet nearby because you can put them anywhere! I mean, you’d probably want to hang them outside since they are powered by the sun’s rays, but I guess you could bring them inside after “charging” them for awhile (although that seems like a lot of work). This string of 50 lights runs off its solar charge, which lasts about eight hours, and automatically emits lights once in the dark. Another added bonus of solar lights? No overly inflated electricity bill!

Thank you, Mr. Sun.

5 out of 5 stars.

Specs:

• -Dimensions: 26′ length
• -Solar powered lights
• -String of 50 lights
• -No outlet needed
• -Runs about 8 hours

Now that we’re almost halfway through December, it’s time to really get into the holiday spirit. I bet most of you have had your decorations out since Thanksgiving and there are probably only a handful of people out there without a Christmas tree already up. I’m not talking about your traditional Christmas embellishments – this is so much more festive.

What would the Christmas season be without the Chew-By-Numbers Christmas Tree (Perpetual Kid, $14.99)? Everybody knows that your Yuletide spirit is directly connected to how many pieces of gum you can successfully chew and assemble into a piece of art, so why not make that piece of art for the holidays? This gum-lovers set includes a GumArt board with a paint-by-numbers tree design on it as well as 32 pieces of gum to stick on it. As you can see by the photo, it’s not as easy as it might at first seem. I mean, look at the light string! Take a gander at those snowflakes! This is serious art!

I’m gonna go ahead and suggest this as a one-time-only type of deal. Please don’t save this gum board year after year because unlike wine, it will only get more disgusting with time.

3 out of 5 stars.

Specs:

• -Dimensions: 5″ x 7″
• -Includes: GumArt board, 32 pieces of gum, gum reference guide, and instructions
• -Use chewed gum to make art
• -Fun for the whole family