Suggestion No. 1: Short of shacking up with Jack Daniels — and he’s only good for a quickie, nothing long-term — you may think there’s no escape this holiday from the panicking financial news. Well, thousands of people are finding relief from the books and videos of Esther Hicks, including her latest bestseller, Money and the Law of Attraction. Esther channels a collective of non-physical entities called Abraham and is the inspiration behind the bestseller The Secret. Try viewing one of her free video clips called “Abraham on Wall Street and the Law of Attraction” on the Abraham-Hicks website.

Suggestion No. 2: Holiday dinner gone amuck, kids say yuck, and you say flat and flavorless? Well, did you know that supermodel Naomi Campbell’s one fine cook who has saved many-a-friend’s dinner party when their culinary concoctions have collapsed? So, should the stuffing for your roast turkey or goose go lackluster this year, add eight cloves of peeled raw garlic, advises Naomi, 15 to 20 minutes before taking the bird out of the oven, and the garlic will revive the spices in your recipe without overwhelming their flavor. I tried this three Christmases ago — and it worked.

Suggestion No. 3: Another British friend, the advice columnist Mary Killen, was asked recently how to keep spirits up during a year when there seems to be nothing to celebrate. Mary’s solution? Mistletoe. “Cheer everyone up by the simple expedient of buying bunches of mistletoe to hang over every door. This childish method of promoting intimacy and possibly triggering romances has never failed to lift spirits since the tradition of kissing under it was first introduced.”