Show your spirit with personalized cards

There are two types of holiday card recipients — those who display them well into the new year, and those who throw them away the second after they’ve opened the envelope. If you don’t want your card to fall into the latter category, try sending something a little different this year: cards you’ve made yourself.

Serenity now

Thanksgiving is over. You’d think we’d be relieved the big day is past us, but some of us can’t get beyond the fact it’s just that much closer now to Hanukkah and Christmas. OK. Take a deep breath and relax. We’ll get through this together. “In today’s world we’re all running around all the time, so it’s difficult for many people to slow down at all,” says Kathleen Galvin, a Northwestern University professor who specializes in family communications.

DIY divas

While her friends would dream of having their daddies build them the perfect dollhouse, Tina Hanson was figuring out ways to make her own. Armed with a hammer and nails, she would build little sheds next to her family’s house. Flash forward about 30 years. Hanson, now 40, has done enough work on her Skokie home to make Bob Vila jealous. “Instead of going in the business finance world, I wish I’d had the foresight to have studied architecture in college,” says Hanson, who works as a bookkeeper for a local travel agency. “I think I would’ve been pretty good at building houses. I do all right repairing them.”

Wine, women and song make up Bridget Jones fest 

Singletons, take note. “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason” is just a couple days from opening, and that’s reason enough for many of you to celebrate. While all the “smug marrieds” are at home arguing about whose turn it is to pay the bills (or bathe the children), you can kick back with your bitchin’ friends, enjoy a cocktail and revel in all things Bridget. 

Bridget’s not the only woman with a yen for bad boys 

At face value, there is no reason why women would choose Hugh Grant’s character over Colin Firth’s in “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” Both are good looking, have great jobs and cute English accents. But throw in the fact that Mark Darcy (played by Firth) is a soft-spoken gentleman while Grant’s Daniel Cleaver is a womanizing cad and Grant is the bad boy winner. Never mind that whatever woman he’s dating is destined to be the loser. The fact is, just as high school girls love the pot-smoking, long-haired dropout, women love bad boys, too.

Caribbean Destinations

“Celebrities migrate toward the Caribbean because it’s one of the few places they can go where they’re left alone,” says Keija Minor, editor in chief of Travel Savvy magazine. “It’s the perfect place for them to get some relaxation, quiet time and seclusion.” What’s not to love? The fruit and fish are always fresh, and the weather usually cooperates. Besides the laid-back tranquility of the islands, celebs also enjoy a bit of welcome anonymity from fans and paparazzi when they’re tucked away in their own pockets of paradise.