Stress during the holidays.  It is such a common problem there are numerous articles and Pinterest posts about the condition and I understand.  I wish I could say it is an crazy problem but there is some basis for trying to balance finances while trying to show someone how much you care for them (without overdoing it). 

In my family, we figured out a few Christmases ago that our goal was to give and receive gifts that were useful.  This might seem like a duh moment, but in truth, this meant trading in surprises and numerous slightly-useful material gifts for things that we knew we were going to use or a gift card for a store we spend a lot of time i...