I hope you are having a great Christmas holiday. To help further your enjoyment of the holidays, here are a few things to keep you occupied after you have had your fill of eggnog and opened all of your gifts. They are frugal...because they are free!

1. Watch a classic Christmas movie. Everyone has seen "A Christmas Carol". Here's a little-seen classic version called "Scrooge" from 1935. It's in the public domain, so feel free to watch:


2. Track Santa and his Reindeer. NORAD, the folks who protect the U.S. from nuclear annihilation, also track Santa and his reindeer each Christmas. Check out the satellite tracking and the video!

3. Visit the North Pole. The city of North Pole, Alaska. There are some interesting things to check out on the web site of the city which actually bears the name North Pole, including a web cam which shows photos from the actual North Pole.

4. Listen to some Christmas tunes. AOL Radio has 13 Internet radio station channels chock full of holiday tunes. There is even a station with Hanukkah music!

5. Play Classic Video Games. Mom and Dad never got me the old Nintendo or Atari games when I was a kid. That's OK. I'll play them all online for FREE!

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A fast and simple gift option this time of year is the gift card. I have received gift cards as Christmas gifts, and I have also given cards as gifts. It seems like a great way of giving somebody a gift while at the same time letting them buy something that they will really use and enjoy. After all, it's better than giving a fruit cake or a tie, isn't it?

The answer is: it depends.

While gift cards do carry value to the person who receives them, there are some drawbacks to using them; drawback that you may not even be aware of.

Americans spend about $50 billion on gift cards each year. This is not only a gift to the recipients, but a huge gift to retailers as well. They are guaranteed sales, whether the cards are redeemed or not. Amazingly, many gift cards are not redeemed, or they are not redeemed for their full value. If the cards are not used before they expire, the recipient loses the rest of the value of the card. In other words, that's free money for the retailer. As much as 20 percent of the value of all gift cards sold is never used.

It also pays to read the fine print of the terms of the gift card. Some cards will charge fees if they aren't used within a specified time, and some will charge a fee against the card if the consumer has the store check the remaining value of the card. If the store where the card is purchased closes for some reason, the value of the card is lost. If the card is purchased from a store chain and that chain files for bankruptcy protection, the bankruptcy judge determines if the store must honor the value of the gift card.

Another drawback to the card is that it may not cover the entire cost of most of the merchandise available at the retailer. It is estimated that recipients of gift cards tend to spend 20 percent more than the value of the card when they redeem the card at the store (if the card is redeemed at all).

Gift cards can seem like convenient, thoughtful gifts, but be aware of the potential drawbacks. If you really want to give a "spendable" gift this Christmas, consider putting cash or a check in a nice Christmas card. While cash might seem like an impersonal gift, it certainly carries less baggage than store plastic, and it can be spent anywhere.

The holidays are always a very stressful time for me. I don't really do a lot of Christmas shopping, but my wife does. I watch as she goes out to the mall and returns with many, many shopping bags. Yes, she does get very good deals when she shops, but spending a lot of money during this time of the year goes against my frugal habits during the rest of the year. I'd rather stick all of that money in the bank.

Still, I count myself lucky that we can actually afford Christmas gifts. There was a time when we couldn't. I'll never forget our first Christmas together as a married couple. We had $20 each to spend on each other. We drove to the local K-Mart and we each purchased one gift for each other. We have come a long way since then. However, this is going to be a rough Christmas for a lot of people, and we are cutting back this year ourselves. So, if you need quick holiday cash, how do you get it? The Today Show actually has some ideas.

1. Open a bank account. Banks might be in trouble these days, but they also want your business, paying bonuses to people who open new accounts.

2. Take a survey. Yes, I've tried those survey sights that pay you one or two dollars per survey. Blech. The Today Show recommends www.surveylot.com, which hooks people up with surveys that pay from $5 to $75 per hour.

3. Focus groups. These work a lot like the surveys. Check out www.findfocusgroups.com.

4. Test drive a car. Many dealerships are offering incentives just to come and take a car for a spin.

5. Moving pictures. There are companies that will pay you to turn your car into a rolling billboard. I actually tried to sign up for this once, but never got called. I guess I don't drive around enough. www.paidride.com

I have a few ideas of my own that I will throw in here, mainly because I think they are more realistic and doable:

1. eBay, baby. I have earned a lot of Christmas cash over the years by selling the stuff I didn't want anymore. Your castaways are someone else's Christmas gift.

2. Craig's List. Don't overlook Craig's List, another good place to sell your stuff.

3. Roll up your sleeve. I know it seems tacky, but there are many plasma companies that will pay you up to $200 a month for you to donate some plasma. Not only are you getting some cash, but you're helping to save a life, too. Isn't that what Christmas is all about?

4. Grab a shovel. If you live in an area that gets socked with snow, offer to shovel the walkways of the folks who don't want to, or can't, clear their own driveways and sidewalks. Clear the walkways a few homes and you could get some quick cash.

5. Freelance. Do some freelance work on the side. It could even lead to a whole new career path for you. Check out sites like oDesk.

Don't forget: the best Christmas gifts are those that come from the heart. Some of the best Christmas gifts I have ever received have been works of art created by my kids, or a blanket knitted by my grandmother. They spent their time and effort to make those gifts for me. It really is the thought that counts.

One of the reasons that Americans have runaway credit card debt is because of Christmas shopping. Each year, we as a country spend way beyond our means to get our loved ones that "perfect" gift. I remember the first year my sister was married she and her husband actually took out a loan in order to buy everyone in our family (and we have a large family) a Christmas gift. When the next Christmas rolled along, they were still paying for the Christmas presents they purchased the previous year. That's insane!

My wife and I figured there was certainly a better way to celebrate Christmas than going deep into debt. In fact, our very first Christmas together we limited ourselves to one gift each...and it couldn't cost any more than $20. Our reasoning was that we already purchased what we really needed during the rest of the year, so why should Christmas be a license to go crazy and spend a ton of money we didn't have? Besides, we were broke, so that's all we could afford. We certainly didn't spend beyond our means that year.

Since then, we set a budget for each Christmas. Once we hit that dollar amount, we're done Christmas shopping, no matter how many gifts are under the tree. These are a few ways we keep Christmas costs under control and celebrate a very frugal holiday:

1. Set a budget for Christmas shopping, and stick to it!

2. Shop around for your holiday meal, just like you would for presents. Ham is usually pretty cheap this time of year, but you can still get good deals on turkey. One year, I received a duck as my Christmas bonus at work, and that was our Christmas meal. Yes, you read that right. A duck was my Christmas bonus.

3. Only buy gifts for immediate family (those that live in your home). If you are visiting relatives for the holiday, consider a name swap, secret Santa or just buy a small gift for the kids.

4. If you really want to watch your spending, you could also set a spending limit PER GIFT, and limit the number of gifts.

5. Once you set your spending budget, pay for everything in cash. NO CREDIT CARDS, and certainly don't take out a loan to buy Christmas presents. I still can't believe my sister did that.

6. Send Christmas cards and family photos to your extended family. I suppose you could send the good ol' family newsletter, too...or you could just make a phone call on Christmas day, which I think is better (I get unlimited long distance).

7. Remember, nobody is going to love you less because you didn't buy a specific Christmas gift. I can't even remember what I got last Christmas. Really.

8. Focus on what Christmas is REALLY all about (it's not the presents).

9. If you're crafty, try making a few gifts yourself. Gifts don't have to be purchased at a store. My grandmother used to make her own Christmas ornaments, and she gave them each year as gifts. I still have a few on my tree this year, and some of them are more than 30 years old. Now, THAT'S the gift that keeps on giving!

The one thing that my family splurges on each year is our tradition of seeing a movie on Christmas day. We started this back when it was just my wife and I and we had nothing else to do that day, and we noticed the movie theater was open. We weren't the only ones there. Christmas is a HUGE day for movies. We have been going every Christmas since then, and we usually see a family movie. This year, it's going to be National Treasure II. It beats sitting around the house and watching It's a Wonderful Life for the 378th time.