Holiday Cookie Dough, Poinsettias, and Snow Shovels

Softening pre-made sugar cookie dough and stirring in a personal touch, cinnamon, orange zest, almond or vanilla extract, chopped nuts, peppermint extract, or white or butterscotch chips, turns it into cookies that don't taste store-bought at all.

Poinsettias are desert plants at heart and can die of root rot if overwatered in their foil wrap. An ice cube or two placed directly on the soil once or twice a day melts slowly, giving the plant a steady, gentle trickle of water instead of a flood.

For anyone who'd rather skip spraying cooking oil on their tools, coating a metal shovel blade with car wax (following the product's application instructions) does the same job of keeping snow and ice from clinging, letting it slide right off with each scoop.