It’s that time of year again.

Already.

Maybe you love the winter holidays. Maybe you’d rather hang by your thumbs. Either way, your role in the annual spend-a-thon is to shovel out money -- unless you choose not to. We can help you decide.

With advice from friends, merchants, retail specialists and religious leaders, we came up with dozens of ways to reduce stress, save money and rethink the status quo during the year’s busiest shopping season. One of our friends, experts, Lili Munson of Fallbrook, a mother of five who works full-time as a hairdresser, offers this tip: fake that you baked. She buys sugar cookies and frosts them with her brood: “While you’re decorating, you say, ‘Isn’t it fun making cookies?’ All you have to do is say it once or twice and they’ll tell people, ‘We made cookies.’”

They aren’t fibbing either.

Remember: Consumers are holding up the economy. You need all the help you can get.