Do not stay with relatives.

• Position: Holiday Travel

Christmas and New Year's are right around the corner, and that means taking advantage of all of the highlights of the holiday season--delicious food, fun parties, fellowship with family and friends, and leaving the comfort of your own home to cram everyone into a couple of spare bedrooms in a relative's house. Wait, that last one is not exactly filling you with holiday joy? Going over the hills and through the woods to Grandma's house (or Aunt Jane's, or Mom and Dad's) may have seemed fun when you were younger, but now that you have your own family in tow, much of the appeal has been lost. Staying at a hotel does not sound too festive; so you are not sure what to do. There is a solution. There is no place like home--a rental home, that is.

"Staying with relatives during the holidays can be a huge drag," contends Christine Karpinski, author of How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner: The Complete Guide to Buy, Manage, Furnish, Rent, Maintain and Advertise Your Vacation Rental Investment.

"After you pack up all of your stuff--and there always seems to be more during the holidays--it goes downhill from there," she relates. "You get to your relative's house and instead of making a beeline for the restroom and a much-needed catnap, you must endure a protracted 'greeting and catching up' time. Then, you spend the next few days piled on top of everyone as you help prepare meals and try to keep the kids entertained and out of the way. Bedtime is dictated by when everyone else wants to retire and, let's face it, you won't get a good night's sleep with insomniac Uncle Joe wandering through the house."

Yes, Karpinski paints a bleak picture, indeed--and it is true; no matter how much you love your extended family, they can be hard to take in huge doses (and make no mistake, they probably feel the same way about you and yours). Renting a vacation home, however, will change your holiday experience completely. You will be able to appreciate that time with your family a thousand times more if you do not have to stay with them, Karpinski advises.

"Many wonderful properties are listed on websites," she points out, "and if the biggest benefit of staying with a relative is that it's free for you...