The holidays are here. In Manhattan, many members of the tribe I study go away on a "winter break vacation." These vacations come in two varieties: ski and warm. Popular ski destinations include Aspen, Jackson Hole, Deer Valley, Sun Valley and St. Moritz. Popular Caribbean and warm weather winter break destinations include Anguilla, Turks & Caicos, Half Moon Resort in Jamaica and the One & Only Ocean Club in the Bahamas. If you are a glutton for punishment you might take your kids to Atlantis. Some people in the tribe I study do a "double" vacation over the winter or spring holiday — a week of warm weather vacation somewhere in the Caribbean and a week of skiing. Talk about over the top. Members of the tribe of Manhattan parents I study are currently packing, packing, packing and happy, happy, happy. At parties, everyone seems more relaxed and friendly than usual. But they're still also busy as can be. As any parent (let's get real, it's the mothers who do it) knows, it's not easy to pack yourself and your kids.

Another thing everyone here is doing is TIPPING. You've never seen a happier group at Christmas time than doormen in Manhattan. They are handed envelopes of cash — those decorated money holders sell out fast at Duane Reade — from grateful residents, for whom they have schlepped luggage, brought up groceries, hauled car seats and strollers, hailed cabs, parked cars and even watched kids in the building lobbies for a whole calendar year. You can't really get people to talk about how much they tip their doormen and supers (building superintendents). It's information you would only share with a very close friend. In addition to doormen and building staff, tipping housekeepers and nannies is also standard. Some of us also buy gifts for our children's teachers, OTs, pediatricians, shrinks and sports coaches. We also give holiday tips (often cash, but sometimes a bottle of wine comparable) to our hairdresser (the person who gives us our weekly blowout may be different from the person who does cut and color) our manicurist, if we always use the same person, our dog walker if we have one, the guys at the garage who get us our car when we need it, our barrista wherever we go for morning coffee, and on and on and on. Wow, if you're doing all that, you don't have time to get your legs waxed, so pick a ski vacation, that's my advice.