Business strategies for the Christmas frenzy

I'm sure we are not the only small business that struggles with how to cope with the Christmas rush. In general as per most local businesses the market has been down, but since Christmas is fast approaching, people are getting active and starting to get their Christmas shopping frenzy on.

But my big question is  - how do other businesses handle this time of year? For us, every year we wonder whether we should employ an extra person, the problem with this is that the training takes so long and then it gets quieter again in the new year.

We generally all work more hours and exhaust ourselves - so come Christmas break we are well and truly entitled to a few days of R & R. But this is tiring and stressful.

I would love to hear from other small businesses and learn how they cope over their busy spells.