LIPGLOSS is a weekly dating and humor blog. Check back every Thursday for anything from restaurant reviews to dating advice to eclectic lists.

I love December. I love the holidays. We’re only five days in, but I’m already so excited I can hardly type.

Dashing through the snow! Roasting chestnuts on an open fire! Walking in a winter wonderland! Jingling all the way! This month is romantic gold.

You can hold hands without getting sweaty palms. You can use another person’s body as a walking space heater. You can both look twice as cute as usual in winter coats and scarves.The possibilities are as endless as the number of times you’ll hear Mariah Carey’s Christmas album. Here’s some date ideas to get you in the spirit:

COOKIES!!!- Perhaps the best activity of them all. Get some sugar cookie dough, some wintery cookie cutters, copious amounts of sugar sprinkles, and have at it. Even if you’re like me, and can’t bake to save your life, there is almost no way either of you could possibly mess this up. You can bond over the adrenaline rush of eating raw cookie dough, make deformed snowflake-shapes, and then enjoy the fruits of your labor along with a giant mug of hot cocoa.

Decorating/one of you decorating while the other watches- Turn on some folksy Christmas songs, get out some tangled strands of lights, and scuttle around your living space like hip little elves as you add some cheer here and there. Pro tip: Only use rainbow Christmas lights. Anything else is just wasting everyone’s time.

Christmas movie marathon- I believe this deserves its own movie cocktail. I call this one the Night Divine: Start off with “A Christmas Story,” proceed to “The Grinch,” and end with “Love Actually” or “The Holiday.” A nice transition from retro to romanic, with a healthy dose of Jim Carrey.

Ice skating- I’ve long since given up on the prospect of meeting a boy who actually likes any kind of skating activity. I guess there aren’t as many hockey players out there as I used to think. But, if by some miraculous stroke of luck you both love skating, now’s your chance! Do you have any idea how many giant ice rink Christmas trees out there need to be skated around? Try to get to them all.

And finally, a few ideas that sound great in theory, but actually probably aren’t that fun, so stay away:

Building a gingerbread house- This is sticky, complicated, and never turns out looking as cute as you’d like. Plus, after you finish it, it’s just like… okay. What now? You gonna split the house down the middle and each take home half? Or will you each build your own smaller gingerbread house, which is even less fun and feels more like a fifth-grade school party than a date?

Caroling- I have put myself in lots of uncomfortable situations in my life, but none of them come close to the awkwardness of ringing a stranger’s doorbell and singing to them about snow and Jesus. Granted, if you do this one, you’ll probably be in a larger group of people and not actually on a date, but it’ll be so awkward for you and your significant other that you probably won’t be able to look each other in the eye for about a week.