If you are like most people, your holiday to-do list can get almost unmanageable. With parties to attend, guests to host, shopping, cooking, and more to do it can add up to a lot of holiday stress.

Wouldn’t it be nice to ease the load so you have time to enjoy a cup of egg nog with the family and just sit back and enjoy the season? Home automation can do just that. Home automation is a tool that not only simplifies your life, it simplifies a multitude of tasks to that you can spend that time on what really matters—time with family, friends and loved ones.

Here are some ways you can use smart home technologies to make your holidays even brighter.

It was not so very long ago that home security systems were very hands-on. As in, exclusively hands-on. You would have to remember to walk to the keypad each morning and disarm it before opening the door to let the animals out or to go sip coffee and read the paper on the patio. Not doing so resulted in waking and terrifying the entire neighborhood. At night, you would go through the process of locking all the window and doors, fall down in your bed exhausted from a long day and then wake suddenly remembering you forgot to arm the system. Worst of all, you rush off to work late and after an hour of traffic remember that you never armed the system.

If you are like most Americans, most of what you know about burglaries is shaped by the media, rather than facts. Television programs, movies, and even video games do much to shape what we think is true—and those assumptions can put us in danger.

Here are six facts that dispel common misconceptions about burglary and home protection.

For busy homeowners, it’s hard to know what’s going on at home when you aren’t there – that is, it’s hard if you don’t yet own smart video cameras as part of your security system. If you do have smart cameras as part of your home security system, all you need to do is take out your phone, open your home security app, and get an instant view of the activity inside or outside your home. And, if there’s a security event going on – say, someone waiting at the door – you can receive a smartphone notification that it’s happening.