There's no place like home for holidays.

So says the song.

But being home for the holidays may not be quite so wonderful if work starts pounding on the front door, demanding to be let in.

Let's face it — with all the ways work can worm its way into our holidays — emails, texts, the head of HR coming down the chimney — it takes effort to get away when you get away.

Dana Brownlee can help.

Brownlee is the author of "7 Winning Tactics for Disconnecting from Work During the Holidays," a timely post on Forbes website.

"Too often, the intended relaxing respite is plagued by intermittent work distractions," she writes, "early morning or late evening emails, or just the additional mental stress of worrying about work piling up during the absence."

You never worry about work piling up, or you might actually do some when you're not on vacation, but emails are always stressful, especially when you're at your desk, fighting your way through Summoner's Riff in a tense few hours of "League of Legends" before your midafternoon nap.

We don't have room for all seven tactics, but here are a few to get you started:

Tip No. 1: "Start the work wind down a few days/weeks prior if possible."

This is something you do already, only the work wind down for you started on the day you were hired. By now, you have wound down your work to a nubbin. This means that following Brownlee's suggestion of "delegating work and preparing key colleagues for your time away," means you'll have to make up a bunch of jobs — jobs you wouldn't do if you actually were at work..

The danger here is that "key colleagues" might expect you to do these jobs when you get back, which is never going to happen.

My advice is to prepare no one for nothing, since that is what you will be doing.

Tip No. 3 "Share holiday plans/traditions with co-workers."

Head of Deloitte's NextGen leadership development program Cheryl Pinter-Veal suggests you "schedule a team call prior to the holidays to share holiday traditions, even encouraging team members to share a photo in advance."

This is a terrific idea, except for the parts about the team call and the team sharing.

The only person to share should be you. Once your co-workers see photos of you lying under the Christmas tree in your dinosaur onesie, holding a half-gallon container of eggnog to your lips, they will not only realize the true horror of your holiday traditions, they'll never again give you grief about not being at work.

Tip No. 4 "Determine how much you'd actually like to disconnect and develop a plan for that."

In our author's opinion, "It's not always realistic to expect to disconnect 100% while you're out of the office."

I agree. You're only 99% disconnected when you're in the office.

If you insist on believing that you do have a "unique role" at work or do "want to check in occasionally to avoid having an avalanche of emails waiting for you when you return," you are advised to set parameters before you leave.

Before you go, set a time and time limit for when you will be checking in — every fifth day at 6 p.m. for exactly 3 minutes sounds about right. It's not a major strain on you and it's a lot more than you do when you're at your desk.

Tip No. 6 "Proactively discuss vacation ground rules with your family."

When it comes to getting your co-workers to leave you alone, you've got years of experience. Getting your family to get off your case is trickier. While your colleagues at work are open about their goal — getting the boss to fire you and taking over your parking space — family members can be sneaky. Spouses, children, even the family pets are always spinning elaborate plots to come between you and your vacation plans.

Put simply, they want you to do everything; you want to do nothing.

Explain that you are so important at work you will have to spend some time every day checking in. It is not your fault that you won't be able to go to the paintball park, the go-cart track or participate in any activity that requires leaving your recliner.

It won't be an easy sell, but, fortunately, the holidays don't last forever, and you'll soon be back at work, where you can finally relax and have a real vacation.

Bob Goldman was an advertising executive at a Fortune 500 company. He offers a virtual shoulder to cry on at [email protected]. To find out more about Bob Goldman, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: JillWellington at Pixabay