As you search within yourself for a New Year’s resolution this week, keep in mind that the secret to looking good and living a long and happy life may lie in surrounding yourself with loving relationships, pets and, perhaps, lathering on copious amounts of Oil of Olay.

My uncle does not want anyone to know about his finances and will not complete a health care proxy.

There’s something magical about revisiting a beloved childhood vacation spot. 

“We like to say that Orlando is a ‘kid at heart’ destination,” says Susan Greer, associate vice president of publicity at the Orlando/Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Take a new look at Orlando and its must-experience baby boomer attractions.

“Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project”

By Dave Isay, $16.47

This compilation of stories marks the 10,000th interview by the StoryCorps Project, which documents and archives America’s oral history. Whether it’s a senior citizen remembering the good old days, a woman telling her story of surviving an airline crash in Iowa or a child reuniting with his birth mother, Isay has compiled touching tales.

"Boomeritis" -- aching joints, strained tendons and other maladies from overdoing sports or exercise -- is the No. 2 reason baby boomers will visit their doctor, according to a National Ambulatory Medical Care survey.

Dr. Wade McAlister, a Houston-based orthopedic surgeon and spokesman for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and Julie Ann McCarthy, a sports medicine physical therapist in San Francisco, offer advice on how to avoid injuries.

Stand out from the crowd this Christmas by creating your own holiday greeting cards — a better alternative to same-old, store-bought cards or the dreaded annual newsletter, and much more fun. Whether you want to go high-tech or classic, time-intensive or quick and easy, here are five ideas to get you started:
 

Create these holiday goodies and then share with others in celebration of the season.

When you’re coping with the death of a loved one, making it through the holidays is especially difficult. Kenneth Doka, a professor at The College of New Rochelle (N.Y.) and author of more than a dozen books on grieving, offers advice on how to make it through, and how you can help others.

There are endless skin-care products on the shelves that claim to soothe and moisturize, but finding lotions and creams that heal skin without leaving it feeling greasy can be difficult.  

Fortunately, Dr. Jordana Gilman, an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Medical Center and a private practice dermatologist in New York City, has a few products in mind.

Gilman recommends looking for products with lactic acid, which will help attract and hold water to keep the skin well-hydrated. As a bonus, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a good moisturizer. Here are a few of her suggestions:

Taking more medications is an inevitable part of aging, and keeping track of dosage and usage instructions can be a nightmare.  

Pharmacists recommend boomers follow a routine to avoid taking the wrong dose or wrong pill. Here are five tips for safely managing your medications:

MYTH: Your retirement accounts were squeezed with the economy, and now you'll never be able to retire.

FACT: The recession may have damaged your savings, but it hasn’t destroyed your retirement plans. A financial adviser offers advice to make the most of what you have, as well as a retirement plan.

Grandparents as caregivers
Grandparents play a large role as caregivers. There were 6.2 million grandparents whose grandchildren lived with them in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. There were also 2.5 million grandparents responsible for food, shelter and clothing for one or more of their grandchildren who lived with them.

Technology
Young adults are more likely than older Americans to have wireless-ready computers and Internet-connected cell phones, according to the Pew Internet & American Life project, but boomers aren’t far behind. Twenty-two percent of Internet users in Generation Y have used laptops with wireless connections in the past month, compared with 17 percent of boomers. Forty-five percent of Gen Y Internet users also have phones that can use the Internet, compared with 25 percent of baby boomers.

Our local mail carriers risk back pain and black ice to deliver warm greetings from afar. Cards pushed through the mail slot fill receivers with delightful anticipation.

 In America, Louis Prang printed the first Christmas cards in 1875. In 2008, more than 2 billion holiday cards were exchanged. Nationally, 85 percent of Americans mail out greetings, and the average number of cards sent per household is 26, according to The Greeting Card Association.

Yet it seems that more people are e-mailing virtual cards to friends and family. Now maybe it’s my age, but I prefer to slice open an envelope to a burst of red, green and gold. My fingers love to slide over the glitter of snowy scenes. Nativity scenes, smiling Santas and red-nosed reindeer are strung across my doorways. You can’t do that with e-mail greeting alerts!

Janice Bragg didn’t like the way her husband was being cared for in a nursing home. She said she figured she could do better, and with the help of two nurses from Western Illinois Home Health Care she feels she has. But she couldn’t do it without them.

Robert “Brown” Philippe is a serious collector. Inside his building in Gonzales, La., thousands of hats hang from the ceiling, blanketing the whole of it. Philippe, 82, has some 14,500 hats in all.