Do not skip the payments. Lot of credit card companies provide this opportunity to release a payment without penalty during this season. Do not fall with that.
While this opportunity might ease your cash flow temporarily but it could increase significantly the length of time it takes you to pay off your balance.
If you can use these simple rules as mention before whole year in your regular shopping practices, then you already have good habits of spending when the holidays season roll around. The earlier you learn and practise of good credit usage, the better.