Very few people would argue the fact that “there’s no place like home for the holidays.”

Regardless of your ethnic background or religious persuasion, there’s just something special about the roughly 6 weeks that starts around Thanksgiving and ends shortly after New Year’s Day. Warm and inviting decorations, sumptuous cooking and baking odors, more company than usual to share it with, sons and daughters home from college – what’s not to love?

We know you agree, and so do burglars who love this time of year, as it frequently means more goodies and cash up for grabs, and easier access to your home. But it doesn’t have to be easy pickings – not if you observe a handful of proven effective home security measures:

• Keep gifts and other valuables away from uncovered windows. You’ve worked hard to buy those gifts, and you should have the privilege of giving them to the recipients of your choice. Advertising them to passersby, however, could rob you of that opportunity.

• Be predictable. This includes putting your outdoor and indoor holiday lights on automatic timers so they come on and go off at the same time every day. That prevents thieves from figuring out the exact timing of your comings and goings.

• Lock all your windows and doors before going to bed at night or leaving your house empty of people. At the same time, don’t run any electrical wires through windows as that makes it easier to pry them open.

• Bring that spare key back inside. This is a good time of year to bring that spare key back inside. But if you have to leave one, ask a neighbor to hold it for you or your kids. Or, at worst, change the location every couple of days, put the key in not-so-obvious places, and don’t let anyone see you moving or accessing it.

• Be wary of unexpected service people or door-to-door sales people. In all cases ask to see identification, even if they purport to be from a well-known charity and are outfitted accordingly. You never know how somebody may have come by that particular garb.

• Don’t broadcast your gifts on social media. That includes the ones you’ve purchased and those you’ve received. Facebook and other social media are open portals for people of ill-repute to plan their next home “visit.”

Helping people all over Connecticut beef up their home security is out job and our privilege. If you don’t have a home security system, we can install exactly the right one for your home and budget in very short order. Or maybe you have a security system but you’re not happy with your monitoring company – there’s one more reason to contact Now Security Systems. Call us and let us know how we can help.