Last year we gave each of our tenants a $50 off for Christmas break on their rent.  

Like $100 before Christmas for tenants that pay early. 

Back unit tenants haven't taken out or brought in the trash since before Christmas, so 3 weeks. 

After that the next time that they see me is at Christmas (visit and small gift again) or if there is maintenance or a pending vacancy.I try to avoid tenant problems by building a reserve of goodwill.

This might change over time - as you get into one class of building/tenant you might discover you love it more than you could have imagined or you might figure out you'd rather navigate mall traffic at Christmas. 

December is historically slow... no one wants to be moving at holidays.. or they want in the new home before Christmas it can go both ways.then the market in the NW really starts to jump in Jan feb one of our projects in PDX  27 new builds.. we sold I think 3 or 4  from sept 15 to Jan 1.. then sold out from jan one to May 30th.  

My wife is a licensed realtor and manages apartment buildings for a living.Did I mention that all my tenants get a gift card for Christmas, even the ones that are late, even the ones with arrears.

Around Christmas/New Years can be a harder time to rent. 

I have given cards and candies at Christmas to all my tenants but it was more than $5.

People do this all the time, say around Christmas, so they can afford presents, then just change the deductions back.