Everyone should consider adopting a rescue dog this season. They bring such joy and happiness into our lives and families. Consider adoption options…I did when we rescued a Yorkie seven years ago. His name is Divot and he makes us smile each and every day. Erin T.

This year, I will be shopping for my friends and family at www.redefine-christmas.org. You can make a donation to any number of charities on this site in your friends’ names.

Good ideas all, but I am making an effort to shop in local businesses this year. Yes, I do a lot of online stuff ‘cuz I love to shop at midnight, but I am very nervous about many of our small local businesses so I will be buying locally made chocolate, and books from a small book shop instead of Barnes & Noble, and my husband will buy gifts for his secretaries at a local jeweler instead of Crate & Barrell I also download books from Audible.com to listen on my iPod and will be giving some of my unused points as stocking stuffers so my kids can download a book of their choice on Christmas day.

Troll Beads…. the coolest things ever. I collected a piece at a time, choosing beads that each had a special meaning for my daughter and then gave her the entire bracelet as her 21st birthday gift. But you can just buy one piece at a time and give a bead as a gift to add to someone’s bracelet. First, you buy a silver bracelet, then choose from a choice of clasps, and all kinds of glass beads, silver beads, etc. They are a sort of new version of a charm bracelet. Can be pricey at the end, but the best thing is that you can have the bracelet and then the beads are each a gift in themselves. (all this can be had in gold at a much more extravagant price, but the silver actually looks nicer anyway). Check out http://trollbeads.com/site/trollbeads/

I recently saw a website that says the Kindle is coming out with a second generation model: http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/25/amazon-kindle-2-no-longer-rumored-for… For anyone who owns one (I don’t, but I know plenty of folks who do) you know there are some aspects that need improvement, but you cannot beat the Kindle for ease and accessibility of reading materials. I don’t know about y’all, but I am waiting for the second generation.

Shop handmade @ http://creativegoldsmith.etsy.com

I was hoping for more ideas each week, or was this it???

Okay, I have a couple of ideas for cheap/virtually no-cost presents: Online, there is a great site called ReusableBags.com, which has tons of terrific low-middling-cost totes, handbags, lunchbags, etc., many made from recycled materials. I ordered a bunch for gifts—service was great, quick shipping times, and a lot of the items are very cool, especially the recycled Asian rice bag shopping totes, which are all one of a kind with varying patterns of fish prints, wild colors, etc. I’m a pretty good amateur photographer, so one year when I was really broke I gave all my friends a self-designed gift certificate for a portrait sitting and a couple of prints from my computer. Not everybody “cashed” in, but I had great fun going to their houses during the year and taking whatever photos they wanted (a lot of kitty portraits, as it turned out). You can also buy plain white T-shirts and get transfer paper for your printer and print images you can iron on at home. I’ve done this with pet photos, or by enlarging interesting images from old books, like retro logos, etc. Lately I’ve been buying those little clear plastic magnetic picture frames and putting in copies of my favorite cartoons, which I give as little gifts for the refrigerator… Fortunately, all my friends are garage-sale hounds, and we all love getting weird/unusual doodads, nevermind if it only cost a dollar. If all else fails, nothing beats giving a big pile of homemade cookies from your favorite recipe!