My goal every year is to have all the Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving. That way I can enjoy all the festivities in December at a slower pace. Plus, if you're going to visit relatives at Thanksgiving, you can hand them their wrapped Christmas gifts to put under their tree, and avoid having to ship them a week or two later.

I haven't yet achieved this goal. Every year I get much of the shopping done early, and I always start early, I just don't usually get it completely done by Thanksgiving. But I'm trying again.

My sister-in-law's family has a gift-giving tradition which I've adopted, for all the grandparents and for anyone who has everything already. First you donate a gift in their name to a charity of your choice--I like WorldVision, the Heifer Project, or Covenant House. They send you a nice card which you can give to the recipient: "A cow has been given in your name to such and such village or family," etc. One year I received "one year of education for a girl in China." It's awesome knowing that because of me someone in real need in the world is being helped.

The second thing you do is come up with a cute small food-type gift--perhaps a basket of homemade jams from the craft fair, perhaps something you make yourself, such as flavored oils & vinegars. One year I sent food packages from Swiss Colony. Other excellent ones are Ethel M, and Liberty Orchard's Aplets and Cotlets.

This year my eye is on a very practical gift--the everlasting bottle of organic vanilla flavoring from Chinaberry. Who couldn't use that gourmet treat?

Last year I went all out with the theme of India: the charity gift helped women and children in India; in the same basket as the charity card was a homemade CD of popular music from India, and a recipe and ingredients for making authentic Indian Chai (I had a friend from India show me how they make it there).

So the recipient receives both a charitable gift in their name, plus a small food gift which they can enjoy over the holidays, and yet not clutter up their home with more things.

Perfect, no?