We are as much a sucker for a new gadget as the next person, but we are drawn much more to the gifts and acts of kindness that can - with luck - set this season apart from any other.
Gifts are an opportunity to draw together, not stand apart: to draw together with family and friends as well as with one's own self and one's own home. And less is definitely more. One good thing or act is better than all the tea in China. Therefore our picks are beautiful, simple, healthy and/or perishable.
This is just a start. Tell us your own. Happy Holidays, MGR
Your favorite cookbook and an offer to come over and cook dinner in January
A case of wine from Jeff Hock at Winesby.com on Jones Street & Bacchus and Me: Adventures in the Wine Cellar by Jay McInerney
Wild herb soaps, incense and teas, wild berry jams, and wreaths from Juniper Ridge
A paint brush, stack of paint chips and an offer to come over and help paint one room
Fleur de Sel Sea Salt in a beautiful little bowl with a beautiful little spoon from Global Table on Sullivan Street
An offer to come over, clean out closets and take the offal to charity that same day
An amaryllis bulb in a glass forcing vase (they have nice ones at Smith & Hawken)
A super cleaning kit from Caldrea
A gift certificate for a facial or massage
An M & Co wallclock
A pillow from John Robshaw
Original artwork that you have made (a good frame makes a difference. We like MTS frames from Pearl Paint).
A very nice bottle of champage with a big bow
A personal letter or note that coveys your feelings eloquently and honestly
A pin-hole camera photograph from the neat fellow who takes and sells them at the Farmer's Market at Union Square
For those of us with cars that live in cities, a homemade gift certificate, for friends who don't have cars, for a weekend excursion to the large box retailer of their choice can be a nice gift.
Lots of people without cars are reluctant to ask their friends to spend their Saturday helping to buying bathroom products at Target, but they might really like to.
I personally adore the flower subscriptions from Smith and Hawken,
www.smithandhawken.com/jhtml/site/catalog/Category.jhtml?CATID=31
Everything from windowboxes to orchids.
A spa suggestion in Manhattan-- Simply Spa. They offer gift certificates, it's low-attitude, and the cool thing is recipients use the time any way they want... for a facial, a massage, etc., as opposed to having to pick the service(s) in advance. Mostly female client base, but males are welcome.
simplyspanyc.com
My folks are spending Christmas in New York for the first time, and my girlfriend had the brilliant idea to make them a coupon book. Along with things like dinner at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant (Thai Son) and hunting for the sausage most resembling a traditional Lithuanian *skilanti* at Brighton Beach, we'll include non-gift gifts like a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, an afternoon working a jigsaw puzzle, and an evening of telling family stories. I think they'll really like it, and it'll save us from all those what-do-you-want-to-do-no-what-do-YOU-want-to-do discussions. Now I'm off to stick cloves in oranges.