I am the adult kid here (scary, ha) with a 16 month old and I didn't have a job to go back to after maternity leave with no prospects (I'm an architect and 80% of architects in my county are currently laid off) so things are a bit tight here as well and I am doing the handmade/homemade gift thing as well. Both of my nieces have their ears pierced so they are getting a hand painted and lined jewelry box and an inexpensive pair of earrings for christmas and my parents/inlaws are getting a book of photos of our son (blurb.com allows you to publish "real" nice quality books and I have been working on it on and off for nearly a year adding photos as I get them - this one covers just his first year). That's about it. My parents are financially much better off than we are. We moved back to a very high cost of living area and purchased a house about a year before the height of the market and now I'm laid off whereas my dad is retired with a very nice pension and my mom bought her company a few years ago and is doing well with it and they are VERY generous with us. If the situation ever flips - well let's put it this way, there is no way I'd spend money on an expensive trip while my parents were living out of a crock pot because they could not afford a new stove! (though I would not get them a Wolf). I say as a parent you need to listen to your instinct. When we make sacrifices for our children it's because it feels right and because we want them to have a good life. It sounds like you have given them a good start to a good life and they are not babies anymore. You do what makes you feel right... and my parents are pretty tight-lipped about what they do for each sibling because frankly it's no one's business except the people actually involved. I think this is a good policy - your other kids do not need to know if you are helping out one of your kids who needs it more. JMHO - and it should not be part of gifts, just something you do because you can (no raiding your own retirement fund because then the burden will be on your kids to take care of you LATER) and want to. As far as gifts, I urge you to sit down and think about what would make YOU feel good to give them. I'm sure there are things you can come up with that don't cost a lot of money. If it's just about the money making you feel good then you should probably reevaluate what the holidays are to you. There is a LOT in between "socks n underwear" and giving an extravagant gift you cannot afford.

I really like that doo-hicky blade thingy that I can scrape dough up off of a surface, or use to divide a lump of dough in two. I've started using it more frequently as I bake. I just can't remember what it's called. For a higher price bracket, a nice mortar and pestle would be a good gift. One that's large enough to do a lot with. I have a small one that I grind spices with occasionally, and I use it when I make my own salad dressing, or pesto, but mine is too small to make a good batch of pesto. I know that food processors make that a fairly easy job, but they're a hassle to clean, and I love using the pestle. Today I was crushing cumin seed for some lentil soup. It smelled so good, with the scent wafting up from the mortar to my nose. Of course, a modern young woman may look at you cross-eyed if you gave her something like that, but I'd love it. Weren't there some people here talking about some kind of dough whisk they really loved? Sally

Last Christmas I was given a beautiful piece of crochet that the giver said was a dishrag. I re-christened it 'Candle Mat'! You can also make crocheted Christmas ornaments (my aunt always made crochet stars & stiffened them with starch & put glitter on them), or paper ones (she made beautiful angels with brown paper grocery bags, glitter, pipe cleaner halos, & crayoned faces), or stuffed or quilted ones like bells or candy canes, or felt or cotton ones, like pictures, with sequins, stuffed with quilt batting. Last summer I went to a quilt show & loved the Christmas ornaments that were made out of white felt with embroidered snow scenes or bells or French horns & colored with crayons. You just color the 'picture' & set it with a warm iron, with a piece of paper towel between the iron & the item. I tried it on something that was supposed to become a potholder (unfortunately, my rollerball pen leaked all over it.). I did like it very much, & I plan to make more of them for sure. The motif was fruits & vegetables, from a package of Aunt Martha's iron-on transfers (they're popular now; I've seen them at Hobby Lobby & at Walmart). I ironed the transfer onto a potholder-sized square of off-white cotton & colored the peas & then colored the surrounding sunburst in orange, set the colors with a hot iron, embroidered in black around the sunburst... & stuck it in my purse to get matching embroidery thread to outline the peas, which is where that dang $1 pen ruined the ornament as well as the inside of the purse. I think vests are always nice, too, for a more personalized gift. A plain black one or a blue denim one will go with so many things, & you can personalize them with applique or embroidery or photographs, Years ago, I saw one at a craft show for maybe $40 or so, & it was just a purchased 'blue jean' vest with small crocheted doilies appliqued (with fusable webbing) onto it, with some sparkly beads in patterns of, say, flowers or spirals or stars; the original buttons had been replaced with fancy ones, & the vests had different pieces of vintage jewelry attached at random places. If you want to use photos, you can photocopy them onto unbleached muslin (instructions are all over the internet) & applique them onto the vest. You can buy a new vest or,if you're giving it to someone who likes a more antique or shabby chic look, you can often find them at thrift stores, or you can make one very easily.

Lascatz, this is what I wrote in the first post, " (ds) He said it's a great idea and DGD has mentioned before how she may be interested in playing a guitar." After I sent the two videos above to DS, his girlfriend told me today that he's started to get excited about DGD getting a Ukulele, and how he can learn to play also. Once she sees him play, and she watches Taylor's video, she'll love it. I think the whole household will want to learn. I was only jesting about "WTHeck is this?" only because the hormones are kicking in. lol When the boys were growing up I was forced to listen to Pearl Jam (Eddie Vedder), GunsNRoses, and I loved them, don't get me started about THE best guitarist, Slash. :) And Metallica. Eddie Vedder has an album with only the Ukulele and I sent a song to DS. haha It's a small school & it's not like she has a big social life. The word that kept standing out to me when describing a Ukulele is "happy." Yes! Yes! At the beginning of Taylor's video she says the same thing, and I told DS about it, it;s just a happy little instrument.