I would many times over rather receive a homemade food gift than any widget. I always need to eat, my friends always need to eat, but hardly ever truly need a widget :-) My next-door-neighbor sends a plate of Xmas cookies over every year, and although I don't really do sweets, my visitors always eat them right up. I would never think of a homemade food gift as cheap. Ingredients are $$$$! I also think the folks who give homemade gifts are enjoying themselves creating the gift, as opposed to the stressed-out-shopper trying to find a perfect widget (in my case, the perfect widget would be a 2.5 carat diamond, so if anyone wants to give me THAT...well, SURE!) And for those who don't like to bake, a pound of coffee or a nice container of tea would be such a nice gift... One year, I didn't know what to get my brother, so I made him a Bloody Mary basket. Everything he needed to create his favorite drink, with different mixes and olives...it wasn't cheap, but it sure seemed to be his favorite present that year :-) A previous coworker grew and canned her own pickles, and a jar of these pickles was coveted by every member of the office every holiday season. Wish I still could get some of those... If I ever start canning, which I always say I am going to do, I will be so happy to give away my jars of treats to people. Joanna

Last name is McH..., both sets of grands on both sides came from Ireland and still have relatives over there...Our kids are James,Christopher, Kathleen, Kevin and Terrance Patrick...And the fur-babies are Clancy, Kalley and Kelly....Just a wee bit of Irish, don't you think?

Thank you all so much for your kind comments and advice!! We have picked a name but aren't sharing it until the baby boy is here. I don't know anything about birth annoucements. When do you send them out and all that good stuff? I noticed most of the ones online are photo announcements, but that means I can't pre-order/address them until the baby is here, right? We still need to find some stuff for the walls in the baby's room. We painted the letters of his name for the shelf above the changing table. Other than that, the walls are currently bare, but we don't want to be hooked into the turtle theme forever, so I'm looking for more abstract/versatile stuff. :) Thanks to all again for the advice!!

For DH, it helps me to settle on a theme or an idea to guide the gift selection. This is how it sometimes works: Last year he was taking the bus to work, leaving at 5:30 a.m (about an hour and 15 minutes away) and there was no refrigerator for his lunch stuff (most people in his office ate out or went home). I bought him a large lunch bag that held lunch and snacks. I added a new water bottle to the bag and bought a bunch of snacks for him to stash in his desk. In retrospect, I would have also added the idea I have seen of using a mini-M&M container filled with quarters for those occasions when he wanted a soda. A couple of gift cards to places within walking distance rounded the whole thing out. For our anniversary, my theme centered around relaxing with a good book. I bought a new lamp for his side of the bed, a new copy of the The Count of Monte Cristo done by the Folio Society (a favorite book of his), and a bottle of Madeira. This year, the gifts center around the fact we will likely get a car recent enough to plug an ipod into. His current ipod touch is a 2nd generation so he is getting a new one with 4x the memory and with the car theme, a Scottish wool driving hat from LL bean. Last year I also started a new gift tradition. I bought him a crow-bar to help when harvesting boulders for our landscaping. I put a gift tag stating it was to be used in the service of her majesty (me of course). I thought this should be a tradition so this year will get him a portable work bench with a note of using it in the service of her majesty. I think I may have a lot of fun with this category over the years (next year may be a router!).