Today we have a few gift-giving tips from Aunt Nancy.... This year in our extended family, due to economic realities, we are celebrating on-the-cheap. Gag gifts are great-especially if they're useful. The guys in our family are getting a gallon of windshield washer fluid. I give this every year and write "Reindeer Soap" on it. The gals? I'm wrapping up a bottle of Joy® brand dishwashing soap with a big tag on it that says, "May you have Joy for the holidays." Both are stupidly funny-and useful. Another useful gift is a "gas card," - a gift certificate to a local gas station. What the heck, write "Hope your holidays are a gas!"

If you can make it funny and individual, it's great. We have an accountant; he may get a can of beans and a cheap calculator. My sister spent time one year ridding her house of "kitsch"-figurines and knick knacks that were hard to dust and getting to look like shelf schlock. She proclaimed proudly that summer that she'd given all the junk away to thrift stores. So, of course, that Christmas, I went to a thrift store and bought her the ugliest figurine I could find. For $1.99, you can have your whole Christmas party howling with laughter.

On my husband's side of the family, we have a ritual that's been going on about 5 years now. Someone (who will remain nameless) gave Uncle Don a shirt that was absolutely hideous. It's a summer polo shirt with a print of hot dogs, hamburgers and grilling utensils on it. He opened it up, held it up and looked at it as if he'd just opened a box of entrails. We all roared. He knows that I frequent thrift stores, so he gave it to me to donate next time I went. Except I didn't.

The next year, he opened our gift and Voila! The same shirt! A new tradition was born. So now the shirt has been going back and forth, with some new twist on the joke each year. The following year, it had lace added to it. Last year I added a skirt to the bottom, so now it's a dress. It's my turn to get it back this year. I can't wait to see the creative modifications it will have; it probably has lederhosen.

This year will be a lean one for too many families. Each day, some new datapoint comes in that drives home the reality that there are families in trouble. We have now been in a recession one full year. Our three U.S. domestic auto manufacturers are on the verge of bankruptcy. One in 10 houses now is either in foreclosure or delinquent at least one month on a mortgage payment. Our incoming President has told us that "it's going to get worse before it gets better." In my immediate and extended family, no one is wealthy, but we all have a roof over our heads, groceries and heat. I would rather have an ugly figurine and a laugh-and then a note saying that a donation had been made to our local food shelf in the Twin Cities http://www.2harvest.org ---than any other gift.

Wanna give yourself a gift? Do a random act of anonymous kindness. Here's one idea if you are among those with a few extra dollars. Next time you're going through a fast food drive-thru, look at the car behind you. Is the car old? Does the driver have a carful of kids? Pay their bill when you get to the drive-up window. Ask the cashier to tell them "Happy Holidays from a stranger." What a Whopper® of a Happy Meal® on a Frosty® day...

Note: The University of Minnesota Cooperative Extension Department offers some helpful holiday tips. Here's the link: http://www.extension.umn.edu/familyrelations/holiday.html