[Blarg]

Knit them a check.

Just kidding. Gifts with some thought in them always seem better to me, in close relationships. Handcrafted gifts you've made yourself are beyond awesome and a deeply personal display of friendship or love, if you're any good at making stuff. Of course, if you're bad at making stuff, it can seem really lame.

Really good gift giving is kind of hard. That's why I try to keep an eye out throughout the year for items that really fit someone's personality. There aren't that many of that type of gift around, and if there are, I won't recognize how good it is every time. That kind of peculiar attention to what's exactly right for someone comes and goes, so you have to strike while the iron is hot. I'll buy a gift 9 months early if I think it would be perfect, and just keep it tucked away till then.

Way better than scrambling around during the Christmas season and winding up picking out something that doesn't turn you on.

As far as stuff for parents, all my dad ever wanted was Old Spice cologne. He was impossible to buy anything for.

My mom really liked an elegant table, so I would buy her crystal sometimes. I got her some very nice crystal candle holders once that she really liked a lot. She got to show them off to company. She also collected elephants for a while, so that was always good for a gift for years -- pottery, crystal, wood, enameled, whatever. Hobbies are easy to buy for. I think most women really enjoy elegant things, too. People's tastes in crystal varies, though, so you either need superlative taste or to really know the tastes of who you're buying for.