Thank you for the nice comments...it is a beautiful, rustic creation! It is 2 pieces. The bird is attached to the other piece of wood with a tiny dowel. I truly intended it as my Secret Santa gift when I bought it. LOL I should NEVER buy something that I REALLY like! :o) Have you ever bought something for someone else, loved it so much, and then kept it? Ha! I'm a bad boy junker! Bear Hugs! Kirk

Several new people saw this post and went to the Conversations side to join the Secret Santa gift exchange! Yahoo! Welcome everyone and thanks for joining the Christmas exchange! It'll be soooo much fun! Even if you didn't join, I hope you discovered the Conversations side. Like I said, you really get to know people over on the other side! Bear Hugs! Kirk

My kids are now all adults though they are students. Any money they spend is really our money. So we are not encouraging any lavish gifts. Our son has said before, the fact that he will not graduate in debt is the biggest gift he could ask for. Plus, it can be a lot of pressure to find a "perfect" gift: I remember that particular stress from Christmas gifts exchanged in my small office. Our boss would always get us something amazing (not expensive, just "perfect"): it set the bar too high for us peons. I loved everyone there but IÂm glad I donÂt have to deal with that anymore. I accumulate an Amazon wish list over the year: and keep adding to it. Any family member can just check that list and know they are getting me a book or CD I really want. Sometimes I make it even easier on them and order it myself! Since I have maybe 20 items on there I have no idea ahead of time what they might pick: keeps the surprise element. My husband had always been the hardest person to buy for. But he wore out 2 pairs of shoes this fallÂgreat timing! He is starting a new job with a long walk from the commuter rail station: hat and gloves! My digital camera just bit the dustÂgreat timing again (no, I did NOT drop it on purpose). Our son wants an "interview" suit. He needs it anyway, but chose to ask for this for Christmas. He has always worn his DadÂs: but they are not the same size, itÂs time he had his own. So we will make a day of it and all go as a family to choose it together. Our daughter is still at an age where she wants a lot, but doesnÂt trust us to select it. She send an e-mail with specificsÂthings she thought we couldnÂt mess up! Both "kids" will get various fun, inexpensive surprises in their stockings. Colorful notepads, decks of cards, makeup for daughter.

Nice to see this string revived, for whatever reason. I don't care much for gag or tacky gifts, either. It's funny at the time, but in the end it feels to me like a waste of money. But I certainly understand not wanting everyone to have to spend a lot of time and money shopping. I liked it once when we had each adult randomly assigned the name of one other adult for whom to buy a gift, with a LOW maximum spending amount. It was great to see how everyone found something really good even at that level -- (I think it was $5, but that was probably 15 to 20 years ago). I even remember what I gave (a can of wrinkle-remover spray for someone who travels a lot) and what I got (an apron). Today I'd make the amount $10, or, if your crowd likes an additional challenge, make it some random amount like $12.38 and see who can come the closest without going over. That would be game enough for me. Another thing your group might like is to bring items to donate to a shelter or someplace instead of gifts to each other, or low-energy light bulbs to donate to your church, etc. Some people feel like this replaces merriment with earnestness, but others like it a lot; you have to know your group.