Thinking Ahead, Gift-wise

WARNING: CHRISTMAS SPOILER ALERT! Do not read if you don't want to know what you're getting! I just wanted to share this story (mainly with myself):
I was "talking" to one of my friends on facebook today, trying to figure out what to get people for Christmas. I know, I know... we still have Thanksgiving to get through and it is just now Halloween! But she has a huge family and is worried about finances, just like everyone else.
I have to say I was inspired last year. I took a family recipie for shortbread cookies and cooked them up for Thanksgiving. They went over so very well everyone was saying that that was what they wanted for Christmas. Well, I've had a year to think about it and am excited to get started cooking on those again. I've found some cute cookie cutters, and will be keeping an eye out for cute/unique Christmas tins. I love the shortbread because they're great with tea (and other hot drinks), not too sweet, a family tradition/favorite, and they stay for-ev-er (not literally, but it sure seems that way, which is nice because you don't have to eat them all in one sitting... or two... or...).
And when I started thinking about that and telling her about my idea for this year, past memories of Christmas came rushing back. As a child I never thought we were strapped for cash, and it's a feeling I want to pass on to my children. But I can remember such fun times making this amazing little decorations that we'd send out with our cards every year.
I think my favorite ones were the gingerbread men and women that were no bigger than a couple of inches tall. They weren't made for eating, because they were made out of some kind of clay instead of cooking ingreadients... except they smelled like gingerbread! We made those when we lived in Saudi and I remember my last high school year decorating the tree in Yale (many many years later) and still being able to smell them. I'm going to have to do something like that one year with LBG.
Another thing I remember us doing, and I'm not sure but I think this was a completely different year, was painting and decorating wooden gingerbread men and women as gifts. These were a bit bigger, and I'm pretty sure Mom decorated the ones we sent out. But us kids decorated a few for ourselves and we still have them in our Christmas boxes. They were 6-8 inches tall and we had to stain them first so that they were dark like the cookies.
Man! This gets me so excited! I can't wait to do those things with LBG! Next year will be fun. But I'll have to find something for us to do those first few years until she gets old enough to properly "play" with that kind of stuff (you know, not put it in her mouth).