Gift Baskets for Christmas

This year, we are sending Christmas gift baskets to our parents. I prefer Wine Country Gift Baskets. You need not send wine but more than half of U.S. states allow shipping of wine to adults over age 21. In fact, Amazon.com lists Wine Country's current bestsellers as gift baskets without wine, including Soup's On, Taste of Italy, Holiday Cheer and Breakfast in Bed. I like that I can choose a shipping date in advance and know that the gift baskets will arrive just in time for Christmas. Several of Wine Country's selections include free shipping. Other great sources for gift baskets include:

• Dean & DeLuca for customized gourmet gift baskets
  
• Cheryl&Co for gourmet cookie and dessert gift baskets
• The Fruit Company for fruit and gourmet gift baskets
• igourmet for cheese gift baskets (with more than 800 cheeses) and other fine foods
• Harry and David for fruit gift baskets and sweets
• Wolferman's for premium English muffin breakfast gift baskets
• Usinger's Famous Sausage gift boxes
  

Black Friday 2008

Fire that Christmas shopping starter pistol. Stores opened as early as midnight to the throngs of 128 million U.S. shoppers seeking deals this weekend. Seven million less shoppers are expected over the Black Friday 2008 weekend than last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

Again, my wife and I turned to online shopping today, taking advantage of Amazon Prime's all-you-can-eat shipping.

Giving Thanks - Literally

Happy Thanksgiving 2008! As I count my blessings, I'm reminded of a book that I promise to finish reading as soon as my grad school semester ends. (Update: See "Ten Takeaways from Thanks!")

Dr. Robert A. Emmons wrote Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier. Emmons argues that gratitude contradicts the idea that people have a set limit on happiness. Simply put, people who practice gratitude seem measurably happier and are more pleasant to be around. I will write a future post on my takeaways from Thanks!, but for now I will share Emmons' view on gratitude.

***

In my own thinking about gratitude, I've found it very helpful to conceive of it in terms of two stages.

First, gratitude is the acknowledgment of goodness in one's life. In gratitude we say yes to life. We affirm that all things taken together, life is good and has elements that make it worth living. The acknowledgment that we have received something gratifies us, either by its presence or by the effort of the giver went in choosing it.

Second, gratitude is recognizing that the source(s) of this goodness lie at least partially outside the self. The object of gratitude is other-directed; one can be grateful to other people, to God, to animals, but never to oneself... Thanks are directed outward to the giver of gifts.

***

Consider giving Thanks! to book lovers this holiday season.

Oprah's Favorite Things for a Thrifty Holiday 2008

Oprah Winfrey is signaling a thrifty holiday season this year. Rather than indulgences from past lists of Oprah's Favorite Things, the influential host suggests inexpensive and homespun gifts for Christmas.

• Winter Reading — Oprah recommends David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel.
  


• Gratitude Boxes — Embellish boxes and fill them with heartfelt messages.


• Music Downloads — Eight free Christmas MP3s for 48 hours on Oprah.com. My favorite is Harry Connick Jr.'s "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas."


• Treasure Boxes — Gather childhood mementos from the basement, attic, filing cabinets and closets. Organize these keepsakes — things like report cards, prize ribbons and fridge art — into a wooden chest from a craft store like Michaels.


• Hot Chocolate Cones — Your custom mix of hot chocolate with marshmallows and chocolate chips in a plastic piping bag, sealed with a ribbon at the top.


• Gift Swap Parties — Gather friends and swap hand-me-down children's gifts to put under the tree.


• Garden Gift Baskets — Harvest the gifts of food from your own garden to make apple sauce, salsa, spaghetti sauce and more.


• 12 Dates of Christmas — Give the gift of time. Commit to 12 inexpensive dates this December: movie matinees, bowling, and cooking together.

Gifts for Billionaires: 21 Ultimate Gifts from The Robb Report

Waiting on a free oil change from my car dealership, I stumbled across the December issue of The Robb Report. I'm more of a Consumer Reports type of guy, so this luxury lifestyle magazine falls far from my bank account balance. But billionaires need gifts too this Christmas. So I read with great interest the cover story, "21 Ultimate Gifts."

1. Give one 2009 Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 with a 638-horsepower engine; one 2010 Fisker Karma hybrid sports sedan; a spot in the two-day driving event, The Quail Rally, in California's Monterey Peninsula; transportation and access to all events during Monterey Car Week; and one week of premium accommodations for two at the Quail Lodge resort in Carmel, California.
   
   Gift price tag: $1 million.
   
   
2. Make your billionaire the first person in the world to personally own a zeppelin. Customize both the exterior and the interior cabin. Receive zeppelin-pilot training and certification.
   
   Gift price tag: $17 million or more, depending on customizations.
   
   
3. Join golf legend Greg "The Shark" Norman and two of your friends at Cornerstone Colorado. Includes round-trip private air transportation to Montrose, Colorado. Spend two nights’ lodging at Cornerstone plus a welcome reception and meals, including a dinner with Norman. Enjoy up to 80 cases of Greg Norman Estates Wine through 2014 and selections from Norman's apparel line over the next five years. Also, receive a set of custom-made MacGregor irons.
   
   Gift price tag: $750,000.
   
   
4. For the sculpture lover, give the Blue Venus, an 18th-century blue-sapphire statuette of the Roman goddess of love, once owned by Catherine the Great.
   
   Gift price tag: Price available upon request.
   
   
5. Commission a custom Vacheron Constantin men's wristwatch, crafted during a five-night trip to Geneva, Switzerland, for two. Receive a full tour of the watchmaking plant and a hand-ons workshop with master watchmakers.
   
   Gift price tag: $1.4 million.
   
   
6. Have your giftee create a custom single-malt whisky at the Glenmorangie distillery in Tain, Scotland. Visit Missouri’s Ozark Mountains to pick tree wood to make casks with a master distiller. Go to a Kentucky cooperage to learn about cask making. Receive 20 barrels, cellar space and five bottled versions of your whisky for up to 25 years. Take a private jet with three guests to all destinations.
   
   Gift price tag: $6 million.
   
   
7. Visit all nine of chef Daniel Boulud's restaurants in New York, Las Vegas, Palm Beach, Vancouver and Beijing via private jet for six guests. Enjoy luxury accommodations, a personal concierge for sightseeing, eight-course meals, and exclusive tours of Boulud's kitchens.
   
   Gift price tag: $1.1 million.
   
   
8. Give a 24-karat gold leaf MV Agusta F4RR 312 1078 motorcycle. This ultra-high-performance motorcycle comes from an Italian manufacturer, now owned by Harley Davidson.
   
   Gift price tag: $150,000.
   
   
9. Give the Picasso painting, Sans Titre (Tête de Jeune Femme), with a tour of the artist's studio in Antibes, France, now the Musée Picasso. Includes five nights' accommodations for two in the Hotel du Cap Eden-Roc.
   
   Gift price tag: $3.5 million.
   
   
10. Jet from New York to Champagne, France with another couple. Stay for three nights as VIP guests at Dom Pérignon's Château de Saran. Taste Dom Pérignon’s rarest vintage champagnes. Tour the Champagne region by helicopter and take part in the grape harvest. Each couple receives a dozen bottles of Dom Pérignon, six of them in a Karl Lagerfeld-designed guitar case.
    
    Gift price tag: $3 million.
    
    
11. Lavish your giftee in a 5,760-square-foot suite at the new Montage Beverly Hills with a housewarming dinner for 12 guests, prepared by Wolfgang Puck. Weekly spa treatments, a private dinner for 14 annually, plus 14 nights each year at Montage Laguna Beach, all through 2020.
    
    Gift price tag: $36 million.
    
    
12. Give the Cartier Le Ciel mystery clock. The "mystery" comes from the hands of the clock: they appear to float in midair with no connection to the clock's face.
    
    Gift price tag: $2.5 million.
    
    
13. Prequalify your giftee with a guest for the Mille Miglia Storica 2009 race parade in Italy. Gives an opportunity to drive or navigate a historic racecar with a dedicated team of mechanics. Travel, admission fees, meals and four-star lodging included.
    
    Gift price tag: $1 million.
    
    
14. Give a 328-foot yacht designed by Ken Freivokh.
    
    Gift price tag: Starts at $300 million.
    
    
15. Commission a model railroad masterpiece with four trains and 32 train cars, a 2,500-square-foot layout with landmarks, major cities, and stations on the trains' routes from New York to Los Angeles, all run from a control center with four flat-screen TVs.
    
    Gift price tag: $2 million.
    
    
16. Give the ultimate Chanel jewelry experience: a 70-carat necklace with an 8-carat white-diamond center stone and 2,218 smaller diamonds, and a 6-carat ring with 144 white diamonds. Receive two tickets to Chanel's exclusive fashion show in Paris, a private tour of Coco Chanel's Paris apartment and dinner at Chanel's boutique at Place Vendôme.
    
    Gift price tag: $2.7 million.
    
    
17. Create a custom 33-carat diamond Tibaldi pen with Baccarat case. Travel to Italy first-class and enjoy five-star accommodations, helicopter transport between Florence, Bologna, and Naples, and dinner with the Tibaldi board members.
    
    Gift price tag: $1 million.
    
    
18. Design a custom-built library in the style of the Vanderbilts' 19th-century Biltmore estate. Tap the services of library consultant Kinsey Marable and buy 10,000 books to shelve.
    
    Gift price tag: $7.3 million.
    
    
19. Give eight wooden cabinets designed by David Linley as replicas of Bordeaux's most celebrated wine châteaux. Each cabinet holds 18 bottles of each château's finest vintages. Then travel to France for a private tour of each château.
    
    Gift price tag: $3 million.
    
    
20. Establish a custom-made men's wardrobe from Bergdorf Goodman: one week's worth of suits, a topcoat, a tuxedo, footwear, and accessories. Enjoy a trip for two to Italy to select materials with Bergdorf Goodman staff.
    
    Gift price tag: Starts at $300,000.
    
    
21. Make your giftee the named benefactor of a 15-year program to save the northern white rhinoceros from extinction. Includes a one-week trip to South Africa, with luxury accommodations, meetings with rhino experts and a helicopter flight to follow rhinos through the Rooipoort Nature Reserve.
    
    Gift price tag: $2.3 million.