Yay, me! I've got almost all my shopping done. Here are some of the gifts I'm giving to friends and family. Maybe you can get some ideas from my little purchases.
My brother in Boston is having his wife's family over. Her family is from Albania, and I want to give them a taste of the desert. I've decided to send them a tamale box from Tucson Tamale. Their delicious tamales are made with organic non-gmo corn, are naturally gluten-free, and they ship!! Order by December 18th to insure Christmas tamales!
I went into to Pier 1 for one thing, and ended up doing MOST of my shopping there! For my coworkers, I got each one a special ornament! And pretty wine bottle decorations for my neighbors.
I looked especially for ornaments that I can personalize. I'm going to go over this one with a darker color, but you get the idea:
My parents have a long, oval table that they make so beautiful at the holidays. I picked this 37" table runner from pier1.com that will compliment their lovely display:
My brother's daughter (my only niece or nephew) is 5. I think she'll love this tea set I ordered through Hearthsong. It comes in it's own carrying case:
I love love love buying art from local artists. Some of my favorite Arizona artists include Anne H. Legge, Raina Gentry, and Ian Russell. The Ian Russell Gallery is on Montezuma Street on Whiskey Row in Prescott. My Prescott neighbors introduced us to a great, little restaurant called El Gato Azul around the corner from Whiskey Row on Goodwin Street. So I bought them Ian's painting of that restaurant:
And my son and daughter-in-Love met and fell in love in Flagstaff, but have since moved all the way to Madison, WI!! I bought them Ian's San Francisco Peaks painting. It's already been shipped off to them, but here's an example of Ian Russell's work:
OK! That's just a sampling of the goodies I'm giving. I hope they AND you have a very Merry Christmas! ~Love, Melissa