Hanukkah Gifts

It has always been my desire to complete gift buying before the Christmas rush.  After marrying into my family, I quickly adopted my in-law's tradition of one small gift for each member of the household with each Hanukkah candle and a single gift, also of relatively nominal value. for each first degree relative.  That left me with a short list, father, later step-mother, two siblings and I absorbed an edible for my wife's aunt.  As a newlywed, the only one living a distance from home turf, I would putter around Harvard Square and downtown Boston, for just the right book or kitchen gadget from the small stores that lined either Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge or the very large but suitable Woolworth's, z"l where I could always count on something with my wife's first name.  My last year, Massachusetts, or at least Boston, allowed the stores to stay open on Sundays between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but the hospital of my residency allowed all employees, including the residents to designate a floating holiday as "Christmas Shopping Day." which all of did.  That meant I could not beat Black Friday and Hanukkah usually falls a couple of weeks before Christmas leaving some scramble.  Yet even though I had only a few individuals, it may have been my best time during the year to think about multiple people and diverse interests at the same time.  Birthday's seemed a little easier, one person at a time and a more liberal budget.  Later some relocation on my part and my father's part, a couple of children, then attrition of the list which is now my own household and far-off offspring.  Fewer people to tease out interests and personalities but the principles have endured.  I could shop on-line but not at that budget.  The small stores, even along Harvard Square, have given way to mega-chains that give a huge variety and a favorable price, but it is not as easy to find something that shouts that's the essence of my son or daughter. 

Still, I reached my quota, eight for wife, four for each child, before Thanksgiving this year, hastened slightly by wanting my daughter to carry her gifts across the country when she visits us.  Restrained by budget as always, but also now restrained by the TSA to avoid anything sharp or liquid. 

Black Friday and beyond will soon arrive, Hanukkah itself ten days or so later.  Gift wrapping has its own challenge, as does shipping, but even there, firms like Staples or MailBoxes Etc have made that easy enough.  Concentrate on being festive.