Fabric letters from Anthropologie: $6

Making them at home myself with fabric scraps I have laying around: Priceless

I’m proud to say that I actually have quite a bit of my holiday shopping done, though this is by no means usual. This year, I copped out and went with gifts for the home. I guess it’s fun trying to buy gifts for my elders who already have everything they need, but I just plain don’t have the time this year to dedicate my time and energy to shopping.

What do all the parents and grandparents in my life have? Homes, that’s what. And I’ve never heard anyone complain that they simply have too much cute in the kitchen.

What you see:

• Picasso napkin rings, $9.95 for four
• Melamine appetizer plates, $19.99 for twelve
• Sunburst wall clock, $39.95
• Polka dot cake stand, $35
• Retro spice rack, $24.99
• Aqua coffee press, $32.99

With the Thanksgiving holiday’s imminent arrival, it’s time to think about taking care of house guests by stocking up on toiletries and linens. Here’s an idea: Pamper your mom or sister (or best friend) with delicious handmade soaps from Naiad Soap Arts…just don’t be surprised if they stick around for longer than expected because they can’t get enough. You can get around this predicament by buying a few extra bars of soap so your guests can take some soapy sweetness home with them.

Repeat after me: I do not need hot chocolate specific stoneware. I do not need hot chocolate specific stoneware. I do not need hot chocolate specific stoneware.

I do not need…OH GOD, YES I DO! Bring it on, Kristen Grace!

An acquaintance of mine recently announced that she has completed all of her holiday shopping. When I picked my jaw up off the floor, all I could do was nod mutely. Suddenly I felt guilty…it’s never too early to start thinking about holiday gifts, after all. Then I felt livid! Why should I feel guilty when Thanksgiving is but a glimmer in my hungry husband’s eye?

Nonetheless, I simply cannot stop my Type A brain from contemplating gift ideas. Money’s tight this year, what with a baby on the way, so I’m trying to keep costs down or at the very least keep costs reasonable. Last year, we made gifts, and many hours and burned fingers later, I’ve come to realize that my time and my digits are too valuable. My preliminary gift search led me to Branch and the Gifts Under $50 section of their web site.

From reclaimed wood salt and pepper shakers or spice blocks and eggs that grow herbs to organic bamboo cutting boards or utensils and worker-friendly bamboo bowls, Branch has the kind of gifts appropriate for MILs and grandparents who already have everything but are happy to receive some pretty new thing.

Yes, everyone in my family loves to cook but me. How could you tell?

The weather where I live has been nice…deceptively nice, in fact. Is this what they call Indian Summer, when it’s t-shirt weather in the middle of October? Whatever you want to call it, we’re suddenly enjoying strolling weather…croquet weather…picnic weather! Who cares if sweatshirts become a necessity once the sun begins to set? My grandparents eat out-of-doors until the trees are utterly naked!

Studio LX has four pages of fancy picnic baskets so those of us who have already retired our patio furniture for the winter can still dine outside when the weather gods decide to bless us with a day that is less than frigid. My favorites are the baskets on the upper left and the bottom right, but if none of the baskets above tickle your fancy, there are tons more to choose from.

From Etsy sellers, here are four pretty things for the home that are evocative of a summer that is almost gone.

The colors are summery without being overtly beachy, which I like. After all, I’m trying to recall the heyday of the hottest season, not gussy up a timeshare. If you’re not sure what I mean, have a look in the lobby of your nearest warm weather holiday resort and be prepared for PEACH SEASHELL OVERLOAD.

When you want decor that speaks to you — as opposed to outside observers — there’s no need to make your stuff shout.

Renovating and redecorating — even when the change is a minor one — always makes me want to clean up. A new, intensely white stove just isn’t going to look right in a kitchen that’s a bit dingy with assorted life crud. It doesn’t matter if the replacement item is a sink, toilet, light fixture, or a new piece of furniture, I want to welcome it in with all of the fanfare it deserves. So what if I have to clean all over again when the installers are finished because they’ve left mud and sawdust everywhere?

The thing I really like about pulling things out from under cabinets and moving furniture around is that I’m bound to find something interesting or unexpected. Back in the old apartment in some random June, The Beard and I were rearranging our shared office. To our amazement, we found an unopened Christmas card containing three hundred dollars in cash.

I haven’t uncovered a similar windfall yet, though I am currently doing my best to clear my kitchen of all signs of human habitation. There will be plumbers and contractors tromping through today, and goodness forbid they see any signs that someone, say, cooks and eats in that room. Look, I’m the same person who will clean the entire house twice over because a friend is dropping in after work for a glass of wine. We can’t change who we are.

Anyone, the one thing I did find is the silly little pie bird that my mother-in-law bought me for my birthday last year. Fortuitously, it came with a matching pie plate…this was lucky because the cats’ dish is rather in need of a wash. For the time being, my feline companions will be dining out of a Pfaltzgraff dish.

I haven’t yet used my pie pan and bird to make an actual pie because I hate making pie crust. Pie birds, in case you’re wondering, are steam vents that keep wet fillings from bubbling over into the oven,where they make a great big smoky stink. I’ve been baking since I was knee high to a merry grasshopper (it’s a wonder that The Beard doesn’t weigh 400 pounds) but I cannot for the life of me make a pie crust that turns out tender. My crusts are, frankly, horrid, so I typically buy them, and then I still can’t use the pan because all of the roll out crusts contain lard and we’re vegetarians!

Where was I going with all of this? All I wanted to say when I started was that pie pans and pie birds make great gifts, even for those of us whose pies won’t be winning blue ribbons any time soon. An extra deep dish comes in handy now and again — your cats will thank you — and as for the bird…well, it can sit up on the windowsill over the new sink looking cute and inspiring conversation. After all, how many people in your life have ever seen a pie bird?

Every now and again I regret not registering for wedding gifts, as the ubiquitous wedding registry represents a way to scale up one’s home. However, at our very cores, The Beard and I are “reduce and re-use” kinds of people, meaning that we both agreed it would be entirely silly to ask for plates, glasses, and so forth when our current stock already overflows into boxes stored in the basement. Still, it’s fun to look and to dream and to collect ideas because someday, I’m sure, all of those things we currently don’t need will finally wear out.

Today I’m pretending that we turned a blind eye to our values and created a gift registry at Gump’s of San Francisco. Here are some of the pretty things I’d pick out for my home:

If you’re going to register, you can throw in as many big ticket items as you like provided you have plenty of low- and mid-range gifts on your list. What are some of the beautifully domestic gifts you regret not asking for on birthdays, holidays, and other occasions?

The Beard likes his counter space, and I like my cabinet space. Put us together, and you’re talking about a couple that doesn’t much care for pointless kitchen gadgets. What makes a kitchen gadget pointless? Think about gimmicky tools that only have one function and furthermore have a large countertop footprint. A truly beautiful kitchen is not cluttered up with silly gadgets or time saving devices that are nothing more than a waste of your time.

When the holidays roll around, thousands if not millions of people decide that there’s nothing their loved ones want more than the gadgets they saw in infomercials and on the discount shelves of their local supermarkets. Why this is, I cannot guess. The end result is that people who prefer that their kitchen tools perform multiple tasks have to grin and say things like, “Why, how thoughtful…I’m sure we’ll find somewhere to put it.”

Do yourself a favor and don’t saddle anyone on your holiday gift list with these:

At my house, we make an awesome pizza in this pizza cooker we like to call “an oven.” Fans of dedicated pizza cookers say that they make a better pizza faster, but the only place I could put something this unwieldy happens to be exactly where The Beard rolls out his homemade dough. And I love homemade dough too much to make that sacrifice.
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