Still hunting for the perfect gift for the traveler in your life? It's gift guide season, so here are a few more posts that will make sure your traveler thinks you love them best of all. The Backpacker's Budget Gift Guide has some great suggestions that won't break the bank. And while socks might seem to the uninitiated like a lame gift, when you have to live with the same five pairs for an unknown period of time, you want quality. I vote yes.

If you have a teen in your life that loves books (or that you are trying to get to love books) you are lucky. The world of young adult literature is hot. Perhaps even hawt (I read the books, but I'm not down with the lingo). I know, books are boring right? Well as someone who loves to get (and give) gifts I don't think so but just to make you feel better I've offered up some companion gifts to accompany some of great books out there on the market right now.

I really love gift wrapping.  There is something seriously satisfying about making a neat crease at the end of a square package, and perfectly tying up the loose ends.  It's pretty and it's tidy, especially at a busy time of year when tidiness seems to elude me!

Are travelers a tough lot to shop for? I don't really know. I know what I like and I hardly keep it a secret, but travelers have so many different styles that it can be hard to hit that sweet spot. It's so personal - one traveler might be happy with a functional daypack, the other horrified by weather treated Goretex. What's your traveler's style? Here are a few gift guide blogs and posts that might point you in the right direction.

I hate being asked what book you should buy you mother/father/in-law/boyfriend/second-cousin-twice-removed. You see, it's not that I don't want to recommend a book to you, or that I don't want you to buy them a book (everyone knows that I certainly like to encourage reading) but I don't know them. Moveover, I probably don't know anything about them other than that they are your mother/father/in-law/boyfriend/second-cousin-twice-removed and that's just simply not enough for me to go on. It's too much pressure so I'll just back away and give you other ideas - ideas like the ones below which make excellent gifts for book lovers, don't break the bank (sorry Kindle!) and there's nary a book to be found.

Are you making your list and checking it twice? Better check again, I think you forgot someone. Who? You. Yes, You! What gift will you give yourself this holiday season? I posed this questions to a group of bloggers--women I refer to as "writers of spirit"--and they gave you a gift back: 6 Thoughtful Posts about self-nurture for the holiday season. Christy Lambertson at Dry Bones Dance is giving herself a break during this crazy-making season:

Suppose your best friend is one of those food-obsessed people who love to try making things like Dukkah, Za'atar, or Ras el Hanout. You, on the other hand, are someone who thinks sea salt is highly exotic. You'd like to give your friend some type of appropriately food-themed gift, but haven't a clue about what will be appreciated by a serious foodie. Luckily for anyone with this dilemma, food bloggers are busy this time of year with holiday gift guides for just about every food-related gift you can imagine. I'm going to share some holiday gift guides I've spotted, but truly the season for writing them is just getting started. If you're a food blogger with a gift guide that doesn't get included here, or if you spot one on another blog, please share that link with us in the comments.

This won’t help our struggling retailers much, but this is the year to rethink the traditional holiday gift. In past years, holiday charity happened the old-fashioned way, with Salvation Army bell-ringers jingling and red tin cans jangling. We'd toss the coins into the cans and head into the mall to drop the cash on the counter. But more than ever, I really think this should be a “giving” holiday. Rather than buying stuff for the people who have everything, buy for those who are really in need.

Really? I hear you asking. Thrifting for holiday gifts? Yes, friends, absolutely. It just depends on how you approach it. There is a huge push in Western consumer culture to buy something new, flawless, in the package (gee, who taught us that? The corporations perhaps?) but there is a lot of treasure out there. You can be green and reuse/repurpose, and stretch your gift-giving dollar as well.

We bought our first video game system when my oldest son was six. He has intuitively been a fan of gadgets and technology from his earliest days; I knew, just knowing my kid, he was going to be a gamer. I greeted this fact with some trepidation, at first; I wondered if the purchase of our first system (a Nintendo GameCube, as it turned out) was the harbinger of great doom.

When I was asked to write a post about cool holiday crafts, I thought, "Oh, this could be fun!" I've been getting a little more crafty myself lately and have been really digging the craft blogs.

After an extended trip visiting my in-laws overseas for the last couple of weeks, my family and I gratefully stumbled into our home this past weekend, ready to get back to our normal routine. Traveling is fun, but there's just something about slipping between the sheets of your own bed once you return, you know?Of course, we've returned to our home by running headlong into the start of the holiday season, and I have to admit, I've been sort of caught unawares. And now that my daughter Alex is 4-1/2, and has a strong understanding of the Christmas season, I find myself really focused on creating tradition this year. We've already put up our tree and taken our annual Family Portrait in a Christmas Ball (shown above), but this year, more than ever, I dream of filling the house with the smells of Christmas baking, making handmade ornaments and creating memories which will last Alex's lifetime ...