Are home baked and decorated cookies a good christmas present for family?
930699
ABSOLUTELY !!!  and you can even give the dough, wrapped decoratively and ready for the freezer so the recipient can bake later when they desire cookies AFTER the holidays!!!
945080
Since I was a kid, we always did the same thing.  About a week before Christmas, we'd make a thermos of hot chocolate, load everyone up in the car, put on some Christmas tunes and go look at all the Christmas lights.  Sometimes we'd assign each family member an item (snowmen, santas, nativities) and see how many we could count.  This is a tradition I've carried on with my own kids, and they look forward to it every year!
828193
Thanksgiving is not a time for buying presents. if you are visiting relatives - bake cookies or deserts, or bring a bottle of wine, etc.  Your parents would like nothing more than being invited to a thanksgiving dinner with you and your kids. For kids - I would not buy them anything - but maybe geta a little card telling them something special is OK. Or in the thanksgiving grace before dinner - say something special abotu how happy you are to have them and something special about each one.
921803
make simple colorful paper decorations out of paper to decorate your home, make sure you make that an activity. it can be so much fun for the kids.\nhere are some sites:\nhttp://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/index.shtml\nhttp://www.childfun.com/modules.phpname=News&file=article&sid=212\nI think that your family is together and safe is the best present you can ever have. try explaining that to your kids. i really think they'd understand. besides, christams isn't about presents, it's about being with the ones you love, celebrating the season. and if you're religious, Christ. my heart goes out to you and your children. I went through domestic violence and i know how painful it can all be. the best of luck to you and your children! also, try making homemade presents for each other. [=\nhope this helps.
929616
Try to avoid leading questions...that make the family think you want them to answer a certain way. You want to make sure all families feel included in this activity. Maybe some fill in the blanks, that way it keeps it simple. \n\nIn December, our family celebrates ____________________. We like to eat _____________________ and play _________________ as part of the celebration. We share our celebration with these people: ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________. We help others celebrate  when we _____________________________. \nWe celebrate by giving each other _______________________ to show our love and joy. \n\nThere's a start for you. Have fun!
918518
Christmas for us is a celebration of our faith as well as the gathering of our families and friends. We exchange gifts with one another but we don't make that the focus. For us, it is the time spent together laughing over old times, remembering those that have passed, watching our children marvel over all the traditions, being able to share in some terrific feasts and creating new memories to cherish. I am fortunate that my family genuinely gets along with one another, so the holidays are a time for us to really spend some great quality time together.
933474
The smells are the best for me.  It seems like a home really smells like a home at Christmas time.  The smell of baking and the smell of the trees and pomades bring back comfy feelings of home.
96329
Try Sweet Celebrations.  http://www.sweetc.com/\n\nThey have a lot of baking & candy stuff, including fancy wrappers.
877333
I am a mom to grown children....the best present I can ever receive from them is their presence on Christmas day.  We live far apart, and seldom have the time to spend with each other.  So if at all possible, spend the day with her....and tell her you love her.
858015
Walk dogs. Help people Christmas shop.  Wrap gifts. Help put up Christmas lights.  There are a lot of opportunities to make extra money around the holidays.\n\nHere is a suggestion: can you bake? Can you make fudge? For people who are not close relatives, giving baked goods like cookies and pies are always welcome.  if you can make fudge, offer to sell your fudge on EBay, with just a little investment in decorative boxes or tins to put them in.\n\nI make good money myself, but I still bake pecan pies around Christmas for a lot of friends, some of whom are wealthy but appreciate my delicious pecan pie every year.\n\nIf you have some sort of specialty such as baking or whatever, use that skill to your advantage! \n\nYou seem to have a good heart; God bless you and have a Merry Christmas!
910025
Baking them something is a good idea, especially the boys.  They always like to eat.  Maybe for your girlfriends make them a nice picture frame or pendant.
907523
After all the guests have left on Christmas Eve, My Nanny and I would decorate sugar cookies for Santa. Now I am 22, and we still do it the same way every year. I am moving out of the city this summer, so this will be my last Christmas with the whole family. I do not think that Christmas will be the same without that tradition. We also wake up at 6:30 every year when it is still dark and plug in the Christmas tree when opening our gifts on Christmas day.
763060
We have dinner at my parents but contribute plenty to the menu so about 2-3 weeks before I look at recipes to see if there is anything new I want to make.\nI'll do my grocery shopping this week.  Last week we ordered the ham.\nI'm sitting down tomorrow to look through my Christmas candy and cookie recipes  :)  I bake a ton at during the holidays.
878559
Does he have any hobbies, besides being with you?  If he does buy him something that would enhance his hobby.  A good home cooked meal would be better than a bought present, at least for me.
905324
I have two boys--they are still young but I love doing this with them.  Since, I already know they are going to get plenty of gifts we start out early--the week after Thanksgiving.  We sort through all of their toys and pick out their favorites (about 5-10).  If the other toys are in a great condition we donate them to a local church or another organization that we may come across.  This is a way to teach them the importance of giving to the less fortunate.\n\nWe decorate the Christmas tree the first Sunday of December.  We are not November decorators.  I really enjoy that.  We all get together and make a really big deal about it.  We put on Christmas music and go around the house adding our little decorations all over the place.  They boys get an ornament every year.\n\nWe make it special to make Santa a belief but also focus on baby Jesus.  I enjoy getting their gifts from Santa.  We will be getting them only three gifts from ourselves this year to represent the three gifts baby Jesus got from the wise men.\n\nWe read stories (Twas' The Night Before Christmas, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, The Miracle of Christmas, A Christmas Carol, etc..) all the way up to Christmas.\n\nWe have a special advent calendar which we use for the kids to count the days down...it's a fun tradition to see my oldest get excited as the days count down.\n\nWe live away from family so we do our own thing for Christmas.  On Christmas even we have a tradition English roast.  We don’t really have a Christmas dinner but soup and sandwiches--it’s a little different but ehh--we like it.  It lets us relax on Christmas day without the worry of cooking a big meal.\n\nThere are so many more things that we do but I doubt you really want to know more--I’ve written a lot already.  I love Christmas.  Tradition, giving, and Christ are very important to me--I make sure to include that with all the excitement of Santa, gifts, and “fun” things that Christmas involves.
750511
Of course you would like to spend Christmas at home with your immediate family, but Christmas is a time of year when ALL the family get together, remember your mom will not be here one day and to her Christmas is seeing her grandchildren. Being a mother myself with 3 children I will be alone as my 2 sons have to work, my daughter has decided to cut me out of her life so I will not see my grandchild for the first christmas . I miss and love them lots, and would give anything to see or hear from my daughter,(her partner started an argument last Christmas)and she has not spoken since. so Please consider your options  very carefully.
857000
Make a gingerbread house and decorate it.\nMake cookies and have your children deliver the cookies to the neighbors. \nMake paper snowflakes\nMake fruit loop and popcorn garlands\nMake an orange clove air freshener (stick whole cloves into an orange...they smell awesome)\nDrive around and look at Christmas lights\nVisit Santa in the mall\nAttend free Christmas actives at Churches or community centers\nMake Christmas cards for your friends and family\nSnuggle on the couch with mugs of hot chocolate and tell your kids how much you love them and what they were like as baby's\nWatch all the classic Christmas movies with special snacks \n\nMy Christmas memories are more about what we did than what I received. The traditions of Christmas are really important to kids.