gifts on a budget

Here are some of the favorite gifts I gave and received at Christmas. Please share yours with us!

* family calendar-this year my sister used Vista Print, http://www.vistaprint.com/ to make our annual 12 month calendar. I love flipping over the months and knowing that my Mom and siblings are doing the same. Also include every family members birthday and anniversary on the calendar. Kinkos and most of the big box office supply stores will also do this for you.

* A Christmas CD with all of my favorite songs and a dorky picture of me as a teenager in the snow on the cover. Look for blank CD's that come with a clear case. Print out the list of songs and the artists and glue that to the inside of the cover.

* A key-finder from my sister which clips onto your purse so you can always find your keys quickly.

* A family picture DVD that I made at Wal-Mart. It costs about $15 and you can pick the music that plays along with the picture slide show. (The music choices were limited). I can't remember how many pictures you could use but I think it was 50 or 60 per DVD.

CVS also has these machines and is advertising them for $9.99 with a CVS card. I wish I could go back and have each of my kids birthdays on these DVD. This would also be a great idea before you scrapbook your pictures. Here in Yorba Linda, we had a terrible fire back in November. When we evacuated I took a car full of pictures and scrapbooks. These DVD's would be great to have.