12 Days of Christmas: Gift Guide Countdown

When you see the red highlighted message, “Will not be delivered until December 29,” you know you’re in trouble. Lucky for me, the item I ordered is for my own personal use. This just means that I really need to get my act together if I want my parents and brother to open anything on Christmas (MaineMan is already in a really good position this year as far as giftos).

Many years ago when I first started this blog, I recommended a gift a day in a 12-days-of-Christmas countdown. I wanted to bring that back this year, but instead of recommending specific gifts, I’ve decided to point you to websites. While reading this  countdown may not help you on December 23, I hope some of you enjoy discovering  cool gift ideas/sites as much as I do.

The first website on day one of my countdown, courtesy of Fashionista, is Duncraft. If you have anyone who is a bird enthusiast, this is a great place to find birdfeeders and all kinds of birding knickknacks.

If you are a bigger person than me, and you request people give to charity rather than send you gifts, I’ll be listing a charity a day as well.

The reason I haven’t updated my blog since Thanksgiving is because I was out of town all last week for my uncle’s funeral. Brian Ross Duffy, my mom’s oldest brother, 62, passed away almost two weeks ago. He was diagnosed with leukemia at this time last year and we all hoped he would hang on till the bone marrow transplant phase of his treatment. Unfortunately for all of his friends and family, he had a stroke and died nearly two days later. He never fully woke up from the stroke.

While I plan on fully reflecting on his life and our times together, I do want to suggest supporting the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society. Here is Uncle Brian’s obituary as it appeared in last Sunday’s New York Times. You can donate in his name for my family and for the sake of other families with loved ones fighting leukemia here.

We love you Uncle Brian and you will be missed, dearly.