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If you’re stuck for last minute ideas, hit your local bookstore for some books, videos and CDs. Online retailers like Amazon can help get gifts quickly to out-of-state friends and relatives. (Thank goodness for overnight shipping.) And videos - easily available at your local supermarket or video store - are great holiday gifts for the whole family. You could even download some music at Amazon or iTunes and burn a CD or pre-load it on an MP3 player.

I have a lot of items to recommend, so I’m breaking it up into three posts. This one will cover the whole family, and Christmas and Hanukkah books. My next posts will cover great gift books for middle schoolers and teens. The final holiday gift post will be book recommendations for young children.

For the Whole Family

Books - The Poets’ Corner: The One-and-Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family - Compiled by John Lithgow, the wide variety of carefully selected poems in this book provides the perfect introduction to appeal to readers new to poetry, and for poetry lovers to experience beloved verses in a fresh, vivid way. The book comes with a bonus MP3 CD of revelatory poetry readings by John and the familiar voices of such notable performers such as Kathy Bates, Glenn Close, Gary Sinise, and Sam Waterston. You’ll enjoy reciting or listening to these poems with the entire family.

Cookbooks - Cooking is a great way to get the whole family together and involved in something fun. I’ve updated my right sidebar with some of the best family cookbooks out there. The Usborne Books items may be difficult to get through Amazon. Instead, order directly through the company’s website. Bon appetit!

Music - For The Kids Three is a MP3 music download available on Amazon.com. From Nettwerk Music Group it’s a unique collection of contemporary and original children’s songs performed by everyone from the Barenaked Ladies to Moby. Wow, kids music that won’t drive you crazy! A portion of the proceeds will benefit the VH1 Save the Music Foundation.

Video - One family-friendly movie to rent or buy is Arctic Tale. Rated G and set in the vast snow kingdom at the top of the world, Arctic Tale is a real life adventure from the people who brought you March Of The Penguins. Join narrator Queen Latifah as she follows two very different arctic creatures, Nanu, the polar bear cub and Seela, the walrus pup, through their struggles for survival.

For teens and adults there’s My So-Called Life - The Complete Series (with book). This short lived, realistic mid-nineties teen drama series starred Claire Danes. The show took a look at a 15-year-old girl and her trials and tribulations with being a teenager and dealing with friends, guys, parents and school.

Need some other movie ideas? Check out the following reviews on my blog, A Mama’s Rant:

• High School Musical 2
• Mr. Bean’s Holiday
• Meet the Robinsons
• The Jungle Book
• Disney Princess Enchanted Tales

Christmas and Hanukkah Books

Holly Claus: The Christmas Princess - For ages four to eight, this book by Brittney Ryan asks, “Santa, what do you want for Christmas?” Santa’s longtime wish comes true, and a baby girl is born—Princess Holly Claus. Like in all good fairytales, a curse is placed on the beautiful princess, freezing her heart in ice so her future will be bound by a world of darkness. As soon as Holly finds a way to make her escape, she begins her journey to bring back Christmas. We collect Christmas books and store them with our ornaments. This book is a nice addition to that collection.

The Golden Dreydl- For ages nine to 12, Sara finds Chanukah celebrations boring. When her Tante Miriam arrives and gives her a Golden Dreydl, everything changes. The dreydl, an enchanted princess in disguise, takes Sara on a journey to a magical world. This book by Ellen Kushner is a delightful holiday tale that weaves together threads of Jewish folklore and tradition with fantasy and humor.

Christine Kringle - This fun YA (young adult) Christmas book by Lynn Brittney explores the lives and working practices of the World’s Christmas Gift Bringers and how the daughter of Kriss Kringle of the USA and her friends save Christmas from extinction in England. For more about the book check out the Christine Kringle website.

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