Good morning. Today, Wirecutter helps Morning readers with their trickiest holiday gift searches.
The gift of giving
I often get texts from long-lost acquaintances around this time of year. Parents of my children’s preschool friends, the sibling of a college boyfriend, a former neighbor — they all suddenly recall my existence (and my number) when they’re in a pickle to find a gift. Here’s the thing: The panicked texts are never really about a gift, or at least not only about a gift. Beneath the surface there’s almost always something more personal — a strained relationship, different income brackets, generational divides — that the gifter hopes to overcome. It’s one of the things I find most beautiful about giving gifts. It can be the ultimate act of relationship hope, a prettily wrapped chance to do better, start anew and express one’s love, acceptance and appreciation. We recently invited readers of The Morning to tell us about the people they’re having trouble shopping for. Below, I offer some advice. (And if you’re one of the intended recipients, sorry for the spoilers!) Submissions have been lightly edited for length and clarity. My 82-year-old uncle, who loves books, art and L.G.B.T.Q. history, and who recently started using a wheelchair. —A.A.F. If your uncle is a little closer to home these days, he might appreciate some of the beautiful finds in our guide to housewarming gifts. I’m particularly fond of the Heller Asti ice bucket — which actually is a piece of art, with a permanent home in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Or how about a Danny DeVito head planter, or, from that same Etsy store, a cast of Lucille Ball or Sir Elton John? My son and his wife. Both 43-year-old doctors. Vegetarian foodies. I am on Social Security and it’s difficult to think of something —R.A.J. My colleague Mari Uyehara put together some great ideas in our gift guide for foodies — and the silicone pot grips shaped like jumbo pasta bow ties are a real standout. They’re just over $20 and so functional. And we agree with our colleagues at New York Times Cooking that “Six Seasons of Pasta” is one of the best cookbooks of the year. My husband. He is a tool guy and has just about every tool known to man. —R.I. Bet he doesn’t have this $300 titanium hammer that Doug Mahoney, Wirecutter’s home improvement writer (and an ex-carpenter), swears by! “As impossible as it sounds, the benefits of titanium justify its ridiculous cost, especially to someone used to swinging a hammer,” Doug says. Or maybe he needs a set of air wedges, which have saved the lumbar of Liam McCabe, another home improvement writer. My grandchildren, ages 4 ½ and 3. They have lots of toys, art supplies, books and gadgets already! I don’t want anything with A.I. in it and I’m also concerned about too much “stuff.” —P.W. What about a book subscription service? Our favorite allows you to personalize by the child’s age and interests. Or you could go with some practical items to help them get involved in everyday tasks, like an apron and a set of mini cooking tools. One of our favorite STEM toys is a programmable robot — our experts on babies and kids appreciate how it offers loads of screen-free fun, but is still modern enough to hold kids’ attention. My mom, who hates everything I get her. She doesn’t like robes or skin care and doesn’t have any hobbies outside of taking care of her adult kids and her own mother. —M.B. For the trickiest recipients, go back to basics. Even this woman eats and sleeps. I wonder if she’d enjoy noshing on any of our kitchen team’s favorite food gift baskets? (The sweet and savory Zingerman’s one, which has a transcendent sour cream coffee cake and excellent Maine Cheddar, is particularly nice to share.) A box of chocolates could also be a lovely offering. And I can’t help but think a digital frame preloaded with photos of the people she loves could spark joy — or at least something like it. For more gifting help, check out:
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“The American Revolution,” by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns: Leave your elementary school civics lessons at the door as you tackle this best-selling companion to Ken Burns’s PBS series about the Revolutionary War. It turns out, Washington’s crossing of the Delaware happened a bit differently than many of us learned it; he wasn’t “standing up in the ice-filled river in the middle of a winter storm at night,” Ward and Burns write. Nor did anyone on Bunker Hill yell, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!”; the battle wasn’t even on Bunker Hill. With the help of maps, paintings, meticulous research and essays from six well-known historians, Ward and Burns shed new light on our country’s complicated and bloody origin story. “We can’t avoid the American Revolution,” our reviewer wrote, “so we might as well face it squarely.” Related: Looking for a gift for a reader? Here are a few recent releases to consider.
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