Help your sledder graduate from a snow tube ($89) to the Hammersled ($349). The sled has a strong aluminum frame and mesh seating for a comfortable ride. The skis are changeable to maximize performance on a groomed hill or in soft powder. Lie down, strap on your helmet ($85) and take off!

For the non-skiing snow enthusiast, we suggest a new pair of shoes -- snowshoes! The high-end MSR Snowshoes ($180-$259.95) are perfect for backcountry exploration or a hike through the year's first big snowfall. Their "Televator heel lifter" helps keep the strain of a hard climb from wearing out the calf muscles, and their bindings are easy to use and secure. The MSR Web site has a handy interactive selection guide that will aid you in picking a shoe that fits the foot and the terrain.

 Solio's solar-powered chargers ($99.95) will keep campers' cameras clicking and ice climbers' iPods humming. They also sell a range of useful chargers, cases and adapters to make any outlet-free expedition more convenient.

The online handmade wonderland known as Etsy has a great collection of warm hats and scarves for the winter-lover. Browse like crazy, or try  a cute and cuddly scarf ($35-$95) from YoKNITS, to warm the extremities of your favorite skier or snowshoer.

Winter is more enjoyable when you're warm and dry (and when the powder is perfect, and the sky bright blue and the mountain open and glistening before you). For the adventurer who hates being cold, we suggest Capilene long underwear ($38-$120). Patagonia's Capilene is made from recycled materials -- and that's something to feel warm and fuzzy about.

The Giftybox Adventure Box ($89) is an easy and thoughtful present for anyone who likes, well, pretty much anything. The "choose your own adventure" kit provides a bevy of exciting excursions ranging from Schooner sailing to hang gliding. Each box comes with a book full of ideas and one coupon, which pays for the first adventure. Bungee jump close to home or add a deep sea fishing tour to your annual Florida vacation.

For the DIY outdoorsperson with time on her hands, Topo ($29.95-$99.95) may widen her horizons. This software makes customized maps for backcountry trips: zoom into a 3-D view of the area, add street overlays, personal photos and notes, and then print out the maps that fit your itinerary.

Fill the adventurer's soft, cozy wool hiking sock ($19.95) -- er, stocking -- with  eco-friendly supplies, like Burt's Bees'  chemical-free sunscreen and travel kits ($13-$30). Send your favorite beach bum a supply of  fish-friendly surfboard wax ($4), or these waterproof cases ($34.99) for passports, cameras and phones.

For the nostalgic surfer, you can buy great collections of movies from the '60s and '70s as well as the original "Surfing Guide to Southern California" ($12) from San Francisco's Mollusk Surf Shop. I like its funky, water-worshipping T-shirt designs ($20-$30), too!

What  wine-loving picnicker wouldn't appreciate this wine bottle holder ($14.49), which keeps a bottle secure on uneven ground? The stainless steel structure plugs right into the earth. You can upgrade this present, of course, by throwing in one of your favorite bottles.

Whether your adventurer is going snorkeling in Belize or helicopter skiing in Austria, send them on their way with these hip, colorful luggage tags ($7-$17) and passport covers ($20). (If you're feeling extra generous, remember that you can always gift your frequent flier miles and help your favorite explorer fly farther afield for less.)

Where bicycle accessories are concerned, simple is best. So why strap a chunky Day-Glo bag to your machine, when you could get one of these sleek babies? The Bento Bako ($14.95-$15.95) sits serenely on your top tube next to the handlebar stem. The small version -- which I prefer -- is just big enough for a power bar, a map, my iPhone and a chunk of Irish cheddar. Instead of having to dig around in my jersey pockets or under the seat when I need these items, I just dip into the Bento Box. No need to stop pedaling since it's sitting right at hand. The boxy shape, topped with a soft mesh cover, keeps my belongings organized. And it looks good -- well, as good as any nylon and Velcro item can -- on my beloved Lemond. The grande version holds more of the same, plus a paperback, for those who like hauling around more stuff.

On the subject of little, cute and (relatively) cheap, the title of Most Adorable Mini-Camcorder of the season is being hotly contested between two new entries: the Kodak Zi6 ($179.99) and the Flip MinoHD ($229). I haven't gotten to play with both of them long enough to render a final verdict, so here's what you need to know: Both are irresistible little take-anywheres, no bigger than an iPod. They're ideal for YouTube-generating teens, families at the zoo, video diarists, bloggers and similar users (and if a zero-budget feature hasn't been shot yet with one of these, it soon will be). No one's likely to confuse the picture quality with that of, say, Canon's VIXIA series (which starts around $600), but contrary to some Internet grumping you'll run across, yes, the Zi6 and the MinoHD shoot genuine hi-def video (just not at the highest possible resolution). Getting a steady image when your camera weighs less than 4 ounces (!) is a challenge, but uploading, editing and TV playback is easy on both. Both arrive with adequate software packages and slightly different rechargeable battery configurations. Here's the biggest difference: the Zi6 pretty much requires the purchase of an SD/SDHC memory card (up to 32GB), while the MinoHD has 4GB of on-board flash memory (for about 60 minutes of HD-quality video). If one thing tips me toward the Flip, it's the swingin' array of available designs (you can even customize it with your own photo). Both will make for a giggly gift-opening morning.

Are you as sick as I am of suffering chronic shoulder injuries from hauling around that heavy object so wittily referred to as a lightweight laptop? Are you burned out on half-assed stopgap solutions? (I went to the Cannes Film Festival armed only with a Palm TX hand-held and a wireless keyboard, and boy, was I sorry.) If so, here's a 2008 holiday gift that really means something: It's the year the mini-laptop was finally ready for prime time (at a price that won't make your eyes bleed). Sure, someday fairly soon the iPhone may do almost everything a PC can do, but between then and now there are several intriguing and truly lightweight options, ranging from the OQO Model 02, a 5-inch palmtop that weighs less than a pound (and costs $1,250) down to the three low-cost machines that have shifted the market: the Acer Aspire One ($399), the ASUS Eee ($328.20) and the HP 2133 ($399.99) (all available in various configurations). While the Aspire One and the Eee are near-clones -- they have the same 8.9-inch screen and the same Intel Atom processor, along with 1GB RAM, a 160GB HDD and an on-board webcam -- I lean slightly toward the former on features, design and weight. The Aspire is about 6 ounces lighter, at 2.2 pounds. That said, the Eee is about $80 lighter on your wallet.

But if this is a good year to gift your loved one with a downsized computer, it's also a good one to upgrade his or her irritating and disappointing printer. (Everybody I know has got one of those.) In this age of ultracheap inkjet all-in-ones, it might seem imprudent to pay $300 or so for Epson's new Artisan 800 printer ($261) -- but that's because you haven't seen it in action. Scanning, copying and ordinary printing are all outstanding on this stylish machine -- at its highest speed, the Artisan can print black text or graphics at 38 pages per minute -- and setting it up on my home wireless network, while not exactly a breeze (extensive software installation was involved) was reasonably straightforward. But what makes the Artisan awfully close to a category-killer at this price point is the fact that, to put it directly, you'll never order photographic prints again. Its dazzling, professional-quality UltraHD photos have vivid, natural, smudge-resistant colors, and look like nothing you've ever seen come out of an affordable inkjet.

If you are buying a smartphone or MP3 player this season, here's an option you probably haven't considered: customized, fine-art-quality engraving. Joe Mansfield will engrave any design you want (or come up with one to your specs) on iPods, cellphones, laptops and any other similarly sized tech device (prices range from $35 to $150). If you or your loved one is so geeky you require the antimatter of geekdom, Joe would be delighted to custom-engrave your Dutch-made, ecologically correct fine mahogany iPod case (80 euros, or about $102 at current exchange rates).

There is one new and frightfully cute little gizmo this season that seems extraordinarily well-timed and well-positioned: the sub-$100 Peek ($79.95), a hand-held e-mail device aimed at those who don't have an iPhone or a BlackBerry and don't want one (or at any rate don't want to pay a grand a year for service). Painless to set up and easy to navigate even for the non-tech-savvy set, Peek is a triumph of design simplicity. It sends and receives flawlessly using most flavors of personal e-mail accounts, including GMail, Yahoo, Hotmail and the like, along with accounts from most major Internet providers. There are limitations: At least for now, it won't support most kinds of corporate e-mail addresses, it can handle no more than three separate accounts, and it dumps everything into one in box. But there are good reasons why Oprah, Time magazine and the Wall Street Journal have recently championed Peek: With service at $19.95 a month (via cellphone networks), it puts portable e-mail within the realistic range of many students, seniors, teachers, stay-at-home parents and lower-income folks for whom it previously seemed inconceivable.

Even before the collapse of the world's financial system, this wasn't looking like a year of major breakthroughs and eye-popping innovations on the technology front. This winter's hottest tech gifts are refinements of existing gizmos, often in an effort to make them leaner, meaner, less expensive and more efficient. Apple rolled out an updated lineup of iPods this fall with a slightly lower median price, ranging all the way from less than $50 (for the 1GB iPod Shuffle) all the way up to nearly $400 (for the 32GB iPod Touch). As kajillions of users already know, this delicious little multimedia whatzit has an Achilles' heel: battery life. OK, maybe the Achilles' heel is users too frazzled to recharge the damn thing, but either way the Kensington Mini Battery Extender and Charger ($32.94) is this year's No. 1 iPod/iPhone accessory for a reason. Dinky enough to keep hooked up to your iHooble while you're using it, this high-capacity, rechargeable lithium-ion Polymer battery pack claims to provide 30 hours of music, six hours of video or three hours of chatting. At a touch over $30 (or a touch under, if you bargain hunt), it's an essential stocking stuffer.

Hell, while you're at it, chuck in the Belkin RockStar 5-Way 3.5-mm Headphone Splitter ($13.85) along with that Pod/Phone, since it resolves the other most common user grump. No more bonking heads with your BFF on the train or bus while you each catch half of a stereo signal! (Although it's admittedly cute to watch.) The RockStar can patch together as many as five different MP3 players (not just iPods), headphones, DVD players and any other damn thing with a mini output jack.

OK, the Hepper Nest Pet Bed ($95) is a little precious. But unlike all those floppy doughnut  beds they sell everywhere, this one actually has a firm outer shell that allows your cat to both lounge inside and feel a certain amount of protection and support. And yes, it's pleasantly sleek and comes in a range of colors.

The Sleepypod Mobile Pet Bed ($139) does look like it was designed by Apple. (Its ludicrous marketing claims that it's "more than a pet bed, more than a carrier or car seat: it's a lifestyle.") But you do feel a lot smarter carrying it around than one of those beige plastic kitty caddies or a zebra-print purse-bag. The Sleepypod is modern and cute without causing cavities. It also has serious views for your pet -- a 360-degree skylight so they can see exactly where they're going at all times. But that's either a major plus or a minus, if your cat is like ours and is freaked out by anything he hasn't slept on. For the right, ultra-brave cat, this is a really smart ride.

The "Pounce" Cat Tree ($179) is a pretty hefty investment for a scratch post -- but man, is it handsome. And yes, it's sturdy enough to double as a side table. Even better, it's made from 35 percent recyclable cardboard and is fairly durable; you can smooth away scratch marks with a light sandpapering. And this one, really, is all about you. Kitty just wants to do his business with a little privacy, and wants you to keep the thing clean. He doesn't care if it's in this Modern Litter Cabinet ($300) (which Apartment Therapy thinks looks as if it was designed by Armani Casa, but we think it's a bit more West Elm). But it is a handsome little unit, and most covered cat boxes are pretty damn ugly. If there's any real truth that cats are natural aesthetes, then yes, they'll appreciate this, too. But only if you keep it clean.

Who are we kidding with fancy-schmancy cat toys? Fluffy doesn't want your Swarovski collar or precious little postmodern kitty condo that looks like an itty-bitty spaceship created by Eero Saarinen for cocktails on Saturn. He doesn't want that little mouse made out of nubby organic cotton. Yeah, he'll play with it, but he'd be happier with a brown paper bag. And he'd be really happy if you dropped a real mouse inside that bag, which he could then attack and torture endlessly before depositing its lifeless body, gratefully, on your pillow.  People buy extravagant cat toys for themselves. While Fluffy may sleep in that spaceship (though he prefers the bathroom sink), the owners really bought it because of the way it perfectly blends with their minimalist decor and polished sensibility. The really great cat gift is a blend -- something that will stimulate and excite your pet, and fit your lifestyle, too. Which means that somewhere between the gray shag-carpet cat tree Fluffy would die for and the Limoges cat dish you covet is a range of smart choices that will make both of you happy.

Cats (like dogs) naturally recognize socks as their native prey. They like to stalk them when they're discarded on the floor. They like to attack them with great zeal when you're trying to pull them on your feet, as if the sock were actually trying to consume your foot, and your cat is your only chance for escape. So grab some orphaned socks ($11) and stick one or two inside  the other. (Bonus: Pour in some catnip from one of those precious catnip toys he ripped apart in no time.) Knot the sock at the end, then wiggle it around like a live snake. Cats go bonkers.

If the Cat Dancer ($1.59) remains the greatest cat toy every created (and it does), Da Bird ($10.98) comes close. Like the Cat Dancer, Da Bird's premise is pretty simple: feathers tied to a string, tied to a wand. The key innovation is the little ball joint at the tip where the feathers fasten to the string. When you wave the feathers through the air they flicker and twirl unevenly, and give off the irresistible fluttering sound, just like a real bird. Buy one, and get a replacement pack because you'll need it.

The CrackleChute ($13.22 and up) shrewdly apes the magic of the brown paper bag -- each pad through this little cat tunnel creates a small pop and crackle, making it a maze of excitement. It also can provide needed sanctuary -- with our cat, Lucas, the CrackleChute is a sort of Switzerland where he knows he will be completely left alone. The CrackleChute also easily rolls up so it can be thrown under a bed or on top of a wardrobe -- important, because the crackling can get a little annoying, especially if you're trying to sleep nearby.

Everyone who has one seems to swear by the magic of the FURminator ($18.22). They'll even claim that their pets love it. Now that I sincerely doubt. While some cats like the occasional stroke of the brush, the FURminator targets the pet's soft, downy undercoat, and it's a more intense brush than most are used to. But it does do wonders. And because it's so effective, it allows you to brush your cat a lot less often -- which is something you both can probably be happy about. (Warning: Be careful not to use it too vigorously, especially with short-hair cats. Remove too much hair, especially during the winter, and you're going to have one miserable cat on your hands.)

Dog beds have come a long way since your parents crumpled an old blanket in the corner of the kitchen and told Fido to like it or lump it. We've been big fans of the Bagel Bed for a while, but if you really want an impressive, absurdly indulgent gift for your favorite dog or dog lover, consider the Black Embossed Beaver Luxury Dog Bed ($109-$189). Dogs love cozy, furry beds, and most rabid dog lovers are just crazy enough to crave a gift this absurdly overindulgent.

For your very favorite pet owner of all, though, no gift could be more precious than the gift of clean floors, free of hair drifts and hairy dust bunnies and hair, hair, hair, everywhere. Although it was tough to recommend the first few generations of Roomba Vacuum Cleaning Robots to pet lovers, due to the Roomba's tendency to become damaged and clogged up by the enormous wads of pet hair common to pet-heavy households, iRobot has recently redesigned its brushes and bins to accommodate pet owners with heavy-duty hair trouble on their hands. There are a few older models under $200, but the best bet for those with more than one pet is the Roomba 562 Pet Series ($399), which cleans four rooms on one battery charge and includes a scheduler so you can get your little vacuuming slave to do its job regularly, without any micromanaging on your part (though regular cleaning is important if you want to keep your robot from overloading on hair). If you don't think this is a very romantic gift, just trust us: Every time your honey spots that little robot sucking pet hair off her floors and rugs, she'll think of you and positively swoon.

While your standard, ugly dog collars are everywhere, stylish, original collars are harder to come by. That means your favorite dog-loving friends will grin with delight when you give them the Sea Green Verve Dog Collar ($43). With this slightly retro collar around her throat, your friend's dog is going to feel like the hippest pooch in the park.

Dog lovers who were saddened by the story of NFL quarterback Michael Vick's involvement in a dog-fighting ring will want to purchase the ultimate revenge for their pup this Christmas: The Vick Dog Chew Toy ($12.50). The next time those heartless dog abusers get you down, you can soothe yourself by watching your dog happily gnaw off Michael Vick's head.

If your ferocious chewers are likely to rip Vick to shreds in a matter of seconds, ingest all the little pieces and vomit them all over the shag carpet a few minutes later, you might consider Tuffy's Bull  ($24.95) instead. "Bevo" the bull is big -- 19 inches by 12 inches by 12 inches -- and made tough from four layers of nylon, PVC and fleece sewn together.

Easily bored dogs who sulk like sullen teens when you leave the house might brighten up when they see a Tug-A-Jug ($12.99) under the tree. You fill this (very durable) jug with treats, and your dog will have to yank and chew on a rope to release them -- better than yanking and chewing on your throw pillows, at any rate.

Your dog would probably ask Santa for the Hide-A-Squirrel ($13.40) if she could. Clever dogs will pull the plush squirrels out of their little plush log and then squish them back in over and over again, while less restrained breeds are likely to dig the squirrels out in a frenzy, and then disembowel them all in a matter of minutes. But, hey, what better way to celebrate the spirit of Christmas?

It takes a special kind of person with a special kind of house to make this stunning Eat Drink and Be Merry Chandelier ($4,800) work. Handcrafted out of vintage silverware, it is both simple and magical enough that it will never go out of style.

Impress anyone on your list with the personal touch of a customized canvas (starts at $129). You pick out a background culled from old newspapers, send a photo -- blissful lovers, childhood moment, family portrait, whatever you wish -- and wait until it is transformed into a one-of-a kind canvas.

For the person on your list who has a sense of style and humor in equal measures, consider this Innervision Mirror ($89). It may look like an eye test on first glance, but get your eyes checked: It actually bears the Oscar Wilde quote "To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance." Not to be mistaken for the Oh How Beautiful (You Are) mirror ($99), which sycophantically flatters its owner without quoting Oscar Wilde.

How many Republicans does it take to screw in a light bulb? None, if you use these Candela lights ($69 for a set of four), lit by LED rather than bulbs. Rechargeable, graceful and handy, these lights fall somewhere between a candle, a lamp and a flashlight; they can be used indoors and out, to set a mood or just fill in for that light bulb no one ever bothered to replace.

Chances are that most of your friends and loved ones will be spending a lot more time nesting during the recession. And more time at home means more wantonly wasted electricity. Exactly how much does it cost to keep that DustBuster or iPod docking station permanently plugged in? The Kill a  Watt EZ power monitor ($34.99) can tell you. Plug electronic devices into this little gadget and it'll show how much each household appliance is costing on your energy bill. Who wouldn't want to know that?

Many of our most trusted financial institutions may have failed in recent months, but experts urge us not to hide money under the mattress. Instead, how about giving the gift of thrift with this Das Kapital Bank ($18.95)? It's a faux edition of the Karl Marx classic with a combination lock, designed to tuck away worldly goods with an ironic wink.

But there are, of course, other ways to save cash. Home improvement no longer requires endless trips to Home Depot or fiddling with drywall, so if you're buying gifts for someone crafty, you can make them happy with "Stencil 101" ($16.47), a portfolio of 25 stylish -- and reusable -- stencils ranging from the natural (deer and trees) to the ultra-urban (cars and boomboxes) that can add quick panache to an old wall or dresser. Another easy way to teach an old home new tricks: decals. The design world is teeming with stickers such as the removable EZ Stick Blackboard ($20) that resembles a mirror, an imaginary chandelier ($25) or a touch of wrought iron ($60).

For those who like to play with their food, these handmade porcelain bowls and cups ($18-$60), with funky motifs such as Vespa scooters, bikes, knitting needles and vintage cameras, add a sense of wonder to dinnertime, while these striking Invasive Species Plates ($16) offer plenty of food for thought.

Before they're old enough for two pedals, there's the LIKEaBIKE, a "balance bike," which gives your preschooler lots of mobility without training wheels. The child walks -- and then runs -- with the bike, learning to balance and coast, before graduating to a pedal-bike. Parents love this bike, too, because it means less pushing of their progeny in the stroller or pulling them in the bike trailer on local trips. And as a bonus, you'll be indoctrinating those tykes into the joys of self-powered transportation, which could be practical in their oil-constrained, greenhouse gas-limited futures. The high-end, German-made LIKEaBIKE retails for about $315 on Amazon, but there's also the very popular Skuut Balance Bike, which goes for $81.99 on Amazon.

If you nurse fantasies that your kid will grow up to be a big rock star -- or at least a poor but happy folk singer -- you might consider buying him or her a Woodstock Percussion Folk Guitar ($39.99). Not a toy, not plastic and devoid of lights and buttons that make noise, this is a real guitar (wood, strings, functional tuning pegs), sized perfectly for small children. (It's designed for kids 6 and up, but even 3-year-olds can manage to make some perfectly acceptable experimental music with it.) It comes with a pick, a strap, a carrying case and some simple instructions. Let the charmingly nonsensical songwriting begin.

Fun and mod, the Jill table ($99) and Little Jake chairs ($49 each) from Room and Board make the perfect kids' play area for budding Eames admirers. And they'll look great in the dining room for special holiday dinners, too. The chrome and molded plywood chairs come in orange, blue, green and white, so you can match your room's color scheme or mix it up with several colors, for a more whimsical effect. The Little Jake chairs are mini copies of the ones that the retailer sells for adults, so if you get jealous of your kids' fine design you can get the same chairs in your size ($79), too.

Firetrucks, bugs, the planets. You can cater to your child's current obsession, whatever it is, with this flexible fill-in-the-blank stainless steel photo mobile ($14). Clip on some baseball cards, Pokémon cards or alphabet flashcards. Stock it with family pictures or snaps of friends in faraway places. Your children can curate their own rotating collection and never tire of their decor. Neither will you.

The perfect cure for "nature deficit disorder," "I Love Dirt! 52 Activities to Help You and Your Kids Discover the Wonders of Nature" ($10.36), by Jennifer Ward from Shambhala Publications, will help get the littlest couch potatoes (and you) away from the DVD player and the computer screen. Covering topics from stargazing to roly-polies, from rain to rocks, the book asks questions to engage children and their parents with their environment without assuming that they own a lot of gear or supplies, or live next door to a national park. It shows kids that "nature" isn't a place you go on a class trip or a summer vacation; it's all around you during any season, even if you live on the 30th floor of a high-rise. And the time you'll spend outside with your kids because of this book is a gift in itself.

Long after most holiday gifts have been broken or discarded, this present will be arriving in the mailbox, month after month -- a magazine subscription from the National Wildlife Federation ($19.95 per magazine for a one-year subscription, plus free gift). Wild Animal Baby magazine, for 12 months to four years, will enchant the youngest wildlife watcher with images and interactive information about cuddly polar bears, scurrying squirrels and fuzzy, big-eyed baby harp seals. For kids 3 to 7, Your Big Backyard magazine stirs up lots of wild fun with games, puzzles, crafts and fun facts about lions, prairie dogs and other animals you might not find in your own backyard (no matter how big). Ranger Rick magazine will engage the 7 and up crowd with animal activities, stories, do-it-yourself projects and gorgeous nature photos. And it's a lot cheaper than a trip to Yellowstone or Antarctica.

What is it about watching a brightly colored marble roll from plastic part to plastic part, down shoots, around bends and past twirly things, that is so entrancing? Who can say, really? But the Super Marble Run ($29.99) can quietly occupy children (and adults) for hours. Construct your own elaborate tower by fitting the doohickies and thingamabobs together and let it roll. Then switch things around and do it again.

Remember those great classic board games from your childhood: Battleship, Trouble, Life, Yahtzee? They're still around, and they may be just the way to lure your kid away from the Wii for a little old-fashioned family time. They also come cheap enough (many retail on Amazon for around $10) that you could affordably pull together a game-packed gift box, organize a winter weekend game-a-palooza and still stay within your holiday spending budget. Sure, Sorry, Monopoly, Clue, Connect Four and Twister have never really gone out of style. But add a little retro flavor with Operation, Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, Ker Plunk or Gnip Gnop, throw in some Jiffy Pop Popcorn, and you're taking a walk down memory lane on a snowy day. Fun!

Who doesn't love a kazoo? Even the word is fun to say. This great stocking stuffer from Melissa and Doug ($2.99) will get the humming started. No assembly required, which is music to parents' ears.

Are you a Cleveland Cavaliers fan living in Miami? A Los Angeles Lakers fan shipped to the Lakers' old home in Minneapolis? A Boston Celtics fan on assignment in Omaha, Neb.? With NBA League Pass Broadband ($100), you can watch LeBron, Kobe, K.G. and the stars from all 30 teams (over 900 games) on your laptop, wherever you happen to be stationed.

Kids love big things. And that goes for you kids in your 30s and 40s who haven't outgrown the thrill of seeing Redskins running back Clinton Portis emblazoned on your bedroom wall. Well, better make that your garage wall: Consider Fathead ($149). What is it? Let's go to the P.R. copy: "Fathead is a life-size, hi-def, precision-cut wall graphic made of hyper-durable vinyl." In other words, a really big poster of sports stars. Jeff Gordon, anyone?

The sport of kings is now the sport of mooks like you and me. Yes, we can own a thoroughbred racehorse ($499 down and an average monthly stipend of $29). Karakorum Racing Team offers ownership stakes as small as one-half of a percent in a stable of more than 30 horses in New York and mid-Atlantic tracks. You and your 100-or-so co-owners pay for the hay and the shots and the horseshoes, and when your horse wins, you get to stand in the winner's circle (in 2008, about 12.4 percent of the time).

Give your nostalgic fan a piece of history by buying a chunk of a dearly departed stadium. How about the general manager's desk from Shea Stadium ($2,500). Maybe a collage featuring a chunk of Texas Stadium's end zone ($500). What about a ballpark seat ($2,750) from the long-gone but never-forgotten Ebbets Field. Rumor has it you can buy a urinal from the House That Ruth Built, but you're on your own tracking down the auction for it. They're apparently going fast.

Give the baseball junkie in your life a subscription to Bill James' Web site ($3 a month). Written with nonpareil authority, the site contains a treasure trove of stats and nuggets about your favorite players, past and present. Perfect for punching up while you're watching a game or when you're counting down the months until pitchers and catchers report.

Is your sports fan also a political junkie? If so, may we suggest this "Throwback" Barack Obama high school basketball T-shirt ($20)? Launch three-pointers like "the O'Bomber" did when he led his team to the 1979 Hawaiian state finals. Toss it in the wash, throw it back on, then try to solve the global energy crisis, navigate a recession and extricate the country from two wars.

If there's one single gotta-get for every movie buff this holiday season, it's "The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration" ($49.99), new on DVD and Blu-ray from Paramount. Film history's greatest crime saga has had a checkered career on home video, but this new version of all three films, personally supervised by Francis Coppola, is definitive. For the first time, "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II" on disc have the darker, richer color scheme and visible cinematic grain that early-'70s moviegoers saw on the big screen. (And for the first time ever, anywhere, they have 5.1 digital surround sound.) Includes all the DVD special features of earlier versions, plus a fascinating doc on the meticulous restoration.

Sometimes a a CD just isn't enough. The celebrated indie band Of Montreal wants to provide an immersive environment for their new music: They have created two sets of "Skeletal Lamping" wall decals ($40 each), which will turn any room into an ultravivid wonderland. Also part of the package is a downloadable copy of the new CD, also called "Skeletal Lamping."

It's just possible that a seven-hour Hungarian film in black-and-white will sell slightly fewer copies on DVD than "Knocked Up" or "The Dark Knight," but for the Tarkovsky-Bergman cinephile set, no 2008 release can touch Facets Video's four-disc restoration of Bela Tarr's 1994 masterpiece "Satantango" ($71.99).  Sure it's immensely long compared to any ordinary movie, but this hypnotic fable about a boggy, half-abandoned post-communist agricultural village invaded by a Christ-like con man, told via Tarr's amazing extended takes, has too much melancholy gorgeousness to be boring (and one could say it owes its plot a little, or a lot, to "The Music Man"). Two other things you need to know: The cat doesn't really get killed (Tarr himself took it home as a pet), and the set also includes Tarr's version of "Macbeth" for Hungarian TV told in -- count 'em -- two shots.

If your early-adopter loved one has already taken the Blu-ray plunge (or owns a PlayStation, arguably still the best Blu-ray player on the market) but wants to venture beyond "Kung Fu Panda" and "Incredible Hulk," help is here. Or rather, almost here. On the leading edge of an incoming tsunami of art-house-flavored releases is the first-ever batch of Blu-rays from the Criterion Collection, available for preorder now and pre-Christmas delivery. It's an eclectic and intriguing blend, from Nicolas Roeg's deliciously culty "The Man Who Fell to Earth"($27.95), starring the 1976 androgynous version of David Bowie, to Carol Reed's sinister, black-and-white Vienna Brit-noir "The Third Man"($28.99), Wong Kar-wai's winsome 1994 romance "Chungking Express" ($27.95) and Wes Anderson's debut indie heist caper "Bottle Rocket" ($27.95). (Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor" ($23.99), exactly the kind of eye-popping spectacle you'd expect to see in a new format, will be along in January.) No telling yet whether technophiles will kvetch or kvell about the hi-def transfers, but to you and me they'll look stupendous.

Stephen Colbert got us through the election with his mock-conservative wit, but can he get us through the holidays? In "A Colbert Christmas" ($12.99), Colbert makes like Bing Crosby and puts a cavalcade of stars (OK, it's just Jon Stewart, Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, John Legend, Feist and Elvis Costello) through an ironic round of Christmas entertainment. The show was also broadcast on Comedy Central in November, but the DVD throws in an Advent calendar and a crackling yule log, and profits will benefit the charity Feeding America.

Technology, schmecknology! If you are nostalgic for the era when you could show someone your affection by putting together a mix tape, check out the USB Mixtape ($19.99), a memory stick embedded in a fake cassette, with just enough room for about an hour of music.

Over the last 13 years, Pitchfork has emerged as the Internet's hipster bible, and most any indie rock fan in your life will appreciate a copy of its shiny new guide, "The Pitchfork 500" ($10.88). Chronologically roaming across the last three decades, the book enthuses over 500 of the site contributors' favorite songs, a hodgepodge that includes everything from Public Enemy to My Bloody Valentine, Arcade Fire to Metallica. If your gift list includes devotees of other musical genres, not a problem: Penguin is just publishing its bumper ninth edition of "The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ($23.10), a weighty (1,600 pages!) and authoritative tome that should appeal to both the obsessive aficionado and the newbie. Equally indispensable to the classical music buff is Penguin's 2009 "Guide to Recorded Classical Music" ($23.10), which surveys current and crucial recordings and even recommends 100 CDs needed to start a serious classical collection.

For all those Bada Bing lovers whose lives haven't been the same since the poignant strains of "Don't Stop Believin'" abruptly terminated one of the greatest television experiences of all time: Welcome to "The Sopranos: The Complete Series" ($254.99). You might have to pull off a heist to pay for this collector's edition, which features 33 discs' worth of whacking and yakking, shrinks and finks, along with all kinds of choice extras, like an interview with series creator David Chase conducted by Alec Baldwin, dinner chat with the show's stars, a collection of show spoofs and several soundtrack CDs. Or just spring for a Bada Bing hoodie ($44.95).

When you care enough to send the very best box sets and art.

Over the last decade, the indie distributor Rialto Pictures has repeatedly done what long seemed impossible -- bringing a significant American audience out of the house to see lovingly restored new prints of world-cinema classics and discoveries. Rialto turned Jean-Pierre Melville's moody French Resistance drama "Army of Shadows," never previously released in the United States, into a coast-to-coast hit and brought us definitive versions of oft-butchered foreign fare ranging from Bresson's "Au Hasard Balthazar" to Godard's "Band of Outsiders" to Ishiro Honda's original Japanese version of "Godzilla" (with Raymond Burr excised). My only complaint about Criterion's new "10 Years of Rialto Pictures" set ($129.99) is that it doesn't include 20 or 30 films instead of 10. (For copyright reasons, such prominent Rialto releases as Gillo Pontecorvo's "The Battle of Algiers," Godard's "Contempt" and Fellini's "Nights of Cabiria" are regrettably absent.) Still, what is here, in uniformly glorious DVD transfers, makes this an absolutely, positively must-have from Buñuel's "Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" to John Schlesinger's unjustly neglected British New Wave classic "Billy Liar" to Alfredo Lattuada's rediscovered black comedy "Mafioso" to Hollywood exile Jules Dassin's heist classic "Rififi."

For the adventurous art lover, a subscription to the Thing ($140 for a year) is just the thing. A quarterly magazine (though not a magazine by any typical definition), "The Thing" commissions a variety of artists and writers to merge text and object. Previous editions have included a window shade silk-screened with words by Miranda July, and a doorstop by artist Anne Walsh. The upcoming cycle will feature projects by writer Jonathan Lethem and artist Ryan Gander. Prefer to buy a single artwork? The proceeds from limited-edition photos and prints by Fred Tomaselli ($300), Mary Ellen Mark ($700) or Holly Andres ($600) go to AIDS research.

 You know how really fancy chocolates always cost more money than you think, but then again, even a taste of a really pretty, delicate, handmade one can make you feel happy, and like you've received a special treat? Yeah, that's pretty much the deal with CaryMo's sweets. If you're looking for gorgeous, delicious stocking stuffers, or Christmas party favors that taste terrific, or just a prettily wrapped confection that will put a smile on a friend's face for under 40 bucks, you can order Cary M. Becraft's seasonally flavored (think: spiced apple wine, sweet almond, peanut butter and honeycomb) chocolate wonders in sizes ranging from the two-piece box ($5) to the 24-piece box ($40), plus variously sized candy bars and fudge by the pound.

Outside of Baltimore, only a lucky few have ever heard of the wonder that is the Berger Cookie ($18.99 plus shipping and handling for a 2-pound tin). But they have an almost magical hold on Baltimoreans, who are practically weaned on them. The cookie works along the same principle as the cheesesteak. Mediocre ingredients -- in this case, a dangerously large amount of chocolate that resembles hardened frosting on top of a sort of crumbly shortbread cookie -- are made into something much greater than the sum of their parts, something surprisingly wonderful. 

For a young person who's just moving into a new apartment and wants a kitchen furnished with useful cookbooks, introduce him or her to one of the culinary world's most colorful characters, Italian cooking doyenne Marcella Hazan. Hazan, whose tart, strict instructions for making animals and vegetables taste great through the judicious application of olive oil, wine and salt, may be a grumpy instructor, but she's an invaluable one, and every kitchen will benefit from the presence of her books: "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" ($19.80) (which combines her first two blockbusters, "The Classic Italian Cookbook" and "More Classic Italian Cooking"), "Marcella Says..." ($19.77) and "Marcella Cucina." To top it off, include a copy of this year's "Amarcord: Marcella Remembers" ($18.15), the chef's piquant memoir, as told to her English-speaking (and still translating) husband.

We, of course, would never dream of doing anything like this, but from what we understand, some people buy gifts for others that are really meant for themselves. In order to satisfy that demographic, we offer up your standard turkey frying kit ($79.99), just in time for the holiday season. Yes, you may need to throw in a couple of months' worth of insurance co-pays for any trips to the burn unit your loved one has to make after frying a turkey for you. But try one turkey made this way and you'll never want to go back to that poor old roasted bird again.

Cheese cheese cheese: Mmmmm. Cheese. Even better, cheese from the Cowgirl Creamery, the renowned artisanal curds and whey station located in Point Reyes, Calif. Visiting San Francisco for work a few years ago, I fell for the ultimate breakfast of fresh fruit and the Creamery's clabbered cottage cheese. Mmmmm. Clabbered cottage cheese. Since then, I've become familiar with some of its more refined offerings, like the triple-cream wonder Mt. Tam. You can purchase Mt. Tam (along with a blue cheese, a cheddar-style called Matos St. George, a "hand ladled" goat cheese, and buttery Carmody) as part of Cowgirls' Tomales Bay collection ($65). Or you can go all out with one of the Cowgirls' Artisan Cheese clubs ($200-$575) so that your house will be lactose rich all year round.

We all know someone for whom practicality is at best a secondary concern, especially when there are flights of fancy out there for the taking. For that person, there's a deluge of recent cookbooks from some of the culinary world's biggest names. Grant Achatz, who is leading the wave of avant-garde chefs in the U.S., has a new book named after his Chicago restaurant, "Alinea" ($31.50). So what if you'll never be able to make the recipes contained in it, never mind afford the necessary equipment? That's not why you buy a book like this; its overall quality more than makes up for what it lacks in utility. Along the same lines, Achatz's mentor, Thomas Keller, has a new book, "Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide" ($47.25). The cooking method that gives the book its title remains all but out of reach for the home cook, true, but Keller's books are things for the ordinary mortal to aspire to. Even those books pale behind the behemoth that is British chef Heston Blumenthal's latest, "The Big Fat Duck Cookbook" ($157.50). It's more art than it is cookbook -- but it's beautiful art, and Blumenthal is a great teacher, even when he's explaining things few of his readers will ever attempt.

You know what's great? Opening your mail and finding wine. There are a lot of wine clubs out there. A lot of good wines. But the California Wine Club ($34.95-$182 per month), run by Bruce and Pam Boring, may be a cut above some others. First, it deals directly with small California wineries, ferreting out great bottles from small producers that you might not come across at your local state store. If you get something you like and want to order more, you can go through the club and get deep discounts. There are a number of price levels from which to choose, ensuring that you're not breaking the bank for the indulgence of having someone pick out your wine for you. And best of all, until Dec. 18, Salon readers will get a 15 percent discount when they enter the code "Salon" during checkout. Chin-chin!

Everyone knows that ham is the best way to show your loved ones you care. To show them you really care, get them the world's most expensive ham, Spain's Jamon Iberico de Bellota, which only just became legal in the U.S. Sure, the cost is ludicrous -- almost $100 a pound, which works out to roughly $1,400 for a single bone-in ham. But can you really put a price on love? Or on pork fat? (Oh, and if you could ask the lucky recipient to FedEx us any leftovers, that'd be great.)

Now that we're done being thankful for all that we have (a new president, a new secretary of state and a closetful of "Yes We Can" signs), it's time to launch into the joyous, panicked frenzy of the holiday shopping season. Salon's writers and editors have handpicked a variety of sure-to-please gifts for all kinds of people on your shopping list, from the foodie to the sports lover, the culture vulture to the house proud, the gadget lover and the outdoor adventurer -- even recommendations for kids and animals. Over the next week, we will be unveiling our gift suggestions for different budgets: splurges, bargains and lots of things in between, all available for purchase online.

Or if you'd prefer to go with a more intimate gift -- a free dinner! a car wash! a lap dance! free baby sitting! a "Yes We Can" sign! -- create your own customized holiday coupon by clicking here, and stay far from the madding, bargain-hunting crowds. Ho ho ho!