For the most part, I am in charge of the gift buying around our house. Mr. Husband takes care of a few family members and we consult on some others, but I'm always responsible for all the hard people. You know, the people that we don't know very well but that are pretty important--relatives we almost never see and service providers. The toughest one for me has been Alexis' daycare teachers. They are very important people to us, but there are some whose name I don't even know because our conversations essentially revolve around Alexis (as well they should).

Last year I kind of sucked at figuring out what to do. I ended up giving the three teachers that she spent the most time with a candle each. It seemed sort of crappy since there were other people that worked with her, but I simply didn't have the foresight or budget to come up with something better. This year, however, I struck gold. My brain may be stressed by all things Toddler, but I had an idea that I still am happy with, and I had it in time to execute:

Oh yes, I planted paperwhites for each and every teacher at the center. I found the paperwhite bulbs at a garden center for 55 cents each, stuck them in ceramic containers from the dollar store, and filled them with aquarium gravel. The total cost per gift was under $3.00, which meant it was no problem to make one for every teacher. That saved me from having to pick out who works with her the most, which is pretty much like picking favorites. Plus I didn't have to feel guilty about not recognizing the teacher that worked with her when she was in the one-year old room earlier in the year and the ones that handle drop-off duty every morning.

Of course I did a little extra for our favorite teacher and the others that work in Alexis' assigned room. It seemed like the right thing to do for the people that spend nearly as much time with the Crazy One as we do.

Now I just have to figure out what to do next year. After seeing just how much food the teachers got this year, I think it's safe to say cookies and fruit baskets might not be the best of ideas.