Go to the Up

When did it become 1/3 the way through November?
Where has all the time gone? I was just sitting here when I realized that there are only 6 weeks till Christmas left. I should probably see about using my vacation days real soon. The worst part of the Christmas holiday season for me is the shopping. I hate shopping when I don't know what it is I want to get. I end up wandering through stores and malls and not getting any thing accomplished.
I really hate seeing Christmas decorations and advertisements before Thanksgiving so I have not been watching any TV without skipping through the commercials (I love TIVO!).

Now I love giving people great gifts, but I am terrible at determining what would be a great gift for someone. Even my own familiy members take me weeks to think of a good gift for them, and even then I usually end up resorting to asking them or getting them something from a list they made up. This year I would really like to give some gifts that are original and not just something I picked off their list.
I also am pretty terrible at thinking up gift ideas for myself, mainly because if there is something that I want I probably have already went out and bought it. I am going to try and restrain myself from doing that these next two months.

Fortunately my family gets along real well and there isn't anyone in our family that I don't like seeing over the Holidays. I have not been up north to see my grandparents for quite a while now. I wonder what kind of reaction I am going to get for my dreadlocks. Probably wierd stares and "What did you do to your hair?".
List of family members I will be shopping for gifts for soon and their (current) likes:
Father (computers/music/old TV shows)
Mother (crafts/sewing/quilting/scrapbooking)
Older Brother (very similar likes as I do, has his own house so I might be able to get him something for that)
Younger Brother (also similar interests as I do, but also very artistically inclined, and lazy :) )
Both of my brothers like many of the things that I do, so these are usually fairly easy to get gifts for.
Younger Sister and her husband (I have no clue what she does anymore or even what her husband likes to do. My Mom might have a better idea.)
Youngest Sister (She pretty much spends all her time drawing pictures and chatting online while making a terrific mess)

So if you got any great ideas toss them out to me. I would appreciate it.
When life gets you down, just go to the up.