EMMA PHILBROOK: STUDENT LIFE

I t's been two years since I started writing this column. In a way it feels a good deal longer, but sometimes it still seems like I just started yesterday.

My very first piece, as those of you who've read me from the beginning know, was a relatively boring list of Christmas gift-shopping tips. Last year, I commemorated this column's first anniversary by offering a slightly less boring list of Christmas gift-shopping tips. This year, as I am completely shot for other inspiration and Black Friday is well-nigh upon us, I'm going to do the same thing again. Enjoy! - Guys in general - especially the younger ones - love electronic gadgets. Of course, a flat-screen TV or iPad might be a bit out of your budget, but I hear that a more modestly priced gift (such as a blender) still induces screams of joy. (Disclaimer: Screams may be your own. "Joy" used for illustrative purposes only and does not come standard.) - Mothers and grandmothers always enjoy homemade gifts, so use this opportunity to stock up on yarn, gift tins, or whatever else you may need to create a one-of-a-kind remembrance this holiday season.

Those of you attempting to pass off store-bought goods for homemade should do so with caution; some mothers may be fooled, but most grandmothers know Sears when they smell it. - For the college kids you know, consider sending a gift certificate, because if they're not dead broke by now they will be by the break. - For the college-bound kids you know (*wink*wink*nudge*nudge*), you might consider giving gifts that would be useful in the dorm, such as microwaves, minifridges, decent pillows, and burglar alarms.

Unless, of course, the student in question might be going to school far away, in which case it would be impractical to fit a microwave, a minifridge, a pillow, and a burglar alarm in one's airplane carry-on.

So you might consider giving them gift certificates, too, although the student might be tempted to blow them on the mother of all graduation parties, or a designer prom dress, or - aw, heck, just give us cookies. We like cookies. - Shopping for your significant other? Consider putting together a

"date basket." Fill it with a DVD, gourmet popcorn, and candy for a night in; add a gift certificate for dinner and tickets to a movie for a night out. These are also fun as a gift to couples and can be fully customized - for example, you might include walkie-talkies if a certain lovebird in your household enjoys long, romantic phone conversations but you are somewhat less fond of the long, un-romantic phone bills that follow. - If you know any high-school juniors who are preparing to undergo the S-A-Terror, study guides are a much-appreciated gift, as are plane tickets to Outer Mongolia. - And don't forget yourself! For example, this Black Friday, I plan to get myself the gift of a decent night's sleep. Which might entail missing

Black Friday altogether - but it's the thought that counts, right?