Creating gift guides has grown on me, because the exercise is like a shopping excursion for a portion of my personality. (See past year’s here) But this year, I’m keeping it simple: this is just a bunch of stuff we love and have treated ourselves to over the years. I’m using affiliate links for most of these (more about that here), but please know that every item on this list is in our house right now. Happy shopping - I hope you find something you love!

Hakanson-Approved Gifts:

• An Exceptional Wind Chime: I received these years ago from my mother, and they have brought me joy every breezy day since then. Truly the most beautiful chimes I’ve ever heard, and despite year-round exposure, they look just as good as the day we hung them. I’ve linked the size that we have.

• A Floral Puzzle: We do a puzzle every year between Christmas and New Year. We leave it on the dining room table and putter around it for a few hours each day. Other puzzles we’ve loved: this one of the Blue Ridge Parkway, this one of a solar eclipse (on theme for 2024!), and this one of a fantasy flight on Jupiter. I also love this dreamy floral one, and my bird-loving husband would adore this winter scene. We tend to search through Lantern Press and New York Puzzle Company to find great options

• GLDN flower pendants: GLDN is a highly-gifted brand in this house; at this point, I think at least half my jewelry is from them. They are the perfect stop for affordable but heirloom-worthy pieces that are timeless but special and made responsibly in the USA. I love that most pieces are available in both gold fill and solid gold. Shop around their site, but I love these Flora pendants as a gift for almost anyone; the illustrations are so elegant. Also in my collection: the Kana hoops (I wear them almost every day) and the Tavi climbers. They have so many personalized options that are worth browsing.

• A Great Board Game: We’ve really been enjoying Viticulture, in which each person develops their own vineyard. It’s quiet, not overly competitive, and it doesn’t take too long to play. Other favorites around here: Hues and Cues (for parties and all ages), Wingspan (bird watching meets board game), and Everdell (woodland creatures moving through the year). And we haven’t played it yet, but we just bought Planet for our nine-year-old niece for Christmas

• Embroidery Art: I’ve long followed this exceptional embroidery artist (and own a piece depicting a murmuration), and her tree pieces are stunning. Would make a lovely gift for seasonal decor, but I’d probably leave it out all year. (If someone wants to get this for me, I’ll cheer.)

• The Coziest Flannel Sheet Set: This year, I decided it would be fun to get some winter bedding, and I splurged on this sheet set, which may have changed our lives forever. I am not joking when I tell you that my husband talked in his sleep about how much he loves them. They’re frequently on sale, so keep an eye out. Should a busy woodland creature pattern not be your style, they have lots of other patterns and solids. I’m quite certain we will have an love these sheets for decades.

• A Sound Bar: I resisted the sound bar for years, and I’m here to say I was wrong. Aside from vastly improving the sound quality of our cheap tv, I’m greatly enjoying the ability to leave the tv off but use it as a speaker to softly play music while I make dinner or read in front of the fire. We’ve long had a portable bluetooth speaker (which I still love), but the soundbar is nicer. No one tell my husband how right he was.

• A Tiny Food Processor: Okay, kind of weird for a gift guide, but I bet if you brought this sub-$50 appliance to a rob-your-neighbor gift swap, people would fight for it, and I think anyone who cooks a lot will quickly find themselves reaching for it several times a week like I do. Sauces and marinades have never been easier, and it comes apart nicely to stick in the dishwasher.

• A Smart Scent Diffuser: I accidentally fell in love with the Pura a few years ago, and now I find that I can’t stop evangelizing. It’s a clever little thing: you put in two scents at once, and they alternate on whatever schedule you choose so that you never experience scent fatigue. They’re sourcing scents from all the bougie candle companies. While the scent pods are about the price of a mid-tier candle, they last for hundreds of hours. They have $50-ish pre-made gift sets for easy gifting, but if you want to build your own, my favorite scents are Santorini, Frasier Fir (the best winter scent), Cedar Leaf & Lavender, Spanish Cedar, and Cardamom Blossom

• The Best-Ever Slippers: The pair my mom got my my freshman year of college is just giving out after a decade of heavy use. They’re a bit of a splurge, but the hard sole on them means that a morning run to drag the trash to the curb or scrape the ice from the windshield is no trouble at all.

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