My favorite Christmas gift from my good friend Lara cost her about $3. It was a plate of cookies.

She got the plate at a dollar store and baked the cookies herself. The plate, yellow with a bunch of purple grapes painted on it, would go well with the theme of my kitchen, she said. Besides, she was pretty broke that year and figured cookies would be a gift she could actually afford to give.

Just about everyone in her life got cookies that year.

Personally, I'm glad she chose to save her money instead of charging up a credit card. Maybe I'm just a cliché sap, but when it comes to holidays and birthdays, I really do think it's the thought that counts.
 
I don't want anyone to have to have to struggle with his or her finances to get me a gift. I just don't think there's much holiday spirit in that.

Consumers last year rang up about $14.6 billion in holiday shopping credit card debt and took until March to pay off their bills, according to estimates from Consumer Reports.

The National Retail Federation expects consumers this year will drop just more than $900 on holiday shopping.
It might sound pretty reasonable if you can afford it, but for people like my friend Alice, it's like a big bill coming due at the worst possible time.

Alice was laid off early this month. With fewer than 20 shopping days left, she finds herself unemployed with a meager few hundred dollars in heavily taxed severance pay to her name and a long list of Christmas gifts still to get.

 There are lots of Alices out there this holiday season.
 
As a friend, I'd rather get a simple “Merry Christmas” or card from her than a gift she felt pressured to pick up using a high-interest credit card.

After all, I know what it's like to be broke during the holidays. There have been years when I've wanted to spoil those I love but simply didn't have the cash to do it. Instead, I had to send a lot of cards, make cool personalized photo frames and pick up whatever little gifts I could.

Of course, I've tried to make up for it during the years where I have had a little cash to spare.
 
That's really all you can do. Give what you can when you can and expect your loved ones will understand.

It's a much better than paying 26 percent interest to buy that Nintendo Wii your boyfriend's been dreaming of, pawning your laptop to buy your sister an iPod or otherwise going beyond your means to spread Christmas cheer.
I understood when I got cookies from broke Lara, and I'll understand if all I get from Alice this year is a phone call offering holiday greetings.

Actually, I don't think I could ask for a better gift than not having the ones I love feel pressured to buy me something they really can't afford.