But that's not always possible, and luckily there are nifty products made by others that we can happily give! Following are some that we at Raw Foods News Magazine can heartily recommend.

Our exclusive color illustration, a clever card that's been likened to a New Yorker Magazine cartoon

The Little e-Book of Raw Holiday Recipes: 50 recipes for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day Brunch (We're excited about our own newly expanded recipe book by Judy Pokras--raw chef and the founder and editor of Raw Foods News Magazine)

everyday raw by Matthew Kenney (Interesting recipes by an award-winning chef/restaurateur and beautiful photos--although purists might not like the use of maple syrup and nutritional yeast, non-raw ingredients)

Alive in 5 by Angela Elliott (A great starter recipe book about raw foods, using pure ingredients in mostly-easy recipes)

Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko (All about the benefits of green smoothies)

12 Steps to Raw Food (revised edition) by Victoria Boutenko (A helpful book about healing with raw food)

I Am Grateful (Raw food recipes by one of the founders of the awesome, spiritual San Francisco-area café chain called Café Gratitude)

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days (A wonderful, candid documentary about several people who reversed their diabetes in one month by eating raw vegan food)

Reversing the Irreversible: 37 testimonials of people who improved their health with raw food (Inspiring testimonials compiled by Valya Boutenko)

55 Pounds in 54 seconds: The Juice Fasting Miracle (A documentary of one man’s 54-day juice fast to lose weight)

Wildbar (Their irresistible raw vegan Mountain Mint and Mayan Spice varieties--my favorite raw food bars--are high in fiber, low in the glycemic index, and rich in blue-green algae, Omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin B12) and Himalayan Salt and Crystal Manna (Essential ingredients that pack a nutritional wallop)—all from AncientSun.com

Kelp Noodles from KelpNoodles.com (These are nutritionally dense, a cinch to serve, and so much fun to eat! Try them with pesto)

And fabulously sweet and creamy White Sapotes and delectable Cherimoyas from Cherimoya.com

I got a very nice compliment the other day as I shopped for food in a local health food store. A woman walked over to me and said "You have such beautiful skin! Is it because you eat 100 percent raw food?" I said it's that and also the skin care products I use. I swear by SanRe, a Sarasota, Florida mother-daughter business that creates the most dreamy and pure skin care products. My personal favorites are their Rosy Fresh organic rose and green tea revitalizing facial toner, Supple Sunshine organic rosemary lavender day cream, Eye Candy anti-aging formula, and their sensual Chocolate Ecstasy organic antioxidant chocolate mask. If you mention the code word "raw" when you order from them, they will give you a 10 percent discount. Ask them about their special holiday gift sets, like Holiday Kiss and Eying the New Year--spectacular gifts. SanReOrganic.com)

I'm also excited to have discovered blissfully pure lip liner and eye liner pencils from AbsolutelyPure.com This type of make-up is nearly impossible to find anywhere else!

And Alima.com is a company that makes wonderful mineral cosmetics—eye shadow, powder and blush.

And finally, Bee Yummy skin food is a signature healing salve from live-live.com

If you’re looking for a stocking stuffer that’s a gift to our planet, see our very own Stop Global Warming Go Vegan bumper sticker at cafepress.com/rawfoods

If you know someone who loves animals and distinctive art and uses a walking cane, you might want to get them a one-of a kind hand-carved, hand-painted wooden animal figure cane made by my parents. You can see some of the canes, like the toothy snow leopard, at canemaker.blogspot.com

And don’t miss Sarasota business BellaGlass.com for the ultimate in beautiful, custom, fused art-glass gifts, many from recycled glass.