Online Editor's Note: (It's obviously January and after the Holidays, but Free Stuff is good year-round!)

It's the Holiday Season! Home & hearth, good food and lots of presents, those banking and Wall Street executives should have a fine time this year (Santa Claus made a special ***bonus*** trip just for them... Ho-Ho-Ho!). Now, what are you going to do for the Holiday? Be creative and "Have Yourself A Freebie Little Christmas." People may thank you. Discover (again) why it is called Christmas and not "Santamas" (http://www.e-sword.net/). You might find that you really like the story.

You have technology at your fingertips so think about what is important to the special people in your life and give something meaningful to them. The best part; it doesn't have to cost much to be meaningful. CD-Rs cost less than a first-class stamp, the most expensive 8 ½ x 11 photo-paper you can get is under $1.00 per sheet while regular paper is under a penny. Put something on that paper or CD that interests the people you are interested in.

Pictures, sound, movies and even free software are all good candidates if it means something to your special person. Picasa (http://picasa.google.com/) will help you with your pictures and slide shows. Print up a nice 8x10 of that "creative" place where you hung the mistletoe for your significant other.

If you have a crafter on your list, print up a collection of cross-stitch or quilting patterns; one spot to try is http://www.alitadesigns.com/index.php another is http://www.freepatterns.com/. Grandma might be happy to get your custom x-stitch collection but don't send her your mistletoe picture by mistake. However, be ready for some "cute" overload when prospecting for freebies on the crafting sites.

If music or video is your passion then cdburnerxp (http://cdburnerxp.se/) will help you with either one. It is a full featured burner that will let you make a custom CD or DVD any time you wish. Like classical music? A site that will point you to lots of free music is http://www.classiccat.net/index.htm. Don't violate any copy-rights and fire up your CD/DVD drive. That custom-mix lute CD is right at your fingertips.
Don't forget your web-cam or digital camera with movie mode. Give a CD or DVD with a video message telling that special family member what they really mean to you. If you are lucky, they will avoid you completely at the next family reunion.

The fact that you are reading this shows you have exquisite taste and a level of computer literacy way above the average. Help those friends who are less fortunate by cleaning up their sluggish computers. Advanced WindowsCare Personal Edition (http://www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html) when installed and run on their machine, will give them back the performance that they have been missing. The software is free, it helps a friend, costs only a little of your time, and proves your computer kung fu is much stronger than theirs. Everybody wins!

Now that you have saved so much cash on creative, meaningful gifts for your friends and family, you can now reward yourself for all your efforts. Try  http://www.thinkgeek.com/ for loads of intriguing stuff. Check out the Ion USB Turntable that will help your turn your vinyl music collection into digital goodness... the turntable outputs files in either mp3 or WAV format.

If the good will, optimism and hope of the season gets to be too much, try http://despair.com/ for a big steaming cup of cynicism. It will help you to get back to work after the holidays.

This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author.