Oh, the joy that can come from truly humorous gifts! 

One of my all-time favorite presents was a book of Marx Brothers movie script and still clips. ...I’ve dipped into it many a time, particularly when I was feeling low, to great effect! (Got a Dave Barry book for Christmas last year from my husband - wonderful! Still look at the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon book a friend gave me years ago. And the P.G. Wodehouse books we scrounged from yard sales. ...Books! Great!)

Then there are the movies that lift the spirits with laughter! "Top Hat" is a favorite, given to me by a far-away friend. Marx Brothers movies "in the flesh" are wonderful too, of course. (In fact, I have to say that truly funny movies are pretty darned hard to find - and therefore very hard to forget... as though one would want to.)

A gag gift that can be passed around lasts and lasts... Some families pass around a funky gift amongst themselves year after year, just for the fun of it. (Can you imagine each one trying to disguise the purple bowling ball imaginatively each year?)

What about a great party game? ...The commercial game Funny Bones is one of the, truly, funniest games I’ve ever played. Or give someone a book of games... (so they too can laugh themselves weak playing Barnyard Animals, like I and a Thanksgiving gathering of friends memorably did).

One of these days I’m going to give my old friend and terrific office-mate a retrospective of great duo Halloween costume photos from our days of captivation together. (Madwomen... and it’s important to be - or have been - crazy sometimes!)

Got a depressive friend? - contract to send him a postcard joke a week for the year, or give him a subscription to a hilarious joke-filled periodical.

And dare I say?... (and not without permission!)... Get him a puppy!