Not to be anti-climatic about it, but as your holiday wallet thins, you may notice that seasonal celebrating causes your waistline to do the opposite. If something about all that food and spending makes you want to simplify and possibly even exercise, look to Gaiam, a green lifestyle website that offers yoga, exercise and meditation accoutrements (as well as $4.95 shipping pre-holiday shipping). We found this mini-trampoline. It comes with a DVD that promises you a low-impact cardio workout that will tighten your glutes and leg muscles. Could this be a way to jump for joy after the holidays?

Train sets, boys (and sometimes girls) and Christmas. It’s a tradition and it’s not too late. Panicked parents can still order toys online and select shipping options that should bring the bounty in on time. And prices are getting better. This one-stop train set — table, tracks and town — is $149 at Amazon and with free shipping it is estimated to arrive Dec. 22. It isn’t Brio or Thomas Tank, but then will your 3-year-old really care? If you think the little master must have the top brands (and we pity you when he’s 14 and needs a video iPod), Amazon also carries the Thomas Tank line and its many, many accoutrements, like the Thomas play tent shown above. Come to think of it, those Thomas train engines are pretty cute with their quaint faces and their alternately perky and grumpy personalities.

Some new shopping search engines are taking aim at the existing big shopping search engines by bucking the trend of featuring paid advertisers. Instead they display the entire panoply of product choices on the web. One of these new companies, TheFind.com, seeks to out-Google us with offerings. We tried searching for one of our Christmas list items, a crossbow, and sure enough the beta version of The Find, found 6591 items in 534 stores (by its own calculations). On page 10 of the search results, the items were still entirely relevant, and you know page 10 of any web search is often floating away like flotsam on a river of tangents. Don’t know much about their technology, but we like the image thumbnails that are so easy to scan. And the pop-up info available for each find. Impressive. (Btw, that crossbow, $600+ at MC Sports, is the real deal, for hunters, not for kids.)

We like dual-function appliances. They eat up less countertop or cabinet space. Beyond that, they’re just more fun, like this blender/food processor by Cuisinart at Macy’s. But….we’re aware that some functions just weren’t meant to be combined. Like the electric blanket-massager we ran across once. Seemed like a lot of colliding protons in duelling electro-magnetic fields…which wouldn’t be too relaxing. So, we were glad to see the mostly good reviews (all good, if you remove the hearing-sensitive woman who didn’t like the noise) of this little chopper/blender. Good brand. Good price. Good last-minute get for Christmas. Chop, chop.

Well, blow us away, these whimsical handmade chimes — Erma Rose and Willie Mae — are not cookie-cutter at all, but truly unique as are so many of the crafts and objects made by artisans around the world and sold by gift shop Uncommon Goods. Each time we check, the inventory grows bigger and more interesting at this relatively new web retailer. Wish we could show you more, like the stainless steel yoga napkin holder or the cheese board that looks like a slice of cheese. But you’ll have to go see for yourself; we’re in a rush now as we chase down our holiday list.

We were looking just last night for a couple of those high impact — wow! — toys to help Santa out. Found what we needed on Amazon. But also had to skip over to a couple boutique toy stores for more unusual things. This fancy machine, a remote controlled mini-helicopter sold by Trend Times caught our eye. You can manuever it around indoors (gives new meaning to “high impact!”), and Trend Times claims its infrared-controlled Extreme Micro RC helicopter is among the best-built, best-functioning RC helicopters. It has a range of 100 feet, a small strobe light and it hovers like a hummingbird on the website video. Bonus points: You can’t do it while sitting on the couch and it doesn’t pollute. 100 US smackerels.

Have precious baby or kid pictures you’re just dying to share? Why keep them stashed away in an album that you’ll inevitably forget at home? Wear them literally on your sleeve (as a bracelet) or as a charming necklace. We mean that literally too. The mini-picture frame charms are the key to this original jewelry concept by Dallas-area artisan and longtime art teacher Shelly Harris. You order the necklace or bracelet or keychain with however many charms you need to feature your family (you can leave your husband out) and specify a color scheme. She develops your totally custom piece from stones and beads and you pop in the pictures. They’re romantic and fun and great for gifts! See and order them at: picturethisandpicturethat.com.

My husband hates it when I spend too much money dressing the dog. So even though the holidays are coming, I try to stick to casual wear for our Lou. I like this t-shirt from PetsMart because it’s simple and yet sporting. The color is vivid and will look great on a white, brown or red mutt. It could be a nice stocking stuffer. I remember the year that Santa forgot Lou until the last minute! That wouldn’t have played well with the 5-year-old — daughter that is — who expected Santa to bring the full complement of stocking treats. Thanks be to Safeway, the grocery store was open late that Christmas Eve!