i, i, i, give in. We must have it. I once had a co-worker who barked Jingle Bells around this time of year. Now wouldn’t it be more appropriate to play Jingle Bells with your i-Dog and thus free yourself from any reliance on barking colleagues? Actually, i-Dog doesn’t really bark the tunes, but he does amplify whatever music you hook him up to and he dances to the beat. He (and his cousins i-Fish and Hip Hop Pig) joins a proud line of jiggling gadgets, walking stuffed animals, talking creatures and singing fish (remember those?) that supply us with cheap thrills while sitting around the house at Christmas time. Available for about $30 at e-toys.com

For your aspiring forensic scientist, here comes one of the season’s more grotesque toys: The CSI Facial Reconstruction Kit. We’re lol. But wait a minute. We can imagine that a Middle School kid might really dig this toy. It’s science; it’s hands-on and at least the kid is trying to solve a crime, instead of committing one (albeit on video) on his or her XBox. As a bonus, you’ll finally be able to say to your kid, go ahead, Make a Face! Find it at etoys.com, one of the largest, price-competitive toy stores, where you can shop by age and type of toys.

Every holiday outfit needs a good foundation, if you will. And our shopping advisors at SheFinds.com have it exactly right: Time to slenderize underneath that holiday sheath. They recommend the Miraclesuit found at Bare Necessities. These miracle undergarments come in full body or tummy/hips shapers like the one shown here. What the guests don’t see could be the most important thing at your next holiday outing!

Santa doesn’t mind wearing red, so it should be good enough for whatever man you’re dressing this season, unless he has bad sports memories of being “red-shirted.” Black or white is never a bad choice for your former sports star or whomever. Still you might want to use this moment when he’s distracted to give his wardrobe a little color injection. Here’s one red shirt from Paul Frederick that could work. Depending on the occasion, you might want to lose the tie.

Need a holiday dress to go with those shoes? Of course you do, and right away. Macy’s has a good selection of mid-price party wear in short, mid-calf and formal lengths. We like the go-anywhere little black dresses like the Michael Kors number here, but if you’re in a really festive mood, they’ve got several little red dresses as well and some of their day wear dresses translate to evening, always a good thing for this time of year when you may only have time for a change of shoes. Speaking of shoes, the blueberry-colored ones below also come in black.

It seems like just yesterday we were chuckling over all the holiday wear in the stores in October, shamelessly stealing the limelight from Halloween. Now, on Nov. 27, it’s not so funny anymore. We must get dressed for the holidays. We need velvet and lame and jewelry and shoes. In a crunch for the latter, we turn to Zappos.com where our search for patent leather yields a blessed 300 options! Now that’s enough to stoke our holiday spirit. The Tribeca throw-backs in “blueberry” patent shown here are one of those patent choices. Patently delectable. (The 3.5 inch heel would send me tripping down Santa Claus lane, but for those of you who can, well, do.)