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“All right, my darlings,” I address my older twins and Emmie while I drive towards the strip mall near our house.  What are we going to buy for our Twelve Days of Christmas gifts?”

“Well,” Janna points out, “we always make the first item something really nice.  A bigger present since there’s only one of them.”

“True.  Same for the second, third, and fourth items.  So maybe we should focus on them.”

“I think we should work backwards,” Kookie opines.

“You mean starting at twelve?”

“Yes,” he nods.  “We made peppermint fudge, gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, buckeyes, and pecan balls.  So we could give her a dozen of one of our goodies.”

“I think we should give her a dozen salt dough ornaments,” Janna suggests.

“Oh, that is a great idea!” I exclaim.  “I don’t want to overwhelm her with sweets.  I’m not sure she has anyone to share them with.”

“Good point,” Janna agrees.

“Nana, will you make a list in your phone since I’m driving?” I query.

“Sure.  Twelve salt dough ornaments.  Check.”

“Can we give her eleven cookies?” my own Kookie asks.

“I think we should make the sweets our middle numbers.  Five sugar cookies, six gingerbread men, seven buckeyes, eight slices of peppermint fudge, and nine pecan balls.”  I glance at Janna.  “Did you get all that, or should I repeat it?”

“Repeat it.  One at a time.”

So I do.  Then I continue, “So that leaves us with ten and eleven at the back end.”

“Wait!” Janna gasps.  “Didn’t we give her flavored teas last year?”

“That’s a good idea.  How about an assortment of eleven tea bags?”

“Perfect.”  Janna jots it down.

“So, what can we give her that has ten items?” Kookie asks.

“Hmm.  What if we still made her something to eat, but we made something savory instead of a sweet?” I venture.

“Like what?”

“We could roast some nuts or make some cheese straws.”

“What’s a cheese straw?” Emmie is looking at me doubtfully.

“It’s sort of like a light cheese biscuit combined with a soft cracker.”

Kookie frowns.  “I don’t remember ever eating a cheese straw.  Have we ever made them?”

I shake my head.  “Nope.  I’ve never made them.”

He grins.  “They sound good!  Let’s make some!”

“Okay.  Ten cheese straws it is.”

“Wow,” Janna comments a moment later.  “That just leaves us with four presents to buy.”

Kookie grins.  “You mean ten.”

“Yeah,” she laughs.  “But only four ideas.  So…what should we get?”

“Well, that’s why we’re going to the store, right?  Perhaps we can draw our inspiration from there,” I suggest.

“Mom, you know how you’re always giving your friends notebooks to write in?” Janna suddenly recalls.  “What if we gave her a really nice notebook and a set of four colored pens?  Then we’d only have days two and three left to figure out.”

“Day two is easy,” Kookie asserts.

“It is?” she furrows her brow at her twin.

“Yeah.  Duh.  A pair of those soft socks you guys like so much.”

“Ah, the aloe vera socks.  A perennial favorite,” I affirm his choice.  “That just leaves us with day three.”

“That’s also easy,” Janna concludes.  “A bath and body kit with three items.”

“Excellent!  Now we know where to go shop.”  I grin at my kids. 

I am suddenly feeling much more confident about this little shopping expedition.  We’re going to be home in no time.  Which is good.  We have a lot of ornaments to paint!