Can't stand the stores at this time of year? You're not alone. Every year, millions more Americans discover the joy of shopping online. Check out these six fave sites and find the perfect holiday gift for everyone on your list, all without taking off your pj's and slippers.

www.redenvelope.com
Red Envelope takes its name from an Asian tradition of presenting gifts in simple, red envelopes. Their site aims to make the art of gift giving equally effortless: the site allows you to navigate through their exclusive products sorted either by the occasion or recipient. The gifts are a bit high-end so get ready to spend, but you'll have an easy shopping experience -- and a grateful recipient.

www.charitynavigator.com
A charity donation can be the perfect way to embrace the holiday season--just make sure that your money lands in good hands. This nonprofit charity watchdog group lets you to check out the organizations that you’re thinking of handing your money to. Charity Navigator will tell you how efficiently your gift will be spent and which charities are in deep financial trouble.

www.overstock.com
If you purchase at Overstock.com, your gift may not be one of a kind-but you will be getting a killer deal. The “outlet mall” of online shopping, this site will give you brand names at steep discounts. Check out their clearance bin for some of the best deals. Shipping also comes at a pretty sweet price too: just $2.95 for anything you order.

www.thinkgeek.com
Think Geek may have a few items that even your earliest-adopter friends don't have--a WiFi-powered rabbit, perhaps, that will give you everything from weather reports to messages from friends? They have an entire section of the site devoted to caffeinated products, from lip balm to body wash sunflower seeds. Consider buying some for yourself, to power you through the shopping season.

www.uncommongoods.com
From bracelets made out of old typewriter keys to cute monkey slipper-socks for the entire family, Uncommon Good offers holiday presents that are a bit off the beaten path. They're a small website but have a pretty great selection that ranges from jewelry to house accessories to toys. Our pick? A Christmas stocking made out of recycled sweaters.

www.arenaturals.com
If you are dreaming of a green Christmas, this is your place. ARE Naturals specializes in earth-friendly gifts, like recycled candle holders and organic fruit baskets. And your gift may keep on giving-for every order of $50 or more, they will plant a tree for California Wildfire Releaf. 

Toy land: Shoppers may spend more time this year deciphering materials and contents labels on gifts
Photo: Jeff Zelevansky, Getty Images

By Linda Stern

It’s a tough year to be a toy-buying parent. In recent months, almost 25 million mostly Chinese-made toys have been recalled because they have dangerous amounts of lead or magnets—which can cause intestinal damage when swallowed—in them. Then there were Aqua Dots, pulled when it was discovered that the popular beads were coated with a toxic chemical that metabolizes into gamma hydroxy butyrate, or GHB—the date-rape drug. Last week California filed suit against 20 toy companies, alleging that they had knowingly exposed kids to unlawful levels of lead.

The toy industry says it has learned its lesson, is retesting toys and stepping up its quality control. “This will probably wind up being the safest holiday ever for toys,” says Carter Keithley, president of the Toy Industry Association. “There’s every reason for consumers to be confident.” Possibly. But as late as mid-November, the Center for Environmental Health (cehca.org) in California was finding illegally high levels of lead in toys that were on the shelves. Because of globalization, environmental problems from anywhere in the world can send dangerous products to the neighborhood store. Here’s how to shop safely.

Know your poisons. When lead is ingested or inhaled, it can cause neurological problems and interfere with brain development. The American Academy of Pediatrics maintains that there is no safe level of lead in the bloodstream. It’s been banned in toy paint in the United States since 1978, but has been coming into the country on imported toys. Lead is still permitted in U.S. toys as an additive to plastics, where it is not as accessible, but parents of teething toddlers should go the extra mile and stick with toys made of natural materials like wood and cotton terry cloth or those made by manufacturers who don’t use lead in their plastics—a call to the toy company should yield this information. Another group of chemicals, called phthalates, are legally used in soft vinyl toys. They are more controversial than lead, because experts disagree about their dangers, but they are banned in Europe and, starting in 2009, in California. To avoid phthalates, shop for toys made of latex or silicon or that claim to be “PVC free” on their tags.

Clean out the toy box. Little children put toys in their mouths an average of 20 times an hour, so be extra-vigilant if you have teething babies or toddlers in the house, says Dr. Dana Best, a pedia-trician with the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington. If your toddler has a toy that she’s always chewing, check its pedigree with the manufacturer and against the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall list at cpsc.gov, and if you’re still not sure, throw it away. Get rid of any toys that are flaking, chipped or breaking down.

Be suspicious of your favorite characters. The toys that have had the most recalls are those licensed to be reproduced in enormous quantities: Mattel’s Doras, Diegos, Elmos—and also the Thomases, made by RC2 Corp. You’re better off with toys that are made in smaller batches, though the big manufacturers say they’ve fixed their problems. Curt Stoelting, RC2’s chief executive officer, says his firm now tests samples from every production run. Mattel also stepped up its safety testing. “The company has spent the past three months diligently combing through product inventory,” says a company spokesperson.

Shop classic. Unpainted wooden blocks are always a kid pleaser, says Don Mays of Consumers Union. Stuffed animals, books, videos and athletic equipment might be a better choice than lots of brightly painted plastic pieces. He’s telling parents to spend a little more shopping at reputable retailers, which may have their own standards, controls and lead tests. Some to check are discoverytoys.com, oompa.com, nmctoys.com, playstoretoys.com and ebeanstalk.com. Starting Dec. 5, click on healthytoys.org, where environmental groups will be posting safety rankings of 1,500 top toys.

If all this wears you out before you’ve even gone shopping, do what Mays suggests: skip the toys and buy a puppy instead.

Mercedes Benz S63

Smooth, Smart and Extra Safe
By Tara Weingarten

The S63 is not just a great drive, it’s the safest car Mercedes-Benz has ever made. Body roll has been reduced 63 percent, allowing this full-size sedan to easily slice through corners and stop smoothly. The Brake Assist significantly reduces stopping time during “panic” stops. This beefcake of a car has beauty and brains.

Infrared Night View Assist: Projectors flood the road with invisible infrared beams at night. Moving objects are picked up—even in pitch black—and are displayed in real time on a navigation screen.

Engine: The naturally aspirated (nonturbo) V-8 was tweaked to produce a super-responsive 518-horsepower engine. Go from zero to 60mph in just four and a half seconds—swift for a mega-sedan.

Brake Assist: Radar measures distance to the car ahead. If the onboard computer determines you haven’t applied enough braking pressure, it will do the work for you.

There are family trees … and then there are genograms. A genogram goes beyond names and birth dates to chart information about relatives’ relationships with one another, their physical and mental health, and the places where they grew up. “It’s an amazing way to map who you are and where you come from,” says Monica McGoldrick, a family therapist who has helped popularize genograms through books like “You Can Go Home Again.” The charts make it easy to recognize family patterns you may have never thought about: entrepreneurial success, disease or marital longevity.

The cost of birdseed has taken off. By some estimates, you’ll pay 50 percent more this year to keep the cardinals fed through the winter. Reasons for the soaring prices include the high cost of gas and the diversion of such staples as corn for new fuel technologies. Laura Erickson, author of “101 Ways to Help Birds,” explains how to keep your spending grounded.

• Don’t buy cheap mixed seeds. Mixed bags are less expensive per pound (about $13 for 20 pounds) but add weight with fillers, such as wheat and oats, that birds don’t like. To economize, buy black oil sunflower seeds. They’re nutritious and just about every seed-eating bird likes them (about $8 per 10-pound bag at Target).

Lodging: Kate’s Lazy Meadow in Mt. Tremper, N.Y., is a laid-back and funky motel founded by B-52s singer Kate Pierson. Stay in an Airstream trailer or one of nine theme rooms (from $175; lazymeadow.com). The Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz has a 30,000-square-foot spa and 85 miles of trails (from $275; mohonk .com). The psychedelic Roxbury Motel is just five minutes from Plattekill Mountain and snowtubing (from $99; theroxburymotel.com).

Hear Gram Parsons with the Flying Burrito Brothers, “Live at the Avalon Ballroom, 1969.” This two-CD, 27-song set includes rarities like the neverbefore heard live show when the band opened for the Grateful Dead in San Francisco. This sonic time capsule is a trip worth taking ($14.97; amazon.com).

Federal tax credits for energy-efficient products like replacement windows and insulation run out on Dec. 31. Homeowners can take a 10 percent tax credit for the price of windows, doors, metal roofs and insulation, but not for installation costs. Not every window and roof qualifies, so check energystar.gov for details. Other items also qualify: you can take a $50 credit for each main air-circulating fan and $150 for new high-efficiency heaters and hot-water boilers. If you did this last year, you might have already used up your allowable credits—they’re capped at a total of $500 per return for 2006 and 2007 combined. But you might as well put some money into this anyway. With oil flirting at $100 a barrel, the energy you save might be worth more than the tax breaks.

Watch “Star Trek: The Original Series.” This high-def version of season one goes where it’s never gone before: 29 episodes and on-set home movies and special collector cards. A must-have for Trekkies, but other people might want to tune in to see William Shatner before he was the Priceline Negotiator ($133; amazon.com).

Hear “Sawdust,” by the Killers. B sides aren’t a dirty word here. They, along with rarities and covers and a one-off track called “Tranquilize,” featuring Lou Reed, make up this album, dedicated to the people that made the Killers who they are: the fans ($9.99; amazon.com).

Eat New York strip steaks from Gallagher’s. This New York dining institution has been dry-aging luscious cuts of beef since 1927. Now you can have them overnighted fresh, not frozen, to your house ($79; newyorkfirst.com).

Read“100 Words to Make You Sound Smart.” If you find yourself at a loss for four-syllable words, this slim tome will give the right smarty-pants word for every occasion. We like “dogmatic” and “obdurate” ($6; barnesandnoble.com).

Go to Detroit to see the newly renovated Detroit Institute of Arts, a six-year, $158 million project that includes an additional 35,000 square feet of gallery space and more than 5,000 works on display (opens Nov. 23; dia.org).

Photo illustration by Viktor Koen for Newsweek

Jeanne Dulaney is a time-crunched software consultant who often eats out on the company expense account. But the 51-year-old from Montgomery, Ala., paid the price for her frequent restaurant dining: 40 extra pounds on her 5-foot 5-inch frame. With little time to commit to a real-world weight-loss program, Dulaney became a mouse-clicking dieting maven after seeing an ad for ediets.com. “I’m on my computer all the time, so I figured I’d give it a try,” she says.

Three years later, Dulaney is nearly 50 pounds lighter. She’s even started to run half-marathons with some new- found friends, other members of ediets.com. “Everyone who is trying to lose weight needs help,” she says. “I got mine from my computer.”

No one actually knows how many people like Dulaney have found weight-loss success with Internet-based commercial programs. But what is clear is that Web-based diets are becoming a booming part of the $30 billion U.S. weight-loss industry. The choices are endless. Internet-only weight-loss programs like ediets.com, diet.com and WebMD, and diet icons like Weight Watchers and South Beach are all competing for your weight-loss bucks. Even fitness franchise Curves opened a new online dieting site last week.

Although research into the effectiveness of online dieting is in its infancy, science is showing that it probably won’t hurt you. And, depending on the program’s components, these online purveyors may help you drop some pounds. With 24/7 access and anonymity, the sites may be helpful for folks who are too busy, or too shy, to attend a more structured program.

• Mash potatoes with fat-free sour cream and skim milk and sneak in some steamed and puréed cauliflower.

• Skim the fat off the top of the gravy before you serve it, or buy low-fat gravy.

The Experiment: We cleaned apples and pears four different ways: rinsing under cold running tap water, scrubbing with a brush, washing with a vinegar solution and scrubbing with antibacterial soap. We took surface samples from the produce and grew the bacteria in petri dishes.

Interested? Any old ski poles will do in a pinch, but specially designed models work best. They have rubber tips that grab pavement and wrist straps that secure the poles to your arms so you can maintain a loose, comfortable grip on the handle. The Instructor has an adjustable-length, lightweight carbon and aluminum shaft, and each pair comes with an instructional DVD ($149.95; leki.com). Trekking poles are heavier and sturdier than Nordic walking poles and are made for mountain hikes over rocks and roots. The Trail by Black Diamond features a durable metal tip, and the shaft telescopes down for easy storage when not in use ($79.95; bdel.com).

NEWSWEEK: What herbs and spices have the strongest scientific data to back their health benefits?
LEE: Traditionally, there have not been many scientific studies done on spices. But garlic has some data behind it, and so does cayenne pepper and cinnamon.

How can garlic improve your health?
There is some data that shows garlic may lower LDL, or bad cholesterol, if taken orally. But the studies were done with raw garlic and in very high doses—you wouldn’t have many friends if you were taking that much garlic. The active ingredient in garlic is allicin, the same chemical that gives garlic its pungent odor. No one has really shown that freeze-dried garlic has the same effect.

Buy “America’s Game.” NFL Films, which has helped define the way we look at pro football for more than 40 years, now delivers its epic: a boxed set of 40 DVDs, each a mini-documentary detailing a championship season from Super Bowl I to XL ($139.99, amazon.com).

...

Nov. 12, 2007 issue

Allegra and Eric Lowitt toured several preschools and child-care centers in 2006 before finding the right match for their daughter, Dana, now almost 3. The Lowitts, who live outside Boston, settled on Needham’s Chestnut Children’s Center (from $4,500 per year for part-time preschool to $22,000 for full-time, year-round care), where the teachers are certified in early-childhood education and toddlers follow themed curricula that introduce such skills as letter recognition through games, field trips and other activities. Each day, Dana’s teacher gives the Lowitts a printed summary of their daughter’s activities, from what she ate to whom she played with. “It’ll say, ‘Dana loved making pumpkin muffins, and she held hands with Anna on the playground’,” says Allegra. “It’s nice to get a feel for what her day is like.”

While many young children stay home with a parent or sitter until they start kindergarten at the age of 5, a growing number are entering preschool earlier. Statistics set to be released this week by the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University show that in 2005, 69 percent of 4-year-olds attended preschool, up from 59 percent in 1991; among 3-year-olds, that number has grown to 43 percent and, for 2-year-olds, to 29 percent. “I think it’s a combination of public and private demand,” says Steven Barnett, director of NIEER. Not only are more states funding public preschools for 3- and 4-year-olds, but the number of private preschools has also increased as higher-income parents look to give even the youngest kids a leg up on learning. So, what is preschool, does your child need it and, if so, how do you find a good one?

Don’t judge a program by its name. A center doesn’t need any special certification to call itself a preschool, as opposed to a day-care center. And an inexpensive full-day program in your neighborhood might offer a more stimulating environment with better-trained teachers than a pricey half-day one. Just make sure it is state-licensed for health and safety.

Accreditation. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (naeyc.org) is the largest voluntary accreditation system in the country but covers only about 8 percent of schools. So, while the logo is a sign of high quality, its absence doesn’t mean the center is of poor quality.

The school tour. Watch how teachers interact with children, says Sharon Lynn Kagan, an associate dean and professor of early-childhood and family policy at Columbia University’s Teachers College. Do the children seem comfortable? Engaged? Happy? Ideally, teachers should have some formal training in early-childhood education. Teacher-to-student ratios should be at least one teacher to nine kids, ages 2.5 to 3, with no more than 18 toddlers in a group; for 4-year-olds, the group can go as high as 20, with two teachers, says NAEYC (see nieer.org for more info on what parents should ask).

When to start. Parents can find private two- and three-day-a-week programs for children as young as 2. For 2-year-olds, says Ellen Frede, a developmental psychologist and codirector of NIEER, one-day-a-week music or art classes is another good option. Three-year-olds would benefit from a good part-time program, and 4-year-olds are ready to attend school five days a week for at least a half-day.

What they should learn. “At this age, it’s not about drilling or spouting facts,” says Frede. Two-year-olds should be learning how to engage with their teachers and peers and how to be part of a group, says Nancy Schulman, coauthor of “Practical Wisdom for Parents” ($24.95) and director of New York City’s 92nd Street Y Nursery School. As kids grow, programs become more structured and include more group time, like story readings. Teachers should encourage role-playing games, from simply pretending to have a phone conversation to playing “house.” That helps children learn narrative, which, in turn, builds preliteracy skills.

But a preschool’s most basic attribute lies in helping its kids feel safe and cared-for. “We have to meet those very important needs first,” says Lauren Hentschel, owner of Needham’s Chestnut Children’s Center. “Then, after that, all sorts of wonderful things can happen.”