Sometimes Tim and I dream about moving away. We would like to live somewhere where the grass is greener (literally). Maybe Portland, OR? Or Santa Cruz, CA? Or Kirkland, WA?

We talk about how fun it would be to reside a in a pedestrian-friendly place – a place where the water, the city, and the parks are all nearby.

BUT…we always come back to the same thing. It would be hard to say good-bye to our extended family. There’s something nice about watching the relationships between grandparents and grandchildren blossom. I’m not sure I want to cut those ties – not now, not yet.

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Whether your child’s grandparents are near or far, I think these two gift books would be fun to put under the tree…

The Grandmother Book: A Book About You for Your Grandchild by Andy and Susan Hilford (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2008)

This is a fill-in-the-blank book where grandmothers share their lives with their grandchildren. Each colorful, glossy page features sentence starters and places for photos. Grandmothers are asked to fill out a simple family tree, to write about their childhood and their love story, to share their favorites, and more. It’s a lovely keepsake book. In fact, as I’m flipping through it, I keep thinking that I might like to give a copy to MY grandma. I’d also be interested to read the answers of my mom and my mother-in-law. It looks like I’ll need more than one copy (I just checked – it’s on sale at Amazon right now for $12.91!).

The one “catch” with these books is that the recipient actually has to fill it out and write in the corresponding blanks! Fortunately, the book makes that task pretty easy with plenty of prompts, sentence starters, and bubbles to circle. You can see some sample pages on The Grandmother Book website.

The Grandparents Handbook: Games, Activities, Tips, How-Tos, and All-Around Fun by Elizabeth LaBan (Quirk Books, 2009)

This sturdy, rectangular book features tips and ideas to help grandparents have fun with their grandkids. The book focuses in on babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and grade school children. It gives step-by-step instructions for swaddling a baby, making bath time fun, baking apple crumb pies, sewing a family quilt, and more. The ideas aren’t incredibly original and I’m sure all of them can be found online, but it’s a nice little pocketbook of ideas for the non-technological or the brand new grandparent who wants to have a few “tricks” up his/her sleeve. I think it might be a fun stocking stuffer…priced at $11.53 on Amazon.

YOUR TURN: Did you choose your current place of residence based on proximity to extended family? Do your children’s grandparents live near or far from you?

WIN IT! There will be two winners. One winner will receive The Grandmother Book by Andy and Susan Hilford. A second winner will receive The Grandparents Handbook by Elizabeth LaBan. To enter, leave any topic-related comment on this post prior to Thursday, December 3rd at 11:59 p.m. (Don’t forget to follow the rules…all generic comments like “Enter me!,” “Love it,” and “Cool stuff!” will be disqualified.).

FOR A SECOND ENTRY: Blog or Tweet about my Christmas Gift Guide (or about this giveaway)…and leave a second comment telling me that you did.

* I received review copies of both books.

*UPDATE* The winner of The Grandmother Book is #14 Elsie. The winner of The Grandparents Handbook is #5 Erica. Congratulations!