Q: What are the nicest holiday gifts you can give a friend?

A: Opportunities to give gifts present themselves all year long, and surely are not limited to the frantic December rush.

I have said this before, and I will say it again — probably again and again. The truest gifts we can give involve our time and attention.

There is too much pressure to buy, buy, buy for the holidays — as you can see in stores even now, two months before Christmas. The best gifts take a little creativity. Here are two holiday gifts that were, to me, perfect.

One friend, a superb cook, brought Christmas Eve dinner to us. When I say brought, I mean it. She brought all the ingredients, even a few of her favorite pots and pans, and proceeded to prepare the entire meal. She joined us as we worked our way through sumptuous osso buco, and then cleaned up the whole thing, took her pots and pans, wished us a Merry Christmas and drove home. We were completely bowled over.

Another good friend, whose power source failed for a week before the holidays, managed to put together the most delicious and varied collection of cookies we have seen outside of Larsen's Bakery in Ballard. And each variety of cookie was individually wrapped in a bag adorned with festive ribbons. There must have been 15 types of cookie or pastry.

What are the common denominators at play here that should apply to any and all gift-giving? Both gifts were sincere and given without strings attached. Both reflected my husband's and my tastes. Both gifts were indescribably kind and appropriate. They were presented beautifully and, undoubtedly, the women who so generously made them felt good about their efforts.

What can we learn from this? When we make the time to give our attention, the resulting gift cannot be topped.

Mary Mitchell is a Seattle-based corporate trainer and author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Etiquette." E-mail questions to Mary@themitchell.org. Sorry, no personal replies.