Between the kids, the friends, the co-workers and the significant other, the gift-giving season can be strenuous on the pockets. You strive to get everyone the perfect gift, while putting the trimmings on the Christmas tree, feeding the family on Christmas Day, and pleasing professional contacts with a great gift idea. But at what cost?

On average, Americans are expected to spend about $854 on gifts this holiday season alone, according to Yahoo! Finance. To some, that’s close to a week’s pay, which usually means cutting back extremely during the coming New Year. Minimize that expenditure and give inexpensive gifts that are more sentimental then the latest iPhone and you could have a win-win on your hands. Here are a few gift ideas that are budget-friendly, do-it-yourself, or simply straight from the heart, without costing you a whole paycheck in advance.

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Prepare and Give Your Tastiest Dish

One great idea to give this holiday if you are trying to budget while gift to a whole family is prepare and give your favorite dish or treat! Whether it is cookies, homemade candy or pie, or making something straight from the heart, something straight from your stove is a great gift for an entire family. It also saves on the money spent buying individual gifts. If someone has been raving about one of your scrumptious side dishes since Thanksgiving dinner, gift them one for Christmas. Or if baked goods like cookies are your specialty, bake a couple dozen and find a special holiday cookie tin. The only real cost is a little grocery money, elbow grease in the kitchen, and time.

Source: blogs.orlandosentinel.com

Not too long ago we talked about our love for our favorite silver fox reporter Anderson Cooper. The white hair, the blue eyes, the boyish grin and giggly laugh, we love it all. But make no mistake about it—AC is no punk.

During an appearance on Kathy Griffin’s new show on Bravo, Anderson explained how he got buck with a passenger on American Airlines who was trying to snap a pic of him on the low with an iPhone. He told her:

“I’m sitting there incredulous that he thinks I don’t see him …  and he’s still taking the pictures. “Normally I would just be like, we’re not gonna win this one. But lately I’ve become emboldened, and I grab the guy on the shoulder, and I said something to the effect of, ‘B*****, what the f*** are you doing?’”

Whoa there. That is definitely not the Anderson we see reporting the news on CNN. Since Andy mentioned that it was 6am we’re guessing a) he’s not a morning person, b) he hadn’t had his coffee, or c) he just wasn’t in the mood, but whatever the reason that passenger definitely got more than a pic that morning.

Anderson said after the moment passed he couldn’t believe he snapped on the guy like that but that didn’t stop Kathy from calling him the white 50 Cent. Check out this clip of him retelling the story on her show. What do you think about his reaction?

Brande Victorian is the news and operations editor for madamenoire.com. Follow her on twitter @Be_Vic.

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I came across this picture on my Facebook timeline last night and it was posted with some caption along the lines of WOMEN! How could someone smile putting someone else through so much pain—or something like that—attached to one of Usher’s many profile pages. I saw that it had a lot of likes but I didn’t know how much pick up it received until Tameka Raymond put out a response to it, which means you’ve probably come across it too.

Coming out a day after we saw Usher wiping away tears in court, Tameka’s grin does look rather sinister in a “haha I’m taking your kids and your money” kind of way, but the timing is also why I was weary of potential propaganda. After she got word of the pic, Tameka tried to clear the air. She tweeted:

“He is looking at cell phone! NOT CRYING. WE BOTH LAUGHED. This was today & NOT during any testimony! Don’t listen to fools….Im done responding 2 this stuff.. Just pls dont drink the Kool Aid or be fooled by obvious PR stunts, they’re rampant these days. Nuff said.”

Truthfully, Tameka could be laughing on her own if she wanted to. It’s not like popular opinion really matters in terms of who gets custody and I don’t think there’s much she could ever do to make people like her anyway since most never really did from the very beginning. She does look awfully cool and calm smashing on whatever is in that container though. Somebody must think she’s got this case in the bag. Every time we see Usher he looks like he needs some Kleenex and a drink.

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Instagram is living the ultimate startup dream.   The San Francisco-based upstart, which launched exclusively as an iPhone app back in October 2010, has created a new clique of photo enthusiasts.  Instagram alone boasted over 30 million users prior to its acquisition by Facebook. Now, the platform’s user base surpasses 40 million users; that’s equivalent to 5% of Facebook’s user base. When the company launched the Android version of the popular photo-sharing app earlier this month, it added an additional 10 million Instagram users to its already growing numbers in a six day time period.

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What could be more sobering than a rare photo of two slave children? According to the Associated Press, a haunting 150-year-old photo found in a North Carolina attic shows a young black child named John, barefoot and wearing ragged clothes, perched on a barrel next to another unidentified young boy.

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