We've given them to my in-law.

Every once in a while we'll go ahead and get one for the kids because they've got big families now.

So we like to give them to them so they can have a little bit of family time with their kids.

I'm talking to Brandy Sholtys in West Virginia about a common Christmas gift that seems just about everyone has at one point given or received.

It's festive, inexpensive, and ideal for casual gift giving.

Need a Secret Santa gift? Something for a Yankee swap? A hostist gift? Something to bring to the

neighbors on a holiday visit. Or forget gifts for a moment. Do you just need your own

stash of munchies for all those movies and TV specials you're watching during the season?

Well, then, you're probably already familiar with Christmas popcorn tins. You know, those

three-gallon containers with Christmassy designs filled with three different flavors of gourmet

popcorn, typically butter, cheese, and caramel.

My husband will eat the plain and the cheese. I like the caramel popcorn that's in them.

Sometimes they make a nice gift on their own, and sometimes they're given as part of a theme.

We usually give a movie with them or something so that they can have a family movie night.

And they're a gift that keeps on giving in many ways,

because that decorative tin will be around a lot longer than the popcorn that comes in it.

And that has inspired lots of practical and festive uses.

When she was alive, my grandmother would give us popcorn tins.

And then after we ate the popcorn, she would ask us or tell us, if we don't want the

tin to save it for anything, she asked if we would give it back to her. Well, the next year,

we would get our handmade gifts from her in them. She would weave rugs, and she would put

the rugs in them, make us some dish towels and dish claws, and she would put those in there.

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