I think Kathy's answer is pretty sad. Not saying anything about her, she's not COMPLETELY off base....but it's quite cynical at the same time. I don't give to people that I "should" (my grandpa who couldn't care less, my dads, or my adult friends except for my best friend since 1989, my brother who I love dearly and we speak daily....I'll get his boys something, and if I was SEEING him, I'd come up with something cool). We have an understanding that it's mostly for the kids, not the adults.
That said, we give "stuff" to: Husband, children, my mom, my mother in law, my little sister, my 2 nephews.
Bff and her son, my 5 year old's two good friends, my 2 year old's one friend. We unofficially adopted a family (one of the children is in my son's awanas class and they're having a hard time this year), so we provided tree, ornaments, lights, 3 gifts each for the 3 boys, stocking stuffers, and Christmas Eve dinner before church service.
We participated in Coats for Kids and Toys for Tots, and CAPA's angel tree (kind of a halfway house for children removed from home but waiting to get placed in foster homes). We are always involved in Compassion International and a friend of mine who's a missionary and runs a home and school for children.
We'll be making treats and homemade things for our neighbors, my son's Sifu and the helpers, and garbage men. I got the idea for including the garbage men from another mom on this site---my 2 boys LOVE to sit out and watch the guys in their big truck--they get SO excited, and it's the highlight of every Tuesday for the boys. They jump and dance, and the men always smile and wave at them, so next week I'll stand on the driveway with them and let Joe hand them a gift he helps prepare and a note of appreciation. Our fire station will also get goodies and a note because they decorated beautifully and were so nice about letting us tour the facility in September, and that's Vic's favorite guys. I'll let him help mix and pour too so he can be part of it, even though he's just 2. We don't "have to" but these are some often overlooked people who bring joy to a 5 year old and a 2 year old's day.
Cards with handwritten notes, to everyone. It's not because it's a "national celebration that forces gift giving" as someone mentioned, but because it's a time of the year that we can stop, have a think, and purposely say thank your or show appreciation for people we care about when it's not always feasible to talk to everyone, every week of the year.