The gift every woman on your list wants the most

That time is nearly upon us, and by "that time" I of course mean "holiday shopping mania," although this year, the game has changed. In years past, there was a clear item vying for the year's "It Gift" and people happily fell in line to declare it their desired must-have.

The year of the iPhone. The year of the Wii. The year of the perfect Louis Vuitton bag.

With the dust barely settled on Wall Street's collapse and the ink still wet on the government bailout plan, most of us aren't going to be jonesing for a new gadget, this holiday season. Heck, most of us are probably too busy just getting through everyday life, at this point -- given layoffs, rising costs, dire predictions that the worst is yet to come -- to even think about the holidays.

But I'm here to tell you that I know what women want this year.

It's perfect for everyone, and fits every budget and every lifestyle.

This year, the It Gift for women is time. What is a juggle during times of normalcy has become a circus act involving babies and chainsaws and flamethrowers, for most women. We don't have the time to breathe. We're too busy working, taking care of our kids, dealing with lost jobs or barely being able to afford the money to get to work, tending to ailing parents, comforting laid-off spouses, or negotiating with insurance companies.

Give time. If the money is there to give it in the form of a spa day or a housecleaning, fabulous! If it's only the offer to babysit one evening, no questions asked, that's great, too. If it's a bottle of wine and a trashy novel, awesome. If it's a single cup of coffee wedged in amidst a busy week, but an hour where nothing else matters, that works, too. It doesn't matter how it happens, it matters that you give some time back to someone who desperately needs it.

That is the gift to give this year.

Or maybe I'm deluded, and there's some purse or gadget people really still want, despite the crumbling economy and our frenetic lives. What do you think?

BlogHer Contributing Editor Mir would probably sell her first-born for two hours to herself with nothing to do. She also blogs about issues parental and otherwise at Woulda Coulda Shoulda, and about the joys of mindful retail therapy at Want Not.