My oldest, Brianna, is an odd one: She loves anything and everything related to blood and germs and viruses and such. Luckily she works in a hospital or she'd be considered really weird. But as a phlebotomist, blood is her thing.

So a few years ago for Christmas, I got her some blood cells -- a red blood cell and a white blood cell, to be precise. But they were a million times their actual size and they were stuffed and squishable and cute.

They were Giant Microbes and they looked like this:

Cute little buggers, aren't they?

Well, a couple nights ago, Brianna got to wondering if the Giant Microbes company now sells a Swine Flu stuffed toy.

Sure enough, they do! And he (seems like it should be a HE, for some reason) looks like this:

Well, on second thought, it kinda looks more like a SHE.

So if you're at a loss for what to give the loved ones for Christmas, you can always pass along the H1N1 virus in a soft, snuggly way!

And if the H1N1 doesn't catch your fancy, Giant Microbes has lots of other icky, yucky stuff remastered in loveable versions, including black death, ebola, sperm and egg, the common cold, Martian life (don't ask!) and so much more.

Check 'em out for yourself at Giant Microbes. I'm thinking about buying myself a few new braincells there!