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Never mind partridges, pear trees, turtledoves, and so forth.  To a certain search giant, one of the best presents it can give seems to be the gift of itself.  Google's counting down the days to 2009 by presenting tips on how to use its various products and services.

Is the approach a little self-absorbed?  Well, maybe.  The December 1st pointer amounted to "use Google Checkout" (which got a separate nudge yesterday), and today's doesn't go much beyond "use Google Docs" (which was already put in the holiday spotlight last month).

 Google's Countdown To 2009

The promotion might go a little ways towards raising awareness, however, and there are nicer spins to put on it.  Anita Yuen noted on the Official Google Blog, "The end of the year is a wonderful time to reflect, celebrate, and look forward to new things to come.  This is also a season when things tend to get a bit too hectic.  So we wanted to share some tips that we hope will help make the best of your holidays and year-end celebrations."

Google's Countdown to 2009 will be updated daily, so the flow of advice should be consistent, and a Countdown gadget can be added to iGoogle pages for maximum convenience.  There's even a mobile version.

Golden rings would make better gifts, but at least the search giant's trying to be thoughtful in its own survive-the-recession way.