Ask Shifra: The Miss Manners Edition

Dear Shifra,

My Grandfather (obm) died a couple of weeks ago. Some people have expressed their condolences to me directly (at shul and on the phone). Should I send them Thank You cards/notes?

On a lighter note, what is the proper etiquette for Chanukah gifts if the receiver isn't a give-gifts-for-Chanukah person? Is it OK to just send a Thank You card/note?

A continued refuah shleima for your brother and thank you for your time.

- WBS

Dear WBS,

Thank you for your good wishes for my brother.

In case you haven't guessed, I'm am not an etiquette expert. However, I have the whole internet at my disposal a headfull of common sense plus a panel of excellent commentors with varied life experience so lets see what I can come up with on these ones.
Actually, I often find the kinds of etiquette advice dispensed by the so-called experts to be less than practical. Unless you plan to live in an etiquette book you have to figure out the way things work in the real world so that's the approach I'll be taking here.

Condolences

In Judaism it is a mitzva to comfort someone who is in mourning. Surely the people who called or came by to speak to you are not expecting anything in return, they just want to be there for you. The best thing you can do in return is to be there for THEM in THEIR times of crisis as the cycle of life continues to revolve. I have heard it is customary to send thank you cards to people who have gone out of their way to help during the shiva or with funeral preparations but even those can wait a bit. People are not going to have high expectations from someone who just lost a loved one. May your memories of your grandfather always be a comfort to you.

Gifts

Chanuka is over, now but these kind of sticky gift giving situations come up all year long.
I too an not much of a gift-giver. Some people have a real knack for choosing just the right gift for someone (like my sister-in-law who somehow always knows just what I need) or my grandmother who always got me just what I wanted when I was a kid. Not me though. Plus I'm usually broke, oh and did I mention cheap? Those last two kinda go together.
But enough about me.

There are some situations where gifts are expected - the birthdays of close relatives, kids' birthday parties, weddings, showers, etc... In those situations gifts really are required even for non-gifters like us. For the other more optional gift like holiday presents from co-workers or unexpected birthday gifts from friends who are just sweet and remember these things: I don't think that things necessarily need to be exchanged tit-for-tat. Certainly a heartfelt thank you and a nice thank you card would be warranted but I don't think you are obligated to return a gift of equal value. Perhaps there is something else you could do for this person like invite them over for a nice dinner sometime, or pick them up for work when their car is in the shop.
If there is good will between people these things have a way of working themselves out.