Christmas time is here. Happiness and cheer - and shopping. Most people seem to regard this yearly tradition as annoying, but that's a negative attitude I've never embraced. Hopefully I never will. To the contrary, searching for the perfect gifts is one of my favorite aspects of the season. Around the beginning of December every year I get myself into the spirit with a day of wandering from shop to shop waiting for the perfect present to, well, present itself to me.
Before moving to Ferndale, my favorite location for Christmas browsing was downtown Ann Arbor. While most of the really intriguing items were far out of my price range, the atmosphere of citywide spirit was the perfect thing to put me in a holiday mood, one that carries me into the new year. In many aspects of my life, I find myself comforted by and impelled toward tradition. Rather than recreating memories from years past, I try and establish a unique experience every year, with a formula of loose rituals. For instance, ever since I was a child I would go out with my dad on the morning after Thanksgiving for the "Black Friday" sales and, though they are scarcer these days, the early bird giveaways. In recent years, I've had to venture out on my own. Whether with a particular item in mind or simply to grab a coffee and soak in the "official" start to the Christmas season (official, at least, in my mind.) Taking holidays one at a time, once Thanksgiving is behind us I find myself entrenched in Christmas. Setting out decorations, sprinkling my playlists with holiday songs, lighting pine-scented candles and planning my shopping.
By the first week of December I usually have a decent idea of what/who to shop for. The majority of my shopping being for my parents, I still find myself quick to get small gifts for friends when the inspiration strikes. This year I started my shopping on a Saturday after a short day at work. The sun was beginning to set and I flipped my radio station to 100.3 WNIC and headed towards a number of department stores for some brand name buys. Not the most exciting part of the shopping experience, there is still a tangible Christmas spirit to be found at chain stores. When I worked at a grocery store through the holiday season, I felt a strange blend of resentment toward an increased number of shoppers and joy in the season and doing whatever I could to reinforce whatever holiday spirit I perceived in my customers. Now, finding myself the patron rather than vendor, I try and recognize the feelings of the employees having to deal with crazy shoppers and heightened stress. I like to think that every "Happy Holidays" keeps up their seasonal cheer.
Day two of holiday shopping was highlighted by this year's Detroit Urban Craft fair, being held for the first time over two days and at the Fillmore. I attended the DUCF last year when it was at the Majestic Theater and enjoyed a couple of surprise ideas for gifts. This year, I recognized many of the same vendors not only from last year's DUCF but also the DIY Street Fair held in Ferndale. Unsure of how the new venue would compliment the shopping experience, I was delighted to find that the multiple tiers of the Fillmore provided "aisles" for browsing, which kept a nice flow of traffic but also allowed for people to stop for a while at different booths. There were so many great handmade wares that I ended up buying more for myself than gifts for others, including a calendar from one of my favorite artists Sloe Gin Fizz and a print from Frizzelstix. I did allow my ritual open-minded browsing and could've easily spent all of my afternoon (and money) there.
After a couple more stops around Detroit, Royal Oak and Ferndale I returned home and baked some macaroni and cheese. I've been perfecting a recipe for a few months now, and this one was the best so far. My roommate was watching Elf as I joined him in the living room to begin my Christmas wrapping, another tradition which holds a special place in my heart. When the movie was over we listened to the new Russian Futurist's album, The Weight's On the Wheels. Something about Matthew Adam Hart's music has a wintry, holiday quality to it. This latecomer to my mental list of best albums of 2010 was a perfect accompaniment to an evening of embracing the Christmas spirit with my two best friends. Of course, I couldn't wrap their presents in front of them. I'll have to do that another day - there's still a lot of the Christmas season left to go.
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