Tinsel: A Search for America's Christmas Present

by Hank Stuever

In Tinsel, Hank Stuever turns his unerring eye for the idiosyncrasies of modern life to Frisco, Texas—a suburb at once all-American and completely itself—to tell the story of the nation's most over-the-top Christmas. Stuever's tale begins on the blissful easy-credit dawn of Black Friday, as he jostles for bargains among the crowds at the big-box stores. From there he follows Frisco's true believers as they navigate through three years of holiday drama. Tammie Parnell is the proprietor of “Two Elves with a Twist," a company that decks the halls of other people's McMansions. Jeff and Bridgette Trykoski spend eleven months preparing the visible-from-space, awe-inspiring light display they stage on their lawn each December. And single mother Caroll Cavazos, a devout churchgoer, hopes that the life-affirming moments of the season can transcend her everyday struggles. Amid home foreclosures and a retail economy in decline, Stuever discovers the people of Frisco holding fast to the seasonal spirit. His portraits of this happy, megachurchy, shoparific world are at once very funny, revealing and deeply humane. Tinsel is a compelling tale of our half-trillion-dollar holiday, measuring what we've become against the ancient rituals of what we've always been.

Genres: Nonfiction, Christmas, Holiday, Audiobook, Humor, Adult, Sociology

331 pages, Hardcover

First published November 11, 2009

About the author

Hank Stuever was born in 1968 in Oklahoma City and grew up there, and left, and got into journalism. He worked for newspapers in Albuquerque and Austin in the 1990s and then at The Washington Post for 26 years, first as a features reporter, then as TV critic, then as an editor and eventually as head of the features department. He left the Post in 2025.

OFF RAMP, a collection of his feature stories and essays, was published in 2004. His 2009 book, TINSEL, follows three suburban families in Frisco, Texas, through three Christmases. He lives in Washington, DC.

Reviews

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was available on Overdrive’s Happy Holidays collection. I grabbed it on a whim. I'm glad I did.
4.5 stars and an excellent narrator.

In 2006, Stuever decided he was going to find the magic of Christmas by doing some research in Texas where everything is bigger and God is holier and lights are brighter and shopping is an honest-to-goodness pasttime. He meets some interesting people like the Trykoskis whose light display is famous across the country. Theirs was the only story to which I could relate. There's also Tammie the professional Christmas decorator who is fairly shallow and unlikeable yet it's hard not to like her anyway, and Carol, a single mom whose youngest is her BFF and who wants to make sure her kids get the best Christmas every year while also making sure her church's holiday production goes off without a hitch, and all the other things she deals with, too. Stuever spends six+ weeks, from Black Friday (of which the description gave me hives) to just after the new year, with his selected families to see how they find and express their belief in Christmas. He wants to do this to prove/disprove his theory that we don’t actually remember Christmases past, that we’ve cobbled together memories based on TV and movies, that Christmas has been a commercial endeavor for the past 150 years and we tend to disassociate with that knowledge by creating a story centered on believing in Christmas magic. Then the story of a drowned cat at Christmas follows and it’s horrible.

This book made me cringe often because I hate the whole Christmas shopping thing and the author makes it obvious how markety it all is, how we’re like cattle stampeding through malls and endless decorations from late October to the end of December. It's pretty bleak.

I was glad no one could see my face as I listened to the MegaChurch part. It was disconcerting. Also, Pastors Keith and Sheila named their first daughter Keila. How is that even legal? Is that where Stephenie Meyer got the idea for Renesmee’s name? It’s not as amazing and adorable as you think, people. Stop it. Stop doing that to your babies.
Also: OHMYGOD! The radio show wish thingy with the boy who wrote in about his sick and abused mom? This is the new traveling vaudeville. The melodrama! The snake oil! It makes me want to be horrible and manipulate people into doing what I want them to do, namely, giving me money.

I love the traditions surrounding the winter holidays but I don’t love the money part so this hit close to home:
For those who opt in, Christmas is supposed to exist as a pure moment of bliss and togetherness. We spend more money than we have at Christmas, in part to get closer to the simple joy it advertises. Many millions of people find an inspiration in Christmas every year, unpacking it just where they stored it last year and basking in its returning glow. The years go by, babies are born, and it’s supposed to get better each time...except...but...however. Because it looms so strong in memory and because the happiness it represents can be so achingly elusive, Christmas can bring us down like almost nothing else. It is our happiest day and our greatest disappointment all in one, heavily freighted with expectation and then the loss of innocence.
Cynical and harsh...and it’s so sad. That doesn’t make it wrong or untrue, though.

So did he find Christmas magic? Tammie (Mary), Jeff (Wise Man) and Bridget (Angel w/ cracked wing), and Carol (Shepherd) found magic and that was the magic for him, seeing others find it, even if he never saw it himself.
Interestingly enough, he doesn’t believe in Christmas and magic and tra la la but he returns to TX after he’s done with his story, he goes back for another Christmas.

All throughout my notes, I mention how depressing this story is, how bleak, yet I really liked it though I don’t even know why. It’s lonely and awful. But it's also an excellent look at a few families in Texas showing an outsider what Christmas means to them.

P.S.
Koivu! There’s a Wodehouse passage about Christmas being at our throats as a chapter introduction! I thought of you.

[Nancy Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe if I didn't live in Frisco, I wouldn't rate this book so highly, but I was thoroughly entertained! We lived through and inside the covers of this book. It was fun to turn a page and have the author tell a story about someone we actually know. It was also entertaining to figure out who he was talking about when he changed the names "to protect the guilty." This book transported me to 2006 Frisco, Texas. Not a bad place to be. No, it really wasn't!

[Chanele · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprising contender on my list of the top books I've read this year,Tinsel is one of the most hilarious, charming books I have read in a long time. Hank Stuever, a non-Texan journalist who isn't hugely into Christmas traveled to Frisco, Texas, (perhaps the ultra suburb of suburbs) to get to know the Christmas-loving people of the town. Among the rapidly-expanding big box stores, chain restaurants, and mega-churches, stamps of any serious American suburb, Stuever finds an entertaining cast of characters and a treasure trove of holiday stories. While there is that distinct north Texas character to the story, it is also at its heart a story that could be told in suburbs across the U.S. Stuever's wit and attention to detail make this a hilarious romp through what Christmas means to (most) Americans, good and bad. And I cannot underscore the humor in his writing - this was a book that I found myself laughing out loud at more than once.

[Paula Lyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

God bless us, Every one! And God bless America.

Christmas brings out the best in most people. Of course, there's a great variance in that "best", but I believe people try. This is a charming look at what people do to keep Christmas in their hearts and in their families. There is a great affection for these families and their hopes, dreams, and fears. A lovely read for the holiday season.

[Torieqwq · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author took his time to concentrate on several families in Frisco, Texas. I like this approach since it makes me feels like I know more about a community and its residents.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What do you think would happen if a liberal D.C.-based journalist decided to chronicle Christmas as celebrated by a group of Texans? If you think this sounds like it would result in some hilarious observations, you've got the basic idea of Tinsel.

Hank Stuever gets his liberal views in, subtly and not-so (one angst-filled monologue wonders about the choices of Americans: Why Crocs? ... Why Carrie Underwood? Why George Bush? (Why Hillary Clinton?). (Gotta love the oh-darn-if-I-mention-Bush-I-must-put-in-a-dem-as-well). I say: Why Barack Obama? (and I'm not softening it with parentheses, either!)

But I digress. Stuever tells us he doesn't believe in the virgin birth, and lets us know he's in good company: Many scholars have concluded ... that the Christmas story is intentionally fictive, written by the earliest, first-century evangelists to beef up Jesus's street cred as a believable Jewish Messiah.

O-kay then. I can tell up-front that the author and I are coming at this from different belief systems. Nonetheless, it's enjoyable in a gossipy sort of way to read his tales of following those wacky over-the-top Texans to their ridiculous mega-churches, to camp out early on Black Friday, and to their business decorating homes for Christmas.

I know this happens a lot for me, but the author's liberal bias really became tiresome. He subtly chastises his subjects over and over for being anti-immigrant, "tax-averse, conservative, ... evangelical." Yet when he listens to a Christian radio station that grants "Christmas wishes" for needy folks, he is angry that no one is asking questions about whether the "needy" truly are so. Why is it good when he asks questions, yet bad when those evil/stupid conservatives do?

You know I had to love a passage where he discusses telling kids that Santa isn't real. He says that he could actually respect kids who thought it through and realized that Santa was fake, because they would grow up to think critically and perhaps - get ready for it - not believe that "other countries harbor weapons of mass destruction when they don't." Yep - apparently even Christmas excess is W's fault.

One thought that kept running through my head as I read this book was that I couldn't believe these people would allow an author to follow them through three Christmas seasons, just so he could write a book basically making fun of them. He even uses most of their real names. I'm still stumped at this.

The book ends with Stuever taking a swipe at Sarah Palin (but oddly enough not mentioning Obama, whose recent election has heralded inherited an economic meltdown of catastrophic proportions) as he flees Texas, of course appropriately via the George W Bush Turnpike, back to his East Coast boyfriend.

I found it ironic that in all the author's searching for Christmas, he missed the big picture. Yeah, sure, he knows "the reason for the season" mentally, but it hasn't become real for him. Still, I sense in him a bit of the Eeyore/melancholy personality that I have as well, and that tended to draw me in (when I wasn't ready to strangle him for his apparently unrecognized liberal bias).

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a nonfiction nerd, I thought perhaps this one might be interesting, so got the audio from the library, with the possibility that I might have to abandon it: indeed not!

In a nutshell: D. C. journalist Hank Stuever "embeds" himself with three Frisco, TX (Dallas suburb) families for the 2006 Christmas season, last one before the Big Mortgage Crash, where that area was hard hit by foreclosures. The stories follow Tammy, a professional Christmas home decorator, and her family (author works as her "elf" or assistant/intern), single mom Carol and her three kids with whom he attends church and socializes, and a childless, secular couple (Jeff and Bridget), known for having one of the largest, most involved holiday displays in the nation. Interspersed are details of local history and culture, which are done well to help keep the story moving.

Stuever does an excellent job of respecting his subjects as people, while remaining skeptical, shall we say, of the excess in which they revel. I found his being openly gay almost completely avoided, and would have liked to have heard more about how they dealt with the issue, but he probably felt that was injecting himself into the story; Tammy's treating him at times as an "honorary girlfriend" I found slightly cringeworthy towards the end, but nowhere near a deal breaker. I suspect his having been raised in Oklahoma, rather than the northeast, may have worked in making Carol and Tammy's families feel more comfortable around him.

Speaking of his being a guy with great social skills, after purchasing gifts for four "Angel tree" recipients, he gets the local social services director to give a behind-the-scenes look at the program's administration, as well as following up after December 25 regarding the effect of holiday excess on local recycling and garbage services.

Overall, I found the book fascinating, except perhaps for the parts dealing with holiday lighting, which did go a bit deep in the weeds (Asperger-level from those involved, not the author), but even that helped focus away from the evangelical religiosity with which I couldn't relate. He mentions hearing the Christmas song "Mary, did you know?" a zillion times, while I'd never heard of that one.

I was going to give this one four stars, with a note that Ray Porter's narration itself is five-stars, but in re-consideration the book itself is worth the top score. Highly recommended.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't get around to reading this book (courtesy of the local library) until after the holiday, and perhaps it's just as well; the hyper-consumerism of the subjects of the book combined with the author's snark might have made it harder to get into the spirit of season. The book comes off much better post-Christmas, IMHO.

Serendipitously set during the holiday seasons of 2006-2008, Hank Stuever visits with three families of Frisco, Texas - an up-and-coming exurb of Dallas - to examine their holiday preparations from a semi-sociological viewpoint. Starting with Black Friday thru the first week of January, Stuever spends time with the Trykowski's whose extravagant exterior Christmas lights (and yes, in Texas it's "Christmas" not "holiday", bless your heart) have turned into a side-business for the husband; as has Tammie Purnell's penchant for interior Christmas decorating. He also spends time with single mother Carroll Cavasos who provides entry into the megachurch Christmas phenomenon.

And while I mentioned snark earlier, Stuever at no time makes fun of the individuals he interacts with; his sharpened pen treats them almost more as victims of the larger Christmas/Giftsmas madness. As balance, he spends time with the volunteers at Frisco Family Services, helping organize and hand out the donations received as a part of their Angel Tree Drive, as well as picking out gifts for a few angels on his own. Stuever is quick to point out the foibles of his fellow man (and woman), but admits to his own flaws as well, regarding the expectations of the season, both past and present.

It was an interesting read, both in its sociological and personal insights; plenty of human interest without being too glurgey. I'll have to check out more of Stuever's work.

[Anca Lumei · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book I listened to with horrified fascination as the author described in great detail the Christmas customs of middle class Texans in 2006.

A few choice bits:
- middle class people spending thousands of dollars paying someone to decorate their house for Chrismas
- upper middle class people living in huge houses, keeping one or more already decorated fake Christmas trees in an unused room, ready to be taken out for Christmas
- people spending thousands of dollars on small decorative houses so they can put up Christmas villages in their homes
- people waiting in lines early morning, the day after Christmas, for the opening of hardware stores so they can buy discounted Christmas lights
- men keeping watch overnight so they can stop vandals or neighborhood children messing with their yard decorations
- shopping malls renting snow making machines so they can make it show on a regular schedule during the Christmas season (remember, that’s in Texas where they might be still wearing shorts on Christmas day)

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hank Stuever took off 15 months as a culture writer for the Washington Post Style section to find people in “drought-prone Sunbelt states dreaming of white Christmases they know will probably never come” (11). He lands in Plano and Frisco, Texas, stalking four people: Tammie, who decorates houses for women who don’t have time to “figure out the mantel” (22); Caroll, who every year on Black Friday gets a free snowglobe at JC Penney; and Jeff and Bridgette, who stage a visible-from-space lightshow on their lawn. Throughout the book, Stuever mostly observes. “I cast myself merely as an extra,” he writes, “a Wise Man in a purple velour bathrobe and a cardboard Burger King crown” (5).

Stuever spends two days in the library finding out about the dirt on which the stores were built. He shares the history of Christmas lights, Christmas trees, and nativities. He laments the changing tenor of letters to Santa, becoming “more terse and specific in their requests” after 1903. But his most interesting research is experiential, where he finds a strangely normal and abnormally strange world full of chain restaurants, box stores, boutiques, and Christmas bazaar’s with plaques for sale that say “On Dasher, on Dancer, on Master, on Visa” (39).

He goes to church with Caroll and finds Reverend True Religion Jeans wearing an unconstructed blazer stenciled and embroidered with a combination of romantic vampire touches: griffins, royal crests, gothic crosses, and vine-like paisley swirls” (100). He doesn’t really like the sermon – “There are five ways. There are eight steps. There are four keys” – but then, tired of his own church sarcasm, he writes, “What the hell… I lift my arms. I hold my palms” (104). Stuever’s willingness to find redemption anywhere – from Costco to a Costco-sized church - saves his book and, it would seem, his life, from nihilism.

Stuever spends a lot of time in the mall because the mall is a major character in American drama: “In zombie movies, the last surviving humans find refuge in the mall,” he writes. “In Christmas movies, the mall mayhem triggers the protagonist’s profound insight that none of it matters so much as love” (69). But he’s not cynical. Music may be “piped in from small speakers in every tree and planter… a Nora Jones and Maroon 5 fantasia,” but that homogeny isn’t something to disdain (57). “Chain stores,” he writes, “are not merely redundant: chains bind us together, make us familiar to one another no matter what state we live in, give us comfort as they take away a sense of the local” (68). He speaks in mall language, in mall comparisons. He describes someone’s inflection as “that same chipper tone as the girls at Banana Republic” (16), a time of year as “before the trees are lit in the home-and-garden department of Target” (19).

What’s between the stores is equally important and worthy of description. He talks to the Israeli man selling fake snow at a kiosk who just “finished his compulsory service in the Israeli army,” stationed on the Gaza Strip (74). He spends an evening with the Spanish-speaking immigrants who do the Christmas decorations for the mall in one night. For Stuever, what it seems to come down to is mall-ography, “where you identify yourself more by your box-store preference than anything else… describing yourself… as part of an evolving autobiography of where you shop” (66). He specializes in the special language of capitalism.
The language of capitalism and the language of good writing meets in specificity. Your daughter doesn’t want the 7th Generation iPod Nano, she wants the 8th. Stuever loves the three-detailed detail, where Christmas decorations are “faux-finished, plasticized, and derivative” (27). It might be “seasonal table runners from Pottery Barn” (22), “prelit plastic garland adorned with stiffened tulle ribbon” (28), “honey-hued jeweled cones” (28), “sugar-encrusted plastic pears on plastic ivy” (34), or a “berry-ball wreath candleholder from Crate & Barrel” (22), but whatever it is, it is probably hidden in “gold-flecked floral wrap” (121) or positioned next to “porcelain houses with tiny lightbulbs inside (137). Such detailed descriptions are one way of saying a thing is not only what it is, but also not some other. It is not some other thing from some other season. It is the new thing from Target, TJ Maxx, Kohl’s, the Starbucks next to the Chili’s and the FedEx Kinkos. Can a writer go overboard with such specificity? I suppose. Usually it means good writing, and here it is especially apropos. If it feels like too much, good. It is too much. That’s exactly the point.

[Book Concierge · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5***

Stuever is a reporter and this non-fiction work chronicles his time spent in a suburb of Dallas Texas as the city and its families prepared for Christmas 2006. Porter’s reading of this work is quite good. He gets the cadence and rhythm of speech of his subjects, which brings a certain life to the work.

This is Christmas before the economy took a tumble, before mass foreclosures and lay-offs. When consumerism was still king, and especially so in the wealthier made-for-commerce suburban “country” communities like the one that Stuever visited, studied and reported on. He leaves no stone unturned. He works side-by-side with Tammy, a woman whose seasonal business “Two Elves With a Twist” has her decorating the homes of women who are either too busy, or feel inadequately prepared or talented to achieve the glossy magazine-ready decors they hire Tammy to produce. In another effort he helps the non-profit organization that puts out the “Angel” trees in churches all over the county. He also spends time following Carol, a single mother of three (one of whom is a married adult no longer living at home), as well as Jeff and Bridget who have a light display that has achieved national fame.

The book is fairly reported, but I think Stuever struggles with whether he feels his subjects have the right Christmas spirit, or are missing it entirely. There is a certain wistfulness to some sections, especially when something reminds Stuever of his own childhood Christmases. Not all the stories are happy ones. At the end Stuever returns to check in with his subjects a year or two later and reports on the differences – jobs lost, babies born, successful endeavors, and some not quite so successful. But this reader was left with a feeling of “is that all there is?” Still, I think it’s well written, and performed well by Porter. It gave me a lot to think about.

[SheriC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of the audiobook from Audible. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially as it was a refreshing change from the usual current holiday glurge. The author seems to give an honest picture of the families he followed, treating them with respect, affection, and humor. No, I don't think those attitudes are mutually exclusive. I think he did a pretty good job of capturing, from an outsider's perspective, what we all want Christmas to be, how we try to go about making it happen, and how it can sometimes fall short of that dream. He completely nailed Stonebriar Mall, Frisco, a certain type of affluent North Texas demographic, and Canton. I laughed out loud at his description of Canton, remembering my own WTF-moment when I saw the scooter-people last time I was there. My only criticism is his seemingly hurried treatment of the last two years of the book. He really only covers a single Christmas - 2006 - and just checks in and gives us an update of the 2007 and 2008 Christmases. It's unfortunate, because he was in a unique position to thoroughly document how the changing economy impacted our attitudes between those years. I remember 2008 as the year we could no longer pretend that there wasn't something seriously wrong with the economy, and that Christmas as especially black. But I suppose it wasn't *that* kind of a book.

Ray Porter's reading was excellent. He lent a dry tone of voice to the text that seemed just right, and he gave a pretty good approximation of the Texas drawl. Most audiobook narrators seem to substitute a southern accent for Texans.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is how Christmas began, after all, way before the time of Christ (and for centuries after his death), when it was a pagan celebration of the winter solstice. People gathered and danced by fires. The harvests were in and everyone gorged.

As a newspaper entertainment journalist, I have stood on red carpets. I have talked to Meryl Streep and Jude Law and Kate Winslet on Oscar night. At parties, I've made small talk with Beyoncé and Helen Mirren and Jake Gyllenhaal. I have thought of something to say to Natalie Portman, Prince, Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry, and George Clooney. Now Santa seems to be peering into my soul, and I'm stricken, mute.

Softness has become one of the American antidotes to fear, environmental crises, and the terror of the world outside our door. We became a self-cuddling people.

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

My brother gave this book to me as a Christmas gift and I could not put it down. It was horrific and funny and mesmerizing. Stuever reveals a world of crazy Christmasphiles for whom the season is the reason for obsessive rituals, spending, and excess. But Stuever is not heavy handed. He captures the subtle hopes and motivations of people looking to these rituals for meaning in a world where Christmas is something you do up big. He is at the same time incredulous and sympathetic to the people who take him in and share their compulsions with him. He is not afraid to look closely at the ugliness of human superficiality or to linger a moment on some religious hypocrisy that appears immune to the Christmas facade of charity and good will.

I will read and reread this book every December to help me get through my own holiday doubts.

[Lorrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was released late in '09, and that's unfortunate. I wish there had been more pre-Christmas time for readers to find the book and get into it. Hank Stuever did some great participant observation about over-the-top decorating in Frisco, TX. I never dreamed that so many people (Griswalds) are into lighting. Stuever delivered an interesting
facet of this affluent suburb, but he managed to keep it funny and non-critical. He even developed warm friendships with the people he studied.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG nothing quite captures life in suburban Dallas quite like this book. Love it! Lived it!

[Carianne Carleo-Evangelist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, and PS: I’d like to acknowledge the global economy, especially the credit and retail sectors, which fell apart between 2006 and 2008 and thereby made profligate Christmas shopping seem all the more interesting and a bit more inane. Here’s to you, capitalism

Those were actually the very last two sentences Hank Stuever wrote in Tinsel, but in a sense, they were this book. According to my Amazon wishlist when I spotted this on a price drop around Christmas, I had it on my wishlist since its publication in 2009. So of course I had to start it immediately after two false starts on books to finish out 2013: Rogues Gallery and Do You Speak Shoe Lover?

I have an odd relationship with Christmas. Christmas in our house looks a lot like Thanksgiving, just with more presents. But I hate shopping. HATE. Yet somehow, I was drawn to this book. To the author’s writing. To the people he met. After finishing the book. it was a pleasant surprise to find the photos of the people he spent Christmas with. I was way off in my mental images, but it was nice to put faces to the names.

Speaking of names, I find it amazing and generous how these folks welcomed him into their homes and their lives. While Stuever wrote at length about the growth of Frisco, it’s still very much Smalltown, USA in that respect. He came to know these people, their families, their friends. He nearly became one of them.

I read this over the course of three weeks, but if I had enough time, I’d probably have read it within a few days as it really grabbed me toward the end. It was an interesting mix of christmas, Christmas, people and shopping. I also think that pretty much describes American christmas in a nutshell these days.

Christmas is the single largest event in American communal life, intersecting with every aspect of religion, culture, commerce, and politics. From mid-November to New Year’s Eve 2006, shoppers spent almost half a trillion dollars on gifts, which is more than we spend on almost anything else as a people, including the annual bill at that time for ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For those who opt in, Christmas is supposed to exist as a pure moment of bliss and togetherness. We spend more money than we have at Christmas in part to get closer to the simple joy it advertises.

I actually found this — which was his premise throughout the book to be fascinating. What is christmas these days. Is it spending money to be happy? Is it about the holiday (pagan or christian?) is it about family

I went looking for an America living not only on borrowed time, but also on borrowed grace. In the Nativity pageant I’ve staged here, I cast myself merely as an extra, a Wise Man in a purple velour bathrobe and a cardboard Burger King crown, following yonder star, bearing my mother’s crystal salad-dressing cruets (my frankincense, my myrrh) on a tasseled living room throw pillow.

In addition to looking for “Christmas”, I think the author had more than a little quest to look for “America”. Frisco, TX, land of the McMansions isn’t America any more than Jesus is the Reason for the Season describes the true American Christmas, but the author did well to try and tie both extremes together. Of those people he met: Carroll the shopaholic tither and her family, Tammie and her Hottie Elves and the Trykoskis and their lights, it was the Trykoskis I liked the most because they seemed to show me more about what Christmas is. I didn’t like Carroll and her family — although I felt them to be a good example of Shop ’til You Drop Spoiled America. Sure, Tammie decorated clients’ houses for Christmas – but that didn’t make her Santa any more than a normal interior designer. Jeff T was paid for his work in Frisco Square, but he did his own house – and the city – out of his own interest and passion.

"The Christmas lifestyle as most Americans know and celebrate it is only about a century and a half old, a straight line from Charles Dickens to Martha Stewart."

I had to chuckle at this — because the Christmas that the author found in Frisco isn’t the Christmas I’ve seen in the Northeast. Multiple themed trees? Prelit trees? Worrying about whether a neighbor’s house and Christmas is “Christ-centered”? Never mind Frisco’s obsession with Snow Powder and the Israelis who sell it.

“On Dasher, on Dancer, on Master, on Visa.”

THANKSGIVING….It conveys a sense of national togetherness, pride, gluttonous helpings of iconic food items, and the moments we take to consider our blessings. Then all hell breaks loose.

Now that? That’s the American Christmas I know. I like how he used his journalistic background to mix in reporting with his story telling. The facts he reported on retail figures, economic growth and contraction, the history of Christmas (more Halloween then Jesus) and suburb development provided a nice back drop to the people without taking away from them. It made for substance to go with the fluff.The same could be said for the religious aspects that he discussed. While an American christmas can be religion fee, I’m not sure the same could be said for a Texas Christmas. All in all, a very good read even if it slowed down at parts. I look forward to reading his other book, Off Ramp, as I like his style and find him very readable. Also, his NPR interview about the book is a fun read.

[Ruth Ferguson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I am not normally a non-fiction fan, this is the first time I have read a book that takes a look at the modern day Dallas. I grew up in the heyday of the Dallas TV show of the 70s and the misconceptions of my hometown that grew from the show. However, it is interesting to see the 21st century Dallas through the eyes of a visitor. It is almost as if we have indeed morphed into the Ewing world. Perhaps because we are still a relatively “new” American city, we still have the land to do everything B.I.G. and Tinsel’s look at three Christmas seasons in Frisco, Texas shows that Christmas is no exception.

As I listened to the early chapters, it is somewhat heartbreaking to see how superficial American Christmas celebrations are – and there is enough truth in his observations that they cannot be ignored. It makes me even more uncomfortable at the realization of my own complicity.

My personal budget can barely accommodate a Wal-Mart tree, but like Tammy the frantic holiday home decorator, I have pored over magazine and holiday catalogue layouts for years. Yet it is not the perfect look we are seeking, it is that fleeting moment of Christmas joy that we convince ourselves these well designed rooms will bring.

Fifteen years ago, very few of us in the DFW metroplex even knew of the then small city, Frisco. In 1990 the population was only 6,000 but by 2009 had exponentially grown to 100,000. It was a startling to learn that much of their infrastructure and huge growth was a result of sales tax revenue from first Stonebriar Mall and now the acres of restaurants and strip shopping centers that surround the mall and the requisite McMansions. Sadly that really epitomizes the American economy.

The book offers no profound insights but it was interesting. However, after awhile the book seems to run a bit out of steam.

My bookclub had dinner in the Frisco Square during the Christmas season (2010) and we were each disappointed in the display. There was no blowing snow and display was interesting but to hear the music you had to turn your car radio to a certain station. However even with the music it did not seem to live up to our expectation.

[Vy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for a feel-good Christmas book, this is not it. Stuever gives us a close look at what an exurban Christmas looked like in 2006, before things went bust. The setting is Frisco, TX, but except for references to A&M and mild weather, it really could have been just about any place in the country similarly afflicted with affluenza. He tells us how the season plays out, from the shopping and decorating crescendo that starts in the fall, through to the packing up of ornaments and lights, exchanging of unwanted gifts, and dumping of all that holiday detritus in the landfill. While much of the book was predictable, there were some things that genuinely took me by surprise because I'd never paid attention (like the network of young Israelis specifically brought to the US to man mobile carts at the mall; the irony of an Israeli vendor in Texas peddling fake snow for Christmas is almost unbearable). The author also did a good job of reminding us that modern Christmas "traditions" are mostly relatively recent inventions.

Stuever follows 3 families closely, and his characterization of them is often not flattering. When you put someone under a magnifying glass, you are of course going to see all the imperfections, but one of my criticisms of Stuever's writing style is that it can be pretty snarky. It's not necessarily the words he uses but sometimes just the juxtapositioning of ideas makes a mockery of his subjects. He is entitled to that, but at the same time, he does seem to like the families and considers them friends. So what you end up with is a conflicted tone that reminds me of a verbal tic some Southeners have: they append "bless his heart" to disparaging remarks, as in "he's such an idiot, bless his heart!"

All in all, good food for thought. I will probably never be above swooning for a themed Christmas tree and a Department 56 village, but I see uncomfortable reflections of myself often enough in the book to know which areas need improvement.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would you be willing to let a stranger spend Christmas with your family? While he takes notes? Even when he asks how much you spent on everything?

These are the questions Hank Stuever asks the reader in the acknowledgments of this book. As he hunkers down in the Texas 'burbs for the holidays, Hank tells the stories of three families as they prepare for their Christmases. All told, he'll spend Xmas '06, '07 and a bit of '08 with these people—a time frame that, for all the craziness that went down in the credit and retail sectors, makes the story presented here that much more interesting (and, as Hank points out, that much more inane).

As he surrounds himself with women like Tammie Parnell, a wealthy supermom with a kooky holiday decorating business, Hank describes how his own disappointment for the holiday came to be (and it smacks of the Dave Sedaris School of Storytelling). Where the author shines is his sardonic detailings of this cast of true life characters and their suburban surroundings. (My faves are Tammie ("Think of Holly Hunter cast as a country-club homemaker") and Jeff Trykoski, a self-described "light" nerd whose holiday display draws people to his subdivision in droves. (ou can see a shot of their house here: http://www.friscochristmas.com/))

Because he does what he does so.damn.well, Hank's Tinsel perfectly captures the ridiculousness that is America (and all its malls and its excess and its parking lots and its Dave & Busters). And at no time is America more...well, AMERICA than in the month of December.

[Joemmama · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hank Stuever has written an amazing look at the American way of Christmas. In 2006, Stuever, a reporter, went to Frisco Texas, to find one of the nations most over the top celebrations. Before the recession, the upscale neighborhood, with its mega churches, mega malls, mc-mansions, and big hair, he follows three families as they each try to find that perfect "mega moment"(you know, when it all comes together and just for a few moments everyone is happy).

From the crowds waiting in the dawn for Best Buy to open on Black Friday, to the suburban mom who decorates other peoples homes, to the family who decorates with hundreds of thousands of lights and computer generated programs, Stuever gets to know them and tries to explain why they do what they do.

Following these folks around as they prepare for Christmas, they are mostly devout (some overly so), some giving more than they can afford,but seeing through different eyes the season of giving, he has created a fascinating look at the Holiday Season.

I found this book both funny and sad. It is a close up of overindulgence and keeping up with the Joneses, as well as giving to the needy, and struggling to make ends meet.

When he returned as the economy was starting to slide, it was interesting to see what if any changes these folks made. It made me long for a much simpler Christmas, with good friends, good food and NO GIFTS!!

I received this book from Net Galley.

[MICHAEL · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great and fun read by a gifted author who weaves together a series of characters all seeking, or making, Christmas special on a suburban wasteland of sorts. Unintentionally, this book also documents the impending economic collapse of 2008 as it tracks the holiday excesses of a swath of Americans over the three holiday seasons prior to the great melt down. In spite or, or maybe because, the author is not exactly 'churchy' his observations are clear sighted and not sentimental in a traditional sense. He documents the intersection of religion, society, and commerce through several extended families and their rituals and angst. I will definitely read his other works as I found his style fun and enjoyable.

[Sara Kreps · Rating 2 out of 5]

An "enlightened" grinch sets out to ruin the magic of Christmas by finding three people in central Texas to hang out with for the 2006 holiday season so he could write a self-righteous book siding their joy in the season. The sad thing is, he makes some good points and gets a few laughs; he's similar to David Sedaris but more pointed. But if you're looking for a heart warming tale, say bah-humbug to Tinsel.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good

[Brianna Idleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libby audio. Excellent look at what Christmas culture has done to us. Not an easy, warm, fuzzy holiday read, but a VERY important one. I'll likely think about this book every Christmas for the rest of my life. How have I been conditioned and what do I want Christmas to really mean? Highly recommend. Excellent narration.

[Dan P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patiently threads the needle between showing the hollowness and artificiality of modern suburban christmas and somewhat respectfully documenting the lives of guileless fanatics who are swept away by it. There's an undeniable appeal to life inside that plastic christmas bubble, where everything is curated for maximum gratification and the credit card bill is always a month away. But the cultural and intellectual cost hangs exquisitely above the whole thing like mistletoe of Damocles

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unexpectedly filled me with nostalgia and all of the emotions that flood through me during this time of year.

The audiobook narrator is PERFECT.

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is absolutely phenomenal. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Longform reportage at its best, with a sly sense of humor and just enough philosophical rumination to do its subject justice.

[Sarah Coller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodness! I didn't realize I'd had this for almost a year! I saved it for Christmas time on purpose, thinking it would be a good, festive holiday read. Once I pulled it out, mid-month, to put it in the Christmas reading pile, I realized it might be a little too pessimistic and might squelch my holiday spirit. So, I read a couple chapters and put it away for later. A couple days after Christmas, I decided to finish it up since it was still "in season". I spent the last afternoon of 2018 finishing it up and must say that I'm not feeling as down as I thought I might be.

From my perspective as a Christian, Christmas is a stand-in celebration day for the actually unknown date of Christ's birth. We honor his day of death (which we actually do know) so it makes sense to honor his day of birth, as well. I don't harbor any grandiose ideas that Christmas started out as, or even should be, a specifically religious holiday---I know enough of its history to know that's not the case. Still, we can make anything and any day glorify God and that's what Christians have done with December 25th. That all said, it was very interesting to read Stuever's point of view regarding the things he experienced during Frisco's Christmas season, as he is a nonreligious gay liberal man and I am a conservative Christian woman who believes the gay lifestyle to be a sin. The surprising parts might not be what you'd expect them to be...

My favorite good part of this story was the experience the author had shopping for Angel Tree gifts. A lot of Christians think we're the only ones capable of generosity toward strangers. I've found that to be very untrue, and actually somewhat the opposite, more times than I'd like to think about. God made humans with compassionate hearts and many unbelievers still act in ways that very well represent the heart of God. Unfortunately, what he later finds out about how Angel Tree operates is really disappointing to both him and to me.

I think the saddest parts I read about his personal experiences were the times when it was obvious he was searching for something "magical" in Christmas---searching for what it's "supposed" to be. What he's searching for will only be found in Christ, cliche as that sounds. I imagine he would both chuckle and cringe at that statement.

The character of Tammie first made me laugh ("things not in nature..." Ha!) but later made me angry. The amount of presents she bought for her kids was disgusting. I can't even imagine---what a waste!

I researched Jeff and Bridgette (ok, fine, I Facebook-stalked them) and wasn't surprised to find out they'd divorced. That's sad but she was so mean and ungrateful to Jeff. At one point she says he'd be pretty much nothing without her. Looks like she's pretty much wrong there as he's still putting on awesome light shows for the city of Frisco and looks to be happily remarried to someone kind-looking. Yay for him.

A few other fun mentions were the Muskogee display, which my son just went to last week with his girlfriend's family, as well as the dancing light display featuring Mariah Carey's most famously annoying "All I Want For Christmas Is You". Our town has a display featuring that, as well.

Overall, I'm glad I read this. While I don't feel our family is in danger of this kind of excess, we can still get a little caught up in what the secular world wants Christmas to be. Christmas, like a relationship with the Lord, is personal and is whatever you make it to be. As for me and my house, I hope we'll always spend Christmas giving glory to God and making happy memories together.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was largely amusing. Mostly just fine. I kind of liked that he wasn't doing a cynical approach to Christmas in the burbs, just documenting it for good and bad.