Give In

Welcome to SN&R’s 2010 Holiday Gift Guide! These pages are merry and bright—just like everything else about the holiday season! From now until New Year’s Day, it’s nothing but sugarplum visions and goodwill toward all!

What’s that? You can’t hear us over the unceasing carols blaring out of every store’s PA system? You’re overwhelmed dashing from gift shop to relative’s house to company party, trying desperately to cram 12 days of Christmas into one?

The holidays are a wonderful time to reconnect with loved ones and celebrate our brightest hopes, but the season certainly has a dark side. The pressure to get just the right thing for everyone you know, whether you can afford it or not, can turn even the most well-meaning Santa into a Grinch.

That’s why we’re not sugarcoating things this year. Our gift guide mixes the light and the dark, the joy and the fatigue, the shining treetop angel and the gritty lump of coal. On the bright side, our writers have searched Sacramento area shops to find the best “Local gifts for lovely people”. In our Grinchier moments, we compiled “Awful gifts for annoying people”, SN&R’s first-ever guide to shopping for frenemies. Interspersed throughout, you’ll find true stories from SN&R writers about their most memorable gifts from past holidays.

So grab a sweet glass of eggnog or a bitter lump of fruitcake and curl up with SN&R’s 2010 Holiday Gift Guide. It’s one part winter wonderland, one part “Bah! Humbug!” and 100 percent sincere in wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season.