Tinsel

Hank Stuever's new book, Tinsel: A Search for America's Christmas Present, is an intriguing account of his time spent with three families in Frisco, Texas (an affluent exurb of Dallas). I listened to the audio book in my car and found that I had to wait in the car several times after reaching my destination because I wanted to find out what was to happen next. Mostly affectionate, sometimes mocking, Stuever documents the history and myth, consumerism, frenzy, and loyalty people have toward the winter holiday.

• Tammie Parnell, a gated-community wife and supermom who runs her own Christmas decorating business. She charges her clients up to $1,000 a day to put up their artificial trees, garland and other trinkets, even as it distracts her from the cozy, perfect, family holiday she envisions.
• Jeff and Bridgette Trykoski, who own that house every community has, the one with cars lined up around the block to see the lights display, which, at Jeff and Bridgette's place, dance in time to music. Now Jeff has been hired to create a display three times as big at Frisco's newly developed town square. But what's life like inside the brightest house in town?
• Caroll Cavazos, a hardworking single mom who struggles stay upbeat during the production of her megachurch's Christmas pageant, focusing on the "reason for the season" even as she finds herself navigating the throngs at Best Buy at the Black Friday sales.