Happy Holidays

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Shawna Kupfner at the Holiday Market in Louisville

Tossing aside the tinsel, the tangled strings of lights, the scent of pine needles consistently shed onto the carpet and all of the other trappings of the holiday season, the stockings and stuffings and packages and boxes, the holidays are not about stuff.

The holidays are about many things that don’t fit into boxes — time with friends and family, sharing food and trading stories, celebrating and creating new traditions.

Of course, the giving and receiving of gifts is among those traditions. And when you’re making that list that you check twice, the debate often seems to come down not to “Naughty or nice?” but “What does someone who has everything already want for the holidays?”

Rather than preaching a Zen-like value of nothing and handing out empty boxes to be unwrapped and absorbed like a koan, we’ve packed this year’s Gift Guide full of suggestions and ideas to augment your list and ease your shopping woes. Whether you’re looking to add something fun to a loved one’s stocking, wrap something that will spark both imagination and fun for the kids on your list or further enable the adventures of your favorite outdoors aficionado, we’ve rounded up a few ideas to get you started. Our hope is that a little inspiration will help guide you through the gauntlet of shopping and quickly to those moments that matter — when gifts are unwrapped, hugs are exchanged and we move into enjoying, yes, a little bit of extra stuff, but also, enjoying the people.

Many happy holiday wishes from everyone here at Boulder Weekly.