SANTA SAYS >>>>

According to my Magic Snowball, there's 38 days of shopping left. That means acute cases of both Toysrusophobia and Costcophobia are increasingly appearing in the mindscapes of the frenzied. Symptoms include fierce scowls, crabby retorts, rolled eyeballs, thinly disguised venomous sarcasm and jumpy middle fingers.

One way to relieve these symptoms is to make sure that you do some, if not all, of your holiday shopping at the shops of small local merchants or bazaars. A good rule of thumb: Do no more than 50 percent of your shopping at places that have listings on NASDAQ or the New York Stock Exchange. By adhering to this guideline, you may spend a little more dough, but you'll flip off far fewer of your fellow consumer zombies. And hey, that's what the holidays are all about, right?

But before you decide to curl up into a ball inside your big down parka and never come out, take into account all of the lovely things that accompany all of this weirdness. One of my favorite South Sound happenings is the annual Yule Boutique, Pacific Lutheran University's Women's Club signature event held on campus.

Each year, approximately 100 vendors from around the Puget Sound region gather to sell their handcrafted items, which include everything from jewelry, pottery and woodworking to soaps and Christmas wreaths. It's sort of the Big Dance of local holiday bazaars. Before a vendor is allowed to rent a booth, a jury must approve their wares to ensure quality.

The event features musical entertainment from a five-member recorder-playing group in the morning and accordion player Dick Myking in the afternoon. Traditional Scandinavian pastries, lefse and Greek food will also be served.

All the proceeds from the event are used to fund PLU student scholarships.

The Army ROTC will be operating a shuttle to bring shoppers from the various parking lots across campus to the entrance of Olson.

[Olson Auditorium, Saturday, Nov. 19, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., $3, free for PLU students, Pacific Lutheran University, off 124th Street South and 10th Avenue South, Parkland]

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Filed under: Art, Gifts, Food, Decorations, Crafts, Music, Tacoma,