Tinsel
A Search for America's Christmas Present

When Stuevers narrative begins, hes standing in line with the people waiting to purchase flatscreen TVs at Best Buy on Black Friday, the opening of the Christmas shopping season. From there he follows a number of key residents of Frisco, Texas, as they navigate through the nativity and all its attendant crises: Tammy Parnell, an eternally optimistic suburban mother and proprietor of Two Elves with a Twist, a company that decorates other peoples houses for Christmas; Jeff and Bridgett Trykoski, owners of that one house every town has, the house visible from space with the brightest and most aweinspiring Christmas decorations; and single mother and Bank of America employee Caroll Cavazos, who hopes that the lifeaffirming moments of Christmas might overcome the struggles of the rest of the year. Steuvers portraits are at once humane, heartfelt, revealingand very, very funny. Tinsel is a compelling tale of our halftrilliondollar holiday, measuring what weve become against the ancient rituals of what weve always been.