Tinsel

In Tinsel Hank Stuever turns his unerring eye for the idiosyncrasies of modern life to Frisco Texas--a suburb at once all-American and completely itself--to tell the story of the nation's most over-the-top celebration: Christmas. Stuever's tale begins on the blissful easy-credit dawn of Black Friday as he jostles for bargains among the crowds at the big-box stores. From there he follows Frisco's true believers as they navigate through three years of holiday drama. Tammie Parnell is the proprietor of Two Elves with a Twist a company that decks the halls of other people's McMansions. Jeff and Bridgette Trykoski spend eleven months preparing the visible-from-space awe-inspiring light display they stage on their lawn each December. And single mother Caroll Cavazos a devout churchgoer hopes that the life-affirming moments of the season can transcend her everyday struggles. Tinsel is a humane revealing and very funny portrait of one community's quest to discover a more perfect holiday amidst the frenzied mega-churchy shoparific world of Christmas.