This year I'm doing the traditional Christmas thing. There's a real tree carefully trimmed, a three-year-old peeking at her presents and stockings all hung by the chimney with care. We are working on the Santa myth and reading the Grinch and Gift of a Magi to remind ourselves that Christmas is not all about stuff. We're even listening to Christmas music including Elvis, Willy Nelson and Johnny Cash. I enjoy the sparkling lights, the careful gift selection, the hiding and cooking and wrapping and sing-alongs. However, there's a part of me that yearns for the holidays of my 20s when all I celebrated was something akin to Festivus.

Saturday was busy for shoppers but also busy for one of Santa's helpers! The Christmas Fairy Glimmer made a special stop with the big man in the red coat to read classic holiday stories for our awesome kids! We read The Polar Express then handed out an assortment of brightly colored bells. After much anticipation Glimmer announced that Santa was waiting to meet everyone in the Kids Corner!

December Bookmans Treasure Hunt: The Search For Local Business Booty led our @bookmansphoenix followers to the royal establishment of Noble Beast located on 10th Street and Camelback. Two furry paws up for those Twitter followers who used primal smarts to decipher the clues, find the animal oasis and exclaim with joy, “I Love Bookmans!” to the Noble Beast staff. Those clever detectives won prize packs that included tickets to see Daddy Long Legs at the Arizona Theater Company, special goods from Hug 'N Pups Grooming Salon, passes for a free movie at The Royale Theater, stocking stuffers from Bookmans and gift cards for Bookmans Own Brand (B.O.B.) merchandise. This holiday it is more fun to hunt for gifts rather than just shop for them!

The Mesa Arts Center is Arizona's largest art center and home to four theaters, fourteen art studios, five art galleries and the annual Mesa Arts Festival. This visually stunning campus is a work of art with its design and is enchanting for all ages.

We brought out the Bookmans Mesa staff to partner with volunteers of The Mesa Arts Center and BookPALS to bring you the Bookmans Family Creativity Area. All weekend long we invited families to show their artistic side. Hand-painted ceramic ornaments now adorn the tree in valley residents' homes. Our favorite part was the pinecone decorating. With nothing more than endless options of art scraps, family members used their imaginations to create unique and one-of-a-kind pinecone sculptures. We saw snowmen, peacocks, reindeer, penguins and more! While the children waited for their newly created pieces of holiday art to dry they were invited to listen to a holiday-inspired story performed by our good friends the Arizona BookPALS.

Taking a step back from our daily hustle and bustle to reflect on the little things in life and more importantly remember those who are in need is an important holiday tradition. We teamed up with your continuous Christmas music station 99.9KEZ for the National Youth Sports Books and Toys for Girls and Boys to collect as many toys as possible to donate to the Phoenix Childrens Hospital and the kids who would be staying there during the holidays. Because you spent a few bucks and a few moments of your day to stop by one of the donation bins at Bookmans, the NYS bins at the library or 99.9KEZ events to drop off an opened toy we collected hundreds of toys and books to give to the little ones.

The Konamis is a webcomic by Jack Crawford and Bookmans own Tavis Maiden (@tavismaiden). Updated each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, follow the adventures of The Konamis, a real comic tale about the real comic adventure of The Konamis (meaning "little waves"), the little ol' rock band that makes a big splash!

The Konamis: Robutts

HOHOHO! Santa arivied on time and hung out with us Bookmans Speedway for a while. We made Raindeer Candy Canes and took pictures!

There are only three or so months in southern Arizona where the sun doesn't chase after you with its fiery pitchfork of heatstroke. From mid November until the beginning of February it's safe to venture outside, which is why all the most exciting activity filled festivals has to be crammed into that tiny three-month window. During December it seems like there is a festival every single day whether it be a musical festival, craft festival, holiday or beer fest. If you live in Phoenix you know that now is your time to take advantage. With so many events to choose from it can be hard to decide to which to go.

Fa La La LA, Merry Happy Holidays! Desert Melodies consists of Amber Lee Harrington, Beth Clayton and Chris Brewer under the musical direction of Harriet Siskin. They joined us this past Saturday singing sweet holiday tunes and turned this place into a winter wonderland, with a little help from the weather. BRRRCHillly!

Saturday, Dec. 3 was busy, busy, busy at Bookmans Mesa! Not only did we have lots of faces choosing to buy local for their holiday season, we had plenty of entertainment.

The creativity started early with Holiday Altered Art. Nancy brought out her pretty paper and supplies for our lovely ladies. Lots of cutting, punching, folding, gluing and thoughtfulness filled our café as we used found supplies to create altered art book pages. Books that could not be sold but were perfectly sized provided the foundation for the creative canvas. Beautiful works of art will be displayed in everyone's home this holiday season with the miniature display stands they were surprised with.

Hello! This past Wednesday at Family Game Night we had open Gaming and Live Music featuring the handsome Mark Garris!

See? We told you he was handsome.

Mark G. plays all over Tucson and sang some sweet melodies as we worked, shopped and played games. Join us every Wednesday starting at 6 p.m. for Family Game Night. Find us on Flickr to see pictures form this event! Have a Wonderful Day!

Bookmans has always been more than a bookstore and working here has always been more than a job. Every Bookmans employee can attest that working here is unlike anything we have or ever will ever experience. Bookmans has a life of its own and we've adapted to the laid back, fun and unusual ways. When you work at a place like this you become accustomed to no two days being the same or even any two hours being the same. By the minute the store is filled with new customers, new product, new questions and new experiences.