Holiday Shopping contest winners: Joanne's Stained Glass and Gallery, Tahoe Forest Hospice Gift and Thrift

Joanne's Stained Glass and Gallery By chriso

Close your eyes — imagine entering a dazzling display of glass prisms, sculptures and slowly-rotating orbs. Rainbow hues and fairy dust seem to radiate everywhere! An enchanted holiday fairyland? Almost! Joanne's Stained Glass and Gallery, located along the downtown Truckee row, is my very favorite holiday stop and shop.

Entering Joanne’s is delicious with anticipation. Her store always has a few surprises and is a wonderland of glass treats. She has such a variety of inventory and something for every price range. I always know I’ll find that perfect gift for anyone and everyone, especially the person who has everything.

Joanne’s is also a great holiday stop because they gift wrap, in fun brown or white boxes that are tied up with colorful raffia bows. The hard part is when to stop buying! There are so many tempations! When I went in this week, there were holiday glass ornaments, jeweled vintage purses, candles from Africa, even a “Santa Buddha” in the back of the store.

My current favorite merchandise is the fused glass jewelry called Dazzling Jewels, made by Joanne’s daughter, Julie Pohler. Artistic flair definitely runs in the family! Julie makes stunning necklaces, bracelets and earrings in color-coordinated themes. They are one-of-a-kind pieces and the perfect When you are in the mood for a little enchantment, visit Joanne's in downtown Truckee. She will help you find the perfect gift or you can custom order just exactly what you want. Just remind little ones to “look with your eyes only”!

Our Thrifty Christmas By Mary Serrano

Last year we decided as a family to have a “Thrift Store Christmas” and what better place to start our shopping then the local Truckee “Tahoe Forest Hospice Gift & Thrift Shop”. The challenge of course was to find the perfect gift for each family member. Georgia who has a very large frog collection became the proud owner of a wonderful small pewter addition to her collection. And that was only the package topper. Tino who loves copper accents and tea became the proud owner of a teapot with a copper, wool lined tea cozy for $3.50. Our children born in 1979 and 1981 received numerous gifts including Disney annual summary books outlining what happened in the world during the year of their birth. We were even able to keep up a long tradition of matching pajamas for two cousins – both sported red drop bottom underwear in 2007! Those made for some great pictures.

The helpful volunteer staff all joined in the fun. Our families, right down to my 91 year old mother-in-law were recognized as part of the Thrift Store Christmas family. On occasion the staff even became our personal shoppers, pointing out items they knew we had been searching for. We started early but don’t panic, the end of the year is typically a time when people donate more to thrift shops so opportunity awaits you. If not this year – perhaps Christmas ‘09.

Happy Holidays.