Merry Christmas! I hope everyone's having a safe time this year and enjoying good food, good cheer, and good family. Except for a (possibly) a few posts here and there, I'm expecting to take the week off from the blog—sort of a Christmas blog vacation.

Happy Holidays everybody!

Yes, there are only two real shopping days until Christmas left, and I realize there are more things in town to shop for than pets, books, toys and games, and food and drink. Here's a general roundup of more shopping options that I missed. (And I'm pretty sure I'll miss more, too.)

The Brew Shop: Homebrewing supplies for beer makers, and an excellent bottle shop for beer seekers. 2524 NE Division, 541-323-2318.

Local Joe: Downtown's locally-owned clothing store that's been around forever. 929 NW Wall, 541-385-7137.

Hot Box Betty: Women's boutique clothing. 903 NW Wall, 541-383-0050.

Bambini of Bend: Kids clothing, toys, and gear. 1052 NW Newport, Suite 102, 541-385-1806.

Folks from Desperado wrote in earlier with: "Desperado in the Old Mill carries some fun leather pillows by designer Patricia Wolf." The Old Mill, 541-749-9980.

Goody's: Can't believe I missed them the first time around. Handmade chocolates and candies, including sugar-free treats. 957 NW Wall, 541-389-5185, and 2680 NE Hwy. 20, 541-388-6965.

Ranch Records: Best local music store in town. 831 NW Wall, 541-389-6116.

Skjersaa's: They've really been around forever (since 1958). Ski and snowboard shop. 130 SW Century Drive, 541-382-2154‎.

Pine Mountain Sports: Outdoor sports and gear shop of all kinds. 255 SW Century Drive, 541-385-8080.

The last few posts have been pretty Bulletin-centric, but what can I say? They're publishing interesting stuff. Today it's a compendium of their own holiday gift guide.

Tech gifts, "nifty gifts" (whatever that means), practical gifts, homemade gifts, luxuries: not everything is local but it's good for ideas. Only a couple of shopping days left, and judging by what I've seen so far this season, people have waited longer this year—it's still busy out there.

The Bulletin has their annual list of big Christmas light displays online, and you should definitely drive around and check these out one of these nights.

We did tonight, and while we didn't follow the Bulletin's list, we did catch the display at Perrigan Drive, which the paper's article covers. It is as big and crazy as advertised and totally worth seeing.

The Bulletin's Ben Salmon has brought back Near/Far for the third year now: the compilation of free music representing the best music of 2009.

36 free, legal, downloadable MP3s covering the best music of 2009.

There are 18 from local bands like Moon Mountain Ramblers, Person People, Eric Tollefson, Erin Cole-Baker and more, and 18 from national acts like The Avett Brothers, Brendan Benson, Animal Collective, Felt, and Japandroids.

It all comes with nifty artwork in two .zip files.

I've said it before: this is one of the most progressive, open things the Bulletin does during the year. Of course, it's Salmon's hard work that makes this happen, but kudos to the Bulletin for being willing to support the endeavor.

Christmas is fast approaching (less than two weeks away!) and for any last-minute shopping you need to do, herewith are some suggestions. Organized by category, all as local as possible, with some specific suggestions and some general. Feel free to leave additional suggestions in the comments.

Both Newport Avenue Market and Whole Foods are great places to go for both specialty foods (gourmet cheeses, chocolates and candies, organic whatever), and have extensive beer and wine selections as well. (Particularly the beer—both have great offering perfect for any beer geek.)

Newport Market: 1121 NW Newport Avenue (west side), 541-382-3940. Open 7 days a week, 7am to 9pm.

Whole Foods: 2610 NE Highway 20 (east side), 541-389-0151. Open 7 days a week, 8am to 9pm.

Gift cards to one of our many good restaurants is always a good option: off the top of my head several good ones would be Zydeco, Ariana, the Pine Tavern, Joolz, the Victorian Café, Kebaba, and one of the many breweries.

Speaking of breweries, pick up a growler or bottles from one of our many: Deschutes Brewery, Bend Brewing, Silver Moon, 10 Barrel (at JC's), McMenamins, Cascade Lakes, or Three Creeks (in Sisters). Word to the wise about growlers though: they shouldn't sit around too long after buying them—they're full of fresh beer and don't have an airtight seal. So if you buy one a week or more in advance then you'll likely be giving flat beer as a gift.

More of a wine person? Try Maragas Winery or Volcano Vineyards. Both offer a nice variety of locally-produced wines which you can pick up (and taste!) in their tasting rooms here in town. Both also feature wine clubs that would be a fun gift to someone as well.

Maragas tasting room: 643 NW Colorado, 541-330-0919. Open Thursday through Saturday 2 to 8.

Volcano tasting room: 126 NW Minnesota, 541-617-1102. Open Tuesday through Saturday 12 to 8, Sunday 12 to 5.

Cheese goes great with wine, and Tumalo Farms produces handcrafted cheeses locally: artisan goat milk cheese, six different varieties on their website right now. You can order from them directly online, but I've also seen some of their cheeses as Whole Foods, and Newport Market probably has them as well.

Coffee lovers on your list? Check out Strictly Organic: they roast their own beans and sell a wide variety of blends and yes, they are certified organic. Stop in at their retail location/café to pick up your coffee, and stick around long enough for a cup or two and maybe lunch.

6 SW Bond, 541-330-6061. Open Monday through Saturday 8 to 8, Sunday 10 to 6.

Finally, booze might be what you're after—nothing wrong with that! My favorite liquor store is East Bend Liquor at 2220 East Highway 20, though the smaller west side liquor store inside of Ray's is pretty good also. East Bend Liquor carries a nice variety of gift packages—bottles of specialty alcohol with custom glassware, for instance—and the staff is friendly and very helpful.

And they stock the full line of Bendistillery wares as well: Crater Lake Vodka, Cascade Mountain Gin, Mazama Pepper Vodka, and the Hazelnut Espresso Vodka.

Christmas is fast approaching (less than two weeks away!) and for any last-minute shopping you need to do, herewith are some suggestions. Organized by category, all as local as possible, with some specific suggestions and some general. Feel free to leave additional suggestions in the comments.

D's Hobbies: A full-service hobby shop, with models, radio-controlled everything, paintball, wood hobbies, trains, puzzles, rockets, and much much more. It would be pretty hard not to find something, though they don't stock "just" toys (it's all hobby oriented). They have an online store too, but I definitely encourage you to stop in and browse.

757 NE Greenwood, 541-389-1330. Open 7 days a week, 10 to 6.

Leapin' Lizards: Downtown Bend's boutique toy store, carrying many of the popular toys as well as the unusual, imaginative, and educational toys and games. Great for big gifts and stocking stuffers. They'll gift wrap orders over $15.

953 NW Wall, 541-382-8326. Open Monday through Saturday from 10 to 6, Sunday from 11 to 4 (winter hours).

Pegasus Books: Not just books and comics, Pegasus carries a large number of games and toys that are comic, video game, and/or science fiction themed, or just plain eclectic or unusual. Heard of a fun and unusual board game? Try here first.

105 NW Minnesota, 541-388-4588. Open Monday through Saturday 11 to 6, Sunday 12 to 4.

I don't know of any toymakers in town, other than the Qubits people: they've developed an educational construction toy that's kind of a cross between an erector set and Legos, but flexible; the pieces are uniquely geometrical and there are a couple of kinds of connectors to play around with.

There's a Junior Kit for $29.99, and a Jumbo Kit for $79.95, all ages 5 and up. Order online directly from their website.

Christmas is fast approaching (less than two weeks away!) and for any last-minute shopping you need to do, herewith are some suggestions. Organized by category, all as local as possible, with some specific suggestions and some general. Feel free to leave additional suggestions in the comments.

If you're just browsing, there are a number of local new and used bookstores you should visit (in alphabetical order):

Between the Covers: 645 NW Delaware (the corner of Delaware and Bond), 541-385-4766. Open Monday through Saturday, 10 to 6.

The Bookmark: 228 NE Greenwood, 541-617-9271. Open 10 to 5:30, I think 7 days a week (at least Monday through Saturday).

Camalli Book Company: 1288 SW Simpson, Suite C, 541-323-6134. Open Monday through Saturday 10 to 6, Sunday 12 to 4.

Dudley's Bookshop Cafe: 135 NW Minnesota, 541-749-2010.

The Open Book: 155 NE Greenwood, 541-388-3249. Open Monday through Saturday 10 to 6.

Pegasus Books: 105 NW Minnesota, 541-388-4588. Open Monday through Saturday 11 to 6, Sunday 12 to 4.

Of course, there are specific book recommendations as well (some from user submissions, some are my own picks):

All Around Bend: Though the first printing has sold out, this newest (locally-published) guidebook to Bend looks to be accepting (pre?)orders for the new edition.

Living Local Coupon Book: Featuring 150 coupons from local businesses, including Alpenglow Cafe, Bellatazza, the Deschutes Historical Museum, Pine Mountain Sports, and many more. It's $20 and coupons are good through November 2010.

Haven Home Style in downtown Bend features a variety of "Interior Design and Specialty Books" available for purchase. If you're looking for books on architecture, interior design, or lifestyle you might give them a look.

Bend, Overall: Great guidebook released five years ago, by Scott Cook. (Read my review.) (Yes, a couple of these are Amazon.com links—despite my admonition to buy local. Sometimes those are the best-available links and I'm using my affiliate code. Click as you wish.)

Frontier Doctor: Love this book, it's the early history of Bend and the town's first doctor, Urling Coe. Fun read, a must for local history buffs.

Bend (Images of America): You can get this at the Deschutes Historical Museum, a 100-year pictorial history of Bend.

Meet Me in the Badlands: Exploring Central Oregon with Jim Witty: A collection of some of the best of the late Jim Witty's great travel adventures around Central Oregon. Proceeds from sales go to the Jim Witty Memorial Fund. Also found at the Deschutes Historical Museum, and some of the outdoor sports stores like Pine Mountain Sports.

Christmas is fast approaching (less than two weeks away!) and for any last-minute shopping you need to do, herewith are some suggestions. Organized by category, all as local as possible, with some specific suggestions and some general. Feel free to leave additional suggestions in the comments.

RuffWear: Bend is a dog town, so naturally there evolved a company like RuffWear: they produce gear for "dogs on the go", from boots to coats to packs to beds and quite a bit more. They even helpfully have a Holiday Gift Ideas section on their website, organized by price.

The folks from RuffWear wrote in to say, "Our products are available either through our website, or at Healthy Paws in Northwest crossing, Pandora's Backpack downtown, or at both locations of Bend Pet Express."

Contact/info: order directly from their website or visit one of the afore-mentioned stores in person.

Bend Pet Express: Bend's locally-owned pet superstore, with locations on both the west and east sides of town. Pet food, toys, accessories, treats, and even a grooming service, Bend Pet Express has everything you should need. You can shop online, and they'll even deliver!

Right now you can buy personalized ornaments, and like RuffWear are running some other Holiday Gift Ideas on their website's front page. Even better, they are running wishlists for local non-profits: things you can buy and donate to organizations that help animals.

East side: 420 NE Windy Knolls, 541-385-5298. Open 7 days a week, 9 to 6.

West side: 133 SW Century Drive, 541-89-4620. Same days/hours.

A bit late, but here's a roundup of stuff going on this weekend. The Good Drop Wine Shoppe is still holding their free tastings through Saturday during their regular hours of 11 to 6. There's also a number of Santa-related things I'm not listing here, but you can find on Visit Bend's event calendar.

Friday

• The Bicycle Art Walk is going on downtown; businesses will display bicycle-themed art and other fun bike-related events will take place in conjunction with the 2009 National Cyclocross Championships. From 5 to 9pm.
• Matt Miller brings his music to Bottoms Up in Sunriver, starting at 7pm.
• Indie artists The Physical Hearts & Celilo are playing Silver Moon Brewing at 9pm. Cover is only $5.

Saturday

• The Phoenix Inn is having a Holiday Rummage Sale from 8am until 4pm. $2 admission for adults, taking place at the hotel on Franklin.
• Frontier Santa—aka Father Christmas—is at the High Desert Museum from 11 to 2. This is Santa dressed in green Victorian garb. $10 non-members (plus admission), $5 members; includes a gingerbread cookie and a personalized photograph.
• Matt Miller gets around: he's playing Strictly Organic Coffee at noon. It's a free show.
• Blind Citizens & The Dirty Words are playing at Silver Moon at 9pm. Hip-hop/rock music for $5.
• Sublime tribute band 40 Oz. to Freedom is playing The Domino Room at 9pm (doors open at 8). $12 cover.

Sunday

• Peace of Mind Orchestra is at Silver Moon Brewing at 7pm. They're funk/rock, and cover is $5.

First full week of December is down and I'm thinking about the ol' Holiday Shopping Guide series of posts. Actually, there were two different ones: the Shopping Guide for places to shop back in 2006, and the Gift Guide for specific local products back in 2007.

(Last year I did a "12 days of Christmas" countdown.)

So if I do a 2009 all-in-one shopping/gift guide, what does everyone want to see? Perhaps I'll scroll through the old posts of 2009 and look for likely things, as well as rehashing the previous guides.

If you have something in mind, or something you want to sell, let me know either with a comment on this post or via the contact form. Or heck, use Facebook or Twitter too.

This seems like such an odd story—how does a government operation not get its lease renewed?—but KOHD is reporting that the DMV did just that and now has to move.

The Bend DMV field office is moving temporarily to the former Bend Visitor Center, now owned by another division of the Oregon Department of Transportation.

The office will leave its current location after close of business on Dec. 17 and will reopen Dec. 22 at the ODOT Region 4 annex building, 63085 N Highway 97, Bend. DMV will operate at this location until a permanent site is ready for use in Bend. That location has not been announced. The DMV hopes to have one secure by January. It has to relocate because the lease at its current location was not renewed.

The temporary office's hours of business will remain the same - 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, except Wednesday, when the office is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Just in time for the holidays...

The old Visitor Center is just across the street from and a bit north of Shopko.

We were late to the Christmas Parade today, so naturally missed the Flash Mob that happened beforehand.

Wait, "Flash Mob"? Well, just watch:

If you have trouble viewing the embedded video, go check out the original on YouTube.

There's a pretty good variety of things going on this weekend, check it out:

Friday

• Tonight it's First Friday in Downtown Bend, the Old Mill District, and Northwest Crossing: also know as the Art Walk where galleries stay open late with receptions, featuring guest artists and new exhibits. There's also been known to be live music and refreshments (wine!). From 5 until 9pm tonight.
• During Art Walk, Lahaina Galleries is featuring their Annual Holiday Show, featuring original artwork that will be unveiled from three artists (who will be attending). Also 5 to 9.
• At Paradigm Artist suites (upstairs from Local Joes), there will be featured Portland filmmaker Phil Davis (who will be there in person) and his documentary "Living in Community", about a community working hard to live sustainably away from modern society. It takes place at 7pm. (During Art Walk.) Also featuring artwork by Karen Eland and Coffee Creations and Photography from Native American Artist Forest James.
• Mark Ransom and The Mostest (with special guest Brad Jones) is the featured show at Silver Moon Brewing tonight. Rock/folk music for a $5 cover. The show starts at 9pm.

Saturday

• The Bend Christmas Parade is taking place at noon!
• The Good Drop Wine Shoppe is featuring free wine tastings from 11 until 6 for a week starting Saturday. Besides the free tastings, a portion of the proceeds from sales over the week will be donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Oregon.
• It's Repeal Day at the Blacksmith: December 5th is the day Prohibition ended, so the Blacksmith is having "a special celebration with a pre-prohibition cocktail list with such delights as the whiskey daisy, the Saratoga brace up, and Santa Cruz sour."
• Bluegrass group the Montana Slim String Band is playing Silver Moon Brewing at 9pm. Cover is $7.

Sunday

• The free Cascade Winds Symphonic Band Concert is taking place at Summit High School starting at 2pm. It's their opening concert of the season, and you can go watch Jake bang on some drums.

I nearly forgot that the Bend Christmas Parade is this weekend! This is one of my favorite Bend events of the holiday season, and it's coming up this Saturday, December 5th.

The Parade starts at noon, and as always, proceeds from Newport and Harmon east along Newport and the Bridge, then turns south(west) on Wall. Then west on Franklin/Riverside (along Drake Park) to cross the Galveston Bridge and end up back on Harmon.

Bundle up before you go, though. The temperature is only supposed to be 33 degrees that day.

You can't go anywhere without hearing about the OSU-UO Civil War tonight, and if you're looking for a place to watch the game tonight, McMenamins is showing the game on their big screen (the theater).

Doors will open at 4:30 while the game kicks off at 6. Admission is free (though you can buy food and drinks, of course—and what would football be without beer?), and minors are welcome with a parent.

This Friday is the First Friday Art Walk in Downtown Bend (also the Old Mill District and Northwest Crossing). In addition to the usual activities going on from 5pm until 9pm (galleries open late, often with live music and/or refreshments), I have some details on extra things happening that were sent in.

- At Paradigm Artist suites (upstairs from Local Joes), there will be featured Portland filmmaker Phil Davis (who will be there in person) and his documentary "Living in Community", about a community working hard to live sustainably away from modern society. It takes place at 7pm.

- They'll also be "featuring Artwork by Karen Eland and Coffee Creations (coffee-art.com) and Photography from Native American Artist Forest James forestjames.com".

- There's going to be a second Art Walk on Friday, December 11th:

The Downtown Bend Business Association invites bicycle fans to enjoy a special Bicycle Art Walk on Friday, December 11. Downtown business will display bicycle-themed art and other fun bike-related events will take place in conjunction with the 2009 National Cyclocross Championships in Bend, December 10-13. The Bicycle Art Walk event is in addition to the regular First Friday Art Walk downtown on December 4. For Bicycle Art Walk, everyone is encouraged to leave their cars at home and ride a bicycle.

Incidentally, the Downtown Bend website has been revamped and is now actually usable; they have a good listing of businesses participating in this Friday's Art Walk, as well as participants for the Bicycle Art Walk.

The title pretty much says it all... this evening (from 5:30 until about 7) there's a Tweetup/"Ugly Holiday Sweater Party" over at Flatbread Pizza in the Old Mill District. The Facebook Event page is here.

Wear your ugliest (or coolest, depending on your point of view) holiday sweater, show up and have fun. Kids are welcome. And yes, Flatbread has beer and wine as well as food.

January 1st is the date the new cellphone law goes into effect: if you talk on your cellphone while driving and are not using a hands-free device, you can be pulled over and fined $90. Are you ready for that? The Bulletin ran an article today on the subject.

Passed by the Oregon Legislature earlier this year, the new law bars drivers younger than 18 from using a cell phone behind the wheel at all — with or without a hands-free device — and outlaws text messaging while driving for all drivers.

Violation of the law will be considered a “primary” offense, meaning police will be authorized to pull over and cite drivers observed texting or holding a phone to their ear.

A hands-free device is a headset or earpiece that connects to a phone by wire or with a wireless signal, allowing an individual to talk on the phone without the use of their hands. Under the new law, drivers will be permitted to handle their phone to answer a call, dial a number or hang up, but must use the hands-free device while conversing.

The article also covers the exemption to the law: if you are driving and using a cellphone "in the scope of" your job. But it's pretty clear no one knows what that means.

So what does everyone think? Are we going to see an uptick on people being pulled over around town come January 1st?