After the packages are taped, labeled, and mailed to Kentucky, after the fruit cake is stirred, baked, and soused, after the cards are written and stamped...then it's time to buy myself a little thing or two.
My friend from Memphis, who is not exactly Jewish, buys herself eight gifts for Hanukkah. Her tradition is one I fully embrace, so today I had myself a merry little Christmas by spending the afternoon consignment-store shopping in The Haight.
I was outed as a second-hand shopper at a dinner party a couple of years ago. Someone tall and blonde complimented me on the basic black I was wearing and my husband volunteered, with obvious pride, that I had nabbed it at The Goodwill for almost nothing. As I struggled to make eye contact with him he continued to explain that I shopped at thrift stores all the time. 
I avoid bedding, tooth brushes, and shoes, but some of my best finds have indeed come from second-hand shops. Sue's Boutique in Clinton has racks exploding with delectable Sylvie-sized dresses. They're for the girly-girl, sometimes ruffled and smocked, and always freshly washed and ironed right in the back room. Sue will occasionally divulge the source of her bounty, so I know that Silas's overalls were handed down by Ethan and Sylvie's puffy white sweater was recently outgrown by Olivia.
Add San Francisco's zest for self-expression to the city's zeal for recycling and you've got some of the best foraging in the universe. Today at the Haight Goodwill, an invigorating 40-minute hike from my house, I completed retail therapy with a tarnished but possibly useful tea canister for $1.99; I bypassed a stack of 20 dessert dishes made festive by a metallic band of silver and slate, but I was sorely tempted.