Shop where you live. That’s this issue’s big message. Unless you happen to live in the suburbs, in which case the message is: Come to Buffalo to shop. We want you here, and we have what you need.

In this season of giving thanks among family and friends, many of us become filled—not only with turkey and stuffing, potatoes and cranberry sauce, string beans with almonds and warm, buttery rolls, pies and sweets of all varieties—but also with the spirit of giving back. Some of us feel briefly compelled to do so much more. The holidays trigger a spike in volunteerism that is lacking the rest of the year.

Four area chefs were kind enough to share some favorite holiday recipes with us. Some are off the menu at their respective establishments and some are home specialties, for Christmas, Hannukah, Thanksgiving or simply the best the season has to offer.

Allentown can be a shopper’s paradise, with its mix of oddity and panache among the mostly small stores that line the region’s main streets — an area of a few square blocks that includes Elmwood, Allen and Delaware. Allentown proper lies between North and Virginia Sts., from Main to Symphony Circle, where Allen curves into Wadsworth to become Richmond Ave. There are plenty of shops in this district and I am convinced that one could, with proper planning, fulfill all Christmas shopping needs on a stroll through this neighborhood. So let’s see what we find.

It’s not as there aren’t plenty of reasons to travel to Grant Street the rest of the year, no matter where in the city you live. But during the holidays, especially, those reasons multiply. Certainly Guercio & Sons (250 Grant Street) is worth at least a weekly visit year-round—it has some of the best produce in the city, dried pasta and canned tomatoes—the good brands—are cheaper here than in any grocery store, and the deli is incomparable, stocked with fine olives and cured meats, fresh mozzarella and a variety of cheeses and salads. All things you ought to have on hand for the holidays, when unexpected visitors are wont to stop by for cocktails and snacks. You can also load up on unshelled hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts for stocking-stuffers ($3 per bag), a variety of biscotti, wasabi peas, pumpkin seeds, cashews, sesame sticks—there are shelves and shelves of nibbly things to choose from, all of which will save you worrying what to put out for guests at the last minute. You can also pick up a panettone ($5,95)—an Italian classic for the holiday season—if it suits your taste. Or, for a truly impressive gift—designed to elicit love from nieces and nephews and loathing from their parents—an 11-pound chocolate bar ($34, white, milk or semi-sweet). Who doesn’t want that?

Every year the holidays sneak up on me, so this year I am determined to get a head start. I ventured over to Hertel Avenue to start getting some gift ideas. Hertel has a lot to offer when it comes to shopping as well as eating. This traditionally Italian neighborhood has no shortage of great restaurants, delis and pizza joints. So if you are coming here to shop, save your appetite for a stop at one of the many great restaurants.

I’ve been an Elmwood Avenue flaneur for 20-odd years now and have watched shops open and close—and close and close and close. In the late 1980s, Elmwood looked grim—it seemed like there were more empty storefronts than going concerns. The mid and late 1990s brought something of a resurgence, led by a handful of young entrepreneurs, especially in the tonier blocks between West Ferry and Lancaster. A few blocks south, however, between Utica and Bryant, and a few blocks north, between Delavan and Forest, shops and restaurants came and went. An uneasy equilibrium between growth and decline maintained.

In University Heights there is a group of stores that seem perfectly aligned and ready to welcome anybody looking for a different type of present to give this year.

In Buffalo, drinking season officially kicks off on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and runs until New Year’s Day. It’s a relatively short period, but very intense. That’s why many self-described “social drinkers” train year-round at special events like every single hockey, football and baseball game, as well as important holidays like Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day, April Fool’s Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, the Fourth of July, August 17 (Davy Crockett’s Birthday), Labor Day and Halloween—with sundry birthdays and anniversaries peppered throughout the year—and allowing for other special occasions like whenever it’s raining and whenever it’s not raining.

It is estimated that American households typically carry $8,000 in credit card debt. One of the reasons for this is the annual spending spree known as the Christmas shopping season. Many will be paying off their debts well into next year for the momentary rush of obtaining the “perfect gifts” for loved ones on Christmas Day.

Every year about this time I say the same thing: “I’m doing all my Christmas shopping by mail this year.” And every year on December 23, you can find me at the mall, filled with loathing for my fellow man who can’t park a car straight in one friggin’ inch of snow, and revulsion at the picked-over selection at the stores, exacerbated by the piped-in warblings of Chip Davis’ Hokey Christmas Minimoog. Well, I just got my Christmas catalogs, and the mail-order situation is looking pretty dire too.