There once was a time, years ago, when Christmas shopping meant bundling up in coats and scarves before trooping out to the local strip of variety and boutique stores that were adorned with frost-painted windows and holiday lights. Window displays always included train sets, red-hatted elves and stockings hung from fireplaces. Days were spent pressing cold noses against window glass to peer into mom-and-pop shops on Main Street.

Those days might be gone in many American neighborhoods, but Tacoma’s Proctor District never got the memo.

The Proctor District Holiday Fest gets its Christmas on with local merchant offers, shopping at the Farmers Market, Santa and the Dickens Carolers.