shopping
‘Tis the Season for Christmas Shopping in the Smokies
October 8, 2011 | 
Author
Every year the holiday season brings about the return of your favorite traditions. Family gatherings, twinkling lights and Christmas shopping! Think malls and major department stores are the only places to find outrageous bargains and creative gifts? Then you should head to the Smoky Mountains for a shopping extravaganza like you’ve never seen.
The Christmas Place
Located on the east side of the Parkway in Pigeon Forge, The Christmas Place is a perennial favorite with shoppers. Billed as the South’s largest Christmas store, you’ll find practically everything related to Christmas in one spot.
After 25 years in business, they know how to do Christmas right. Unique nativity scenes, designer Christmas trees, elegant floral arrangements, distinctive apparel and much more can be found at this delightful shopping village complete with its own light show.
Santa’s Claus-Et
If a more intimate Christmas shopping experience is what you have in mind, Gatlinburg, TN welcomes you to Santa’s Claus-Et. Enjoy the country side of Christmas as you enter this renovated farmhouse filled with crafts and other treasures.
Homemade recipes line the shelves. Take home a few jars of down-home flavor including jams, jellies, pickles, salsas and more. Your basket will run over (and your mouth will water) as you browse each of these taste-tested delights.
From personalized Christmas ornaments to kids’ gifts including rustic, twig Crayons, Santa’s Claus-Et is definitely worth a visit.
The Village
The winding, brick-lined walkways and traditional lampposts set the scene for an authentic-looking Old World village. You can experience the 27 unique shops that call The Village home and walk away with some truly uncommon gifts for yourself and everyone on your list.
Stroll among the bubbling fountains and inviting park benches for a special shopping and dining experience. Amid the primarily local shops you’ll find such notables as God’s Corner, Celtic Heritage, Simply Animals and the Donut Friar, just to name a few. Finding Christmas gifts for every man, woman, child and pet on your list will be a breeze.
Tanger Outlet Mall
A short drive from Gatlinburg is the tiny town of Sevierville, TN, birthplace of Dolly Parton and home of Tanger Outlet Mall. Here you can shop acres of famous retailer outlet stores to find deep discounts on clothes, shoes, home furnishings, jewelry and more.
With hundreds of stores and restaurants to choose from, you might want to devote an entire day to scouring this shopper’s paradise.
Antiques & Crafts Galore
In addition to the established shopping centers and villages, the Smokies are famous for their vast number of antiques dealers and craftsmen. From mom-and-pop antique stores to the Arts & Crafts Village in Gatlinburg, you’ll find variety and quality no big city could offer.
Ready? Set? Shop! For a little extra fun, make it a girls’ weekend. Pack up the ladies, rent a log cabin and shop till you drop this Christmas in a Smoky Mountain shopper’s dreamland.
Posted in shopping | 
Tags: Christmas Trees, Elegant Floral Arrangements, Gatlinburg Tn | 
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Tips To Keep In Mind When Shopping For A Gaming Laptop
If you are a hard-core PC gamer, then you will most likely be looking for a solution that allows you to game while still being able to travel around, such as to different LAN parties or competitions. One way to do this would be by purchasing a gaming laptop. When it comes to choosing a good quality gaming laptop, you will find that most of the factors that you should consider are very similar to that of any type of desktop gaming computer, with the one exception being that you would like your machine highly mobile as well. Therefore, it is crucial that your laptop has a powerful processor, powerful graphics card, and a good amount of RAM that has high bus speeds.
In addition, it also becomes important that you have a large display screen, therefore purchasing a laptop with a 17 inch screen or more is always a great investment. In the end, your gaming laptop should give you the best gaming experience possible while still being light enough to carry around. What you will realize very quickly, however, is that this is not always easy to do, which is mainly due to the larger screen size and more powerful components inside the machine. Another thing to keep in mind is that you will most likely not be able to depend too much on your battery life lasting very long, and the reason for this is due to the powerful CPU and graphics card that will be sucking a lot of that battery power to run efficiently. However, this is generally not a problem, because most gamers will usually have their laptop plugged in via cable to make sure that they get a consistent amount of electric power into their machines during gaming sessions.
A great way to find one of these powerful laptops is by going on the Internet, as there are many sites that specialize in making gaming computers. By taking this approach, you will be able to get a lot of information on any gaming laptop that you are looking to buy, thus ensuring that you finally make the right buying decision. While searching around, you will soon realize that it is possible to find deals online, but before you decide to pull out your wallet, pay special attention to the specs of the laptop in question. One way to make sure that you are getting a great deal is by asking yourself what type of games you play, as well as what type of games you are looking to play in the future, and then finding out what computer specs you will need to get the best gaming experience from those games. This in turn will make sure that you find the best laptop for your needs.