My annual Christmas shopping tradition is to wait until the very last minute, then run around the mall in a frenzy. There, as the clock winds down, I try to extract the perfect gifts from all the picked-over crap. The only cure for all that stress is a nice stiff drink. But, unfortunately, I have to wait until after I’m finished to start imbibing, because apparently drinking in Nordstrom is frowned upon. (Sorry again, mall security guards, for last year’s…unpleasantness). This year, however, the Fremont Chamber of Commerce had the brilliant vision to combine the pressure of Christmas shopping with the release of drinking at its Fremont Pub Crawl Shopping Spree. First print your official crawl guide cue sheet from the Web site, or grab it from locations including Mishu, Frank and Dunya, or Portage Bay Goods. Then head to Fremont and start abusing your credit score. Buy something from, say, Ophelia’s Books, and they’ll stamp your sheet, which you then take to bars including the Dubliner, High Dive, and Red Door. This gets you special discounted drink price. Suck one down, then continue the process until, A) your shopping is done, B) you can no longer stand up straight, C) your credit cards are maxed out, or D) all of the above (my own personal goal). If you’re smart, wait until you sober up before wrapping the presents to avoid any surprises on Christmas morning. Unless you’d rather explain why you gave your father a sparkly cardigan and your mother a book on engine rebuilding. Downtown Fremont, www.fremont.com. 4-9 p.m. SUZIE RUGH

Tue., Dec. 23, 2008