Christmas cheer

The Christmas shopping season (in Russia, it's more 'New Year') is being launched officially this week.  This enables a group of hardy vendors to occupy pre-fab stalls like these across the city and shiver their way through sales for the next 6 or 8 weeks.  Nowadays these street events are also an opportunity to show off locally produced foods many of which have bloomed since the 2009 crisis.  The weaker ruble has made local production more competitive and compelling.