Santa unwraps his edible gifts guide

• Meats and cheeses: Pepperidge Farms has kept itself in business for years shilling summer sausage and smoked Gouda for the holidays. The irony is free. The Beef Jerky Emporium takes that to a new level with enough varieties of jerky to fill up a chimney. Places like Gourmet Gallery and Forward Foods offer higher-end cured meats and cheeses from around the world. Forward Foods has such a good selection that when you say the word “selection,” you say it with a French accent. But if you want to work some practicality in for the carnivore on your list, consider what you can find at a place like Wheeler's Meat Market, Cusack Meats, Rhett's Meat Market or Crescent Market. And that's boxes of beef. It takes more than a finger placed aside my nose to get good beef up North. So, if you're reading this, Mrs. Claus, close your eyes and imagine the voice of either Sam Elliott or Matthew McConaughey reminding you: Beef, it's what's for Christmas.

• Candy: Children's stockings will be stuffed with their favorite candy, using the ever-evolving technology we use up North. If you want to elevate candy to gift status, you need to visit a professional. Godiva and Russell Stover's have been flooding the market for years with their goods. Candyopolis has several locations to supply you with enough gummy bears to create your own gummy couch. There in Oklahoma, you have some fine purveyors such as Bedre and Woody's Candy. Over at the 42nd Street Candy Shop, they have all kinds of great candies plus some other goodies worth checking out. Same for The Candy Basket in Norman. Don't forget about Coco Flow, where chocolatier Gene Leiterman creates candies almost as pleasing to the eye as they are the palate. Nearby is the Bricktown Candy Co., which is available to appease the sweet tooth's needs beyond chocolate.