PHOTOS BY KGTUNNEY PHOTOGRAPHY

For longer than any of us can remember, Pittsburghers have been going Downtown each December for a holiday outing.

Gifts are purchased, seasonal treats are devoured and festive entertainment fills even the most Humbug-infested minds — mine is a prime example — with visions of sugarplums. And while the towering Downtown department stores may be a thing of the past, the tradition is in full swing in the Golden Triangle.

If you’re willing to arm yourself with a credit card and several overstuffed bags (reusable, please) and head to the quaint Peoples Gas Holiday Market, you’ll likely cross a few names off of your list. This is not the place to grab the specific toy or video game that a particular niece or nephew requested; you’ll be easily able to handle that task at any well-stocked Target location. Rather, this is where you go to get gifts that will actually impress: Bespoke crafts and holiday trinkets that will become tradition.

And if you run out of steam there, there’s the Downtown location of love, Pittsburgh, the always overflowing Amazing Books and Records location and plenty besides.

For your post-shopping entertainment, the live version of the Hollywood classic “A Christmas Story” is about to open at the O’Reilly Theater. “A Musical Christmas Carol,” Pittsburgh CLO’s annual retelling of the Scrooge saga, will follow next week — and, for those willing to skip over to the West End, Pittsburgh Musical Theater’s “A Lyrical Christmas Carol” offers an alternative take. The granddaddy of all Downtown yuletide fetes, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s “The Nutcracker,” also opens this weekend.

For my own red-and-green revels, I opted for “Who’s Holiday,” a decidedly adult entertainment option at the new Greer Cabaret Theater. The show, which for many will serve as an introduction to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s luxuriously rehabilitated venue, is already open and playing to packed houses; only a handful of tickets remain for most performances (which continue through New Year’s Eve).

It was, to me, the perfect kind of Christmas show, perfectly striking the tone between too cynical or too earnest, too adult or too all-ages; despite the absolute glut of Hallmark-style holiday messages we get each year, few get it quite right. “Who’s Holiday” nails it: There are a lot of emotions, good and bad, that come up around the tree. The thing is to celebrate all of them.

Lara Hayhurst stars as an embattled but never embittered Cindy-Lou Who, offering a rhyming postscript to her youthful encounter with the Grinch. Love, lust, anger and violence shake off the Whovian calm; Cindy-Lou Who is fresh out of jail and living in a tinsel-soaked trailer, hoping that some Seussian friends will drop by on Christmas Eve.

The unflinchingly uproarious show is a madcap, R-rated sledgehammer. As audiences and Cindy pound drinks (opt for one of the signature cocktails but be forewarned — they pack a wallop), the disappointments and compromises of a holiday at home are explored, with the help of some brave audience volunteers.

Hayhurst is an absolute master; I can’t imagine anyone else commanding the audience as well as she does. (In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve known her for 25 years and performed alongside her in my youth — but I defy anyone to disagree with my assessment. She’s a powerhouse.) And the venue is perfectly suited for a slightly naughty night out.

In an era where skeptics and Scrooges scoff at the idea of a fun, carefree outing in the heart of Pittsburgh, a trip that includes stops at the Holiday Market and “Who’s Holiday” is a defiant statement of protest: We’re here, and we’re having more fun than your parents ever did. Get off the couch and cross a tunnel; there’s a party going on.