The Dallas Morning News came out today with its semi-annual foreclosure data for the first half of the year. Frisco, the suburb where I reported and set my book, Tinsel, has a high rate — the highest in the D/FW area it appears — especially in the 75034 ZIP Code, west of Preston Road, where the houses are bigger and more expensive.

To be clear, I take absolutely no delight or smugness in passing this information along. I worry a bit that Tinsel will be seen as an assault on all things exurban and on Frisco itself. The reason I find it such a fascinating place to write about is because it is so emblematic of American dreams: plenty of space, big homes, great schools, family-friendly, conservative values, and endless opportunities to shop. But all of that also led to some dark places, economically, environmentally, and even philosophically. People cannot have everything they want, when they want it, for no money down — at least, not always. Frisco is a place to see the best and worst of 21st-century life.

Although Tinsel is a book about Christmas, it’s also about all of these things. Belief in a consumer-credit economy and the belief in Santa Claus and magical thinking are not so far apart.