STL Free For All

My husband’s bummed (or at least he SAYS he’s bummed) that he missed out entirely on Christmas shopping this year.  And it’s true — in years past I gave him a section of our list, only to learn on Dec. 24 that he’d not gotten around to it yet.  So, although I’m the type who shops early, I was also forced to be the type who shopped late.

There are a couple strategies for this.  One neighbor goes out during the last week before Christmas nightly after the kids are in bed — she sets out around 9 p.m. on power-shopping odysseys that last until 11:30 p.m. or later; she can tell rattle off the closing times of every big-box and department store around.  This year she took her teenage daughter along one night together as a bonding experience.

Another friend and her husband put on their holiday best at around noon on Christmas Eve and head out for the malls to see what the last-minute sales are — and then they go straight to their daughter’s house for the family celebration.   (If you’re this type of shopper, check out the article in from a couple of days ago in the Post-Dispatch about the most family-friendly malls in the metro area.)  Their favorite place for last-minute deals?  Plaza Frontenac.
My preferred method is to avoid the malls and go to a neighborhood where there are plenty of diverse shops within walking distance of each other and some nice Christmas decorations to boot: I usually choose The Loop, although downtown is starting to fit this description more and more.   You have to be flexible — you might not find the specific items on your list, but you’ll definitely find something for the people on your list. Examples from years past included an Axis of Evil fingerpuppet set for my brother (Phoenix Rising), a one-eyed stuffed alien toy for a sci-fi-loving girlfriend (Star Clipper) and a couple of subversive t-shirts (RinaWear).

This year I’ve let the hubby talk me into something new: end-of-year car shopping.  For the first time ever, I’m actually paying attention to those cheesy ads where the cars have big red bows on top.  So far the kids aren’t impressed; they’d rather be chilling in the family restroom out at West County Center.

Did the weekend snowfall put you behind on Christmas shopping?  Happily, I was able to enjoy the winter wonderland in the comfort of my own home.  Thank God for Internet shopping.  :-)  We also wrapped up quite a few homemade crafts this year, not least because of the glue gun my mother gave M. at Thanksgiving.   (Would you believe that burned-out lightbulbs, when they have ribbon glued to their socket end, make kind of cute ornaments, if I do say so myself?)

But the quintessential DIY gift is the ol’ Mason wide-mouth quart jar filled with … something.  I had to laugh when I came across this Web site, with every kind of mix from Apple Cake to White Chocolate-Macadamia Nut Cookies in a jar.   Surfing on, I learned that there are actual cookbook series built around the “in a jar” concept, and then I was no longer laughing, because I wish I’d thought of that cash cow first.  My mom, being a teacher, gets more than her fair share of these mixes, and she reports that most of them are, in fact, quite tasty.  My personal favorite is a mix of brown demerara sugar cubes and chunky white sugar cubes — anyone who drinks tea or coffee will use it.  It’s also a lot easier to let kids help get a jumble of sugar cubes into the jars than actual layers of carefully measured ingredients (unless the kids are older than mine!).

You can also do non-edibles like wax-coated pinecone fire-starters.  I’m kind of curious to do my own colored-flame pinecones, but I’m not sure introducing the chemicals will be a good idea in the long run.  (To make them, use 1/ 2 gallon of water, add the desired chemical and soak overnight, then let the pinecones dry three or four days. For yellow- green flames: 1 cup borax, for yellow flames: 1 cup salt, for violet flames: 1 cup salt substitute (potassium), for deep red flames: 1 cup boric acid.)

Yes, wrapping matters — and not in the sense that a really nice wrap job will make up for a lousy gift!  Wrapping paper is just not environmentally friendly.  It can be recycled (and gift bags reused), but in practice it’s a pretty thankless job to sort it out from the bows and boxes and non-recyclable materials after all the gifts have been opened.

I come from a family that was eco-friendly long before it was cool, so I know all about saving bows and using newspaper comics instead of commercial wrap.  (And yes, we do sort out the wrapping paper and cardboard from the plastic and metal — I always try to escape to the kitchen to put together a cookie tray right about then.)  But I’m not especially gifted (ha ha) when it comes to wrapping ideas that are more creative than the funnies, which is why the demonstrations at Home Eco on Saturday sound so intriguing.  The store will supply plenty of recycled materials, but you can also bring your own.  There will be cookies and carols from noon to 3 p.m., and if that’s not enough inspiration, local artists have volunteered to give pointers too.  For more information, call 314.351.2000.

In our little corner of St. Louis the outdoor lights went up early this year. Three of our neighbors were on a holiday parlor tour this past weekend, so their more-elaborate-than-usual displays triggered a little  rush among the rest of us. Ironically, the only one place in our neighborhood that seems to look less festive than in years past is the Anheuser-Busch brewery. Its 22nd annual display is nothing to scoff at — the lights on the trees and buildings are still striking — it’s just that there’s less to look at this year. Perhaps because the mature trees along the Broadway side of the campus were replaced with saplings, there are no streetside lights on that stretch. And since the A-B show is now strictly a windshield tour, fewer lights along the street make a difference. I miss the days when one could wander into the display on foot.

To walk through a real winter wonderland of lights, head over to Murdoch Avenue in St. Louis Hills. The block just west of Donovan Avenue is locally famous for its communal display, but I’d never seen it until last night. Wow. The trees, lawns, houses, bushes — everything is electrically enhanced. What’s especially lovely about starting at the intersection of Donovan and Murdoch is that the street curves slightly, giving you the illusion that the magic might go on forever. And to cap off the evening, Ted Drewes is just a couple of blocks away on Chippewa.

All this isn’t a bash of the brewery — its tour is among our absolute favorite destinations in the city. (It’s just too bad that the last tour of the day is at 4 p.m. and the light display is on from 6 p.m. to midnight. For tour details, call 314.577.2333. ) Right now is a great time to visit the brewery, incidentally, because there’s a new set of aging tanks going in and it’s very cool for any construction-minded child to see how they’re stacked several stories high, and then the building goes up around them.

I’m always in awe of how clean the place is, especially in the stables. Now that S. has started poking his food with a fork … and tossing that fork to the ground in celebration after every bite … I can really appreciate a clean floor.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend I received many great tips for this space; I haven’t even had time to read them all (suitcases to unpack, laundry to wash, a fridge to restock … ). One thing I noticed as I sorted through the first wave was that it’s entirely possible to spend a lot of money on events leading up to Christmas. Ten bucks here for tea with Santa, twenty bucks there for a holiday show. I’d personally really like to see the Joffrey Ballet’s Nutcracker after sneaking peeks at the kids practicing for it all fall over at COCA.

Given the reflexive spending that marks the season, it’s refreshing when a group gets together and mounts a free festival. I’m particularly impressed with what St. Charles is doing. For the next four Saturdays, from 11 a.m. on, South Main Street is populated with more than 20 Christmas characters from Tiny Tim to the Sugar Plum Fairy. The Santas from around the world are an especially nice touch, and following along the multicultural theme is a Las Posadas procession this coming Saturday (Dec. 1) at 6 p.m. It’s a hispanic tradition to act out the drama of Mary and Joseph looking for shelter in Bethlehem; in some towns the quest ends in a private home where the entire procession is welcomed. In St. Charles that’s a little impractical given that thousands are expected to join the luminary-lit journey — this one ends at Frontier Park with a re-enactment of the Christmas story and carols around a bonfire.

Even if you can’t make it to St. Charles, the city’s holiday homepage is worth a visit for its comprehensive links to traditional characters and customs. But there are so many free activities there on Saturdays — and the setting is just so quaintly perfect — that it’s really worth seeing.

OK, Union Station isn’t the first place that comes to mind when you think “mall.”  On the other hand, because its shops are geared toward tourists, it’s less busy during the holiday season than the typical mall.  It’s also attractive to kids — the kitschy souvenirs, the bungee jumping area, the really great Play and Learn store, the junk food …  In fact, two years ago we used a freebie weekend hotel pass for the adjoining hotel and spent A LOT of time browsing Union Station.  M. loved it, and still does.

On Saturday (Dec. 1)  there’s a big holiday open house, with the requisite Santa (BYO camera) and special sales. A bonus is free parking (with $25 in purchases anywhere in the mall) and a dance theater performance at 12:30 p.m.  A couple of the permanent draws to check out are the museum about the station’s history and its “whispering arch,” just inside the Hyatt Regency’s Grand Lobby.  It’s beautiful, but I’ll be darned if we could figure out how to get our whispers to travel across it.  May you have better luck.

Many people have very fond childhood memories of going downtown to see the Famous Barr window displays during the holidays, and I fully expect there will be a crowd when the displays open once again on Wednesday at 6:45 p.m., this time under the Macy’s logo.  It’s a shrewd marketing move — Macy’s across the country are getting media buzz about their displays, like the Chicago one that was on NPR this morning.  But it’s also a nice touch for our own downtown.

My kids LOVE to go downtown.  The toddler is entranced by the unaccustomed textures of granite and glass alongside him as he walks; the preschooler loves the way the buildings swallow each other up so quickly, making the skyline come alive.   I suspect that some of the wonderment about the department store windows comes from the effect downtown has on children.  I’m sure the moving characters and elaborate vignettes are cool too, and I’m curious to see them for the first time, but I mostly plan to simply stroll with the kids.

If you go to the opening, there’s a nice writeup here with all the details of which windows will have the “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” display and which will have the toy train, plus info about the children’s festival beforehand.  But the exhibit is on until early January, so there’s no rush.

So, my neighborhood had its holiday season kick-off festival on Saturday. Yes, November 3. Yes, FOUR DAYS after Halloween. I know, I know, the weekends get crazy the closer we get to Christmas … but November 3? The city of St. Louis has also moved its Kiener Plaza tree lighting ceremony ahead, to November 11. (If you’re keeping track, last year it was the day after Thanksgiving, November 24).  No one has ever accused me of bah-humbugging the season, but we just turned on our heat, for goodness’ sake. Can’t we enjoy a couple weeks of fall???

I’m feeling pressure to get the cookies baking, but I’m determined to go outside and fly a kite instead. It’s a perfect day for kite-flying — plenty of wind at the wide-open hilltop park just up the street. Our kite, while it looks ordinary enough, is actually on the heavy side. We bought it years ago at a specialty store in Chinatown in San Francisco — M. fell in love with the red-eyed tree frog on a blue background. For the first year or so that we owned it, he refused to let us release it for fear the string would break, so we didn’t know for quite a long time that our kite was an SUV model. Now that we know, we’re keeping an eye out for a new one that he’ll like more (’cause otherwise he’ll still always want the tree frog one anyway). Strangely enough, not only does St. Louis have no dedicated kite stores, many of its toy stores don’t carry kites either.

But today the wind seems strong enough, so wish us luck! And in case you’re tied up for the next two months, Merry Christmas too.  The St. Louis and Clayton simultaneous tree-lighting ceremonies are 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday.  Info is supposed to be at www.christmasinstlouis.org, but the site doesn’t seem to have been updated since 2006.  Clearly not everyone knows how soon the holiday season is arriving this year!