Did that get your attention? Mine too. The local weather people are blowing their minds over the big storm system churning up towards us. SNOW! BLOWING SNOW! BLIZZARD! LOCUSTS!!!
When I was a kid we moved from Chicago to Milwaukee. We had a pretty nice grocery store about two blocks up the street from our house, which was an easy walk. I can remember a couple of pretty heavy snows where the cars were stranded and everything came to a standstill. My Mom would bundle up in her butterscotch colored knee length canvas coat, pull her cream colored knit cap low on her head and then wrap this long plaid scarf around her neck. Then she'd trudge up the hill to the grocery and trudge back home, cheeks flushed and snowflakes sticking to her eye lashes, laughing about the adventure and shaking snow out of her boots. Then my Dad would put on a big pot of my Aunt Julie's recipe for Cincinnati chili. Aunt Julie was one of my Mom's 4 sisters and she and her family lived in Cinci which is famous for their 5-way chili.
Does anyone remember those red corrugated cardboard fireplaces? They were painted or printed to look like red brick? They were assembled, like a big box that was set up along a wall, and there was a cardboard mantle that went across the top. I had a friend in Chicago whose parents had one of those in their rec room basement. They would put some fake logs in it and set up their aluminum shiny Christmas tree next to it. The bonus was the tree was on a carousel that spun and played Christmas songs. I remember they had bubble lights on that tree as well. And I seem to remember a pink spot light on the tree which was dazzling. They had a real tree up in their living room, like we did, but this special amazing shiny tree with the fireplace was just irresistible to us kids. We'd usually knock the fireplace over a few times and I'm sure their parents wondered why it was always half-cocked and falling over. I remember another friend's family had a fake flocked tree that smelled like the plastic Barbie dolls came in.
One of my favorite holiday memories (I am so lucky to have so many) was from my childhood in Chicago. My Dad would take a day off of work, we'd get dressed up and take the L downtown and walk State Street. We'd have lunch at some (to my little eyes) swank restaurant, marvel in the windows at Fields and sample Frango mints and look at the gorgeous tree in their store, and then we'd go to see a ballet or comic opera like Copellia, Peter and the Wolf, Swan Lake and of course, Nutcracker. Even into my college and adult years, with my Mom tagging along, we'd head out to dinner and then to the Skylight Comic Opera for a little Gilbert and Sullivan.
Well, here's hoping the storm tonight doesn't leave anyone stranded or in harm's way. I hope we get enough snow for the Christmas spirit, but not so much as to dampen retailer's much needed revenue.
If we get a LOT of snow, I might share this guy's attitude:
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