Straight Talk for December 2012

POST ELECTION NOTES

Congratulations to the winners and losers in last month’s elections. The losers deserve special praise because it’s not easy to spend money, work hard, and wind up losing. No one enjoys losing. I congratulate you for trying. People who have the initiative to run for public office in today’s bitter and vindictive society deserve a pat on the back and our compliments. Those who try it for the first time rarely want to go through it again for obvious reasons. The elections are over and so are the all too frequent political commercials on television. Everyone complains about negative commercials, but they work and that’s why virtually everyone uses them. An exception was the commercials by Jerry Brady who was elected Peoria County State’s Attorney. Anyway, the campaigns are over and we can now focus on Christmas.

CHRISTMAS 2012

While many celebrated the start of the 2012 version of the Christmas season by standing, sleeping, and sitting in line for shopping bargains on black Friday, many others watched the 125th Santa Claus Parade in downtown Peoria. Congratulations to all of the volunteers and the leadership of Sue Stockman, the PACE parade chairperson in her 25th year of participation. While it gets harder and harder to put the parade together, the end result was another outstanding Santa parade.

Meanwhile, our retail merchants keep pushing the envelope for earlier and earlier shopping for special deals. This year some stores opened for big discount bargains on Thanksgiving. Give me a break. Heck, they had Christmas decorations almost side-by-side with Halloween items. The Thursday, Thanksgiving newspaper edition was so heavy with advertising supplements I thought they had delivered the World Book Encyclopedia. Do people really read all of those supplements? Really? Do they? To make matters worse, East Peoria held its colorful Festival of Lights Parade a week earlier. If the trend continues we could celebrate Christmas in July in the future. If the trend continues we might eventually forget that Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Christ rather than the birth of electronic bargains at Best Buy and Wal-Mart.

CHRISTMAS PAST

While people are pushing and shoving to get the last 32 inch TV at 5:30 a.m., I prefer to enjoy the warmth of my bed while “sugar plums dance in my head.” That happens after over-indulging in all the delicious Thanksgiving food, including pumpkin pie with gobs of artery clogging whipped cream. Yummy.

For me, I long for the days when downtown Peoria was alive with people moving from store to store. Thousands shopped during the Christmas season. The favorites, of course, were stores like Block & Kuhl, Bergner’s, Sears, B&M, Schradzski’s, W.T. Grant, Kellstedt’s, Wards, Peoria Dry Goods, Johnson’s Clothing, Kresge’s, Klein’s, World Drug, to name a few of the vibrant stores. As a child and later as an adult, I loved watching the windows of Block & Kuhl and Bergner’s with their fascinating and enchanting motorized Christmas displays. Crowds of children and parents, sometimes five and six rows deep, would watch with smiles. I think adults enjoyed the displays as much as their children. I know I did. And when Santa rode into town at the end of the parade, thousands stood as he gingerly left his sleigh to embark on a perilous trip up a fire ladder to the 4th floor Toyland window. Why in the heck he had to do that as part of the Christmas parade was a holiday mystery. I remember with horror when he almost fell off the ladder as he neared the store’s open window. An adult nearby said too loudly, “I think Santa has had too much egg nog.” Funny how, at my advanced age, I can recall that incident so vividly. I guess it was traumatic to think about how close Santa was to ruining Christmas with a broken leg, or worse, a football-like concussion. “Who would deliver the presents on Christmas Eve,” I thought.

Restaurants were all over the place including one at the top of Block & Kuhl. That was expensive for my family, but we could afford the one at the rear of the first floor at Bergner’s. The Palace Cafeteria, Downyflake, Bishops, The Pantry, Pere Marquette Hotel, were some of the other great eating establishments.

A trip back in time would not be complete without recalling the magnificent theaters. Well, some were and some were not. My favorite was the Palace though I thought the Madison was a little more luxurious. When a movie was dragging, I would lean back and look at the beautiful ceiling with the different shades of lighting at the Palace. Besides, it was easier to sneak into the Palace. One just had to wait until someone exited the Palace on the Madison side of the theater. Most were accommodating for teenagers seeking to avoid buying a ticket. The Rialto was an excellent movie house and so was the Apollo. The latter was known for its long Saturday shows that included two features preceded by 8-10 cartoons, two or three serials, and one or two other short movies. When Ken Sutter and I would come out after about four hours or more, I would have a headache.

How many of you can remember when you finally discovered there was no Santa Claus? It was a little heart-breaking. No, it was a lot. A friend told me he figured it out when he was shopping with his mother. They first went into Block & Kuhl’s and saw Santa, he said. Later in their shopping they went into Clark’s store and there was another Santa. “That could not be possible,” my friend said he concluded. He was 18 at the time. The story is true, the age isn’t. I learned my parents were the real Santa when I saw them putting presents under the tree the night before Christmas. Anyone who says that discovery doesn’t shake a child’s mind for a time isn’t telling the truth.

As a child, I loved decorating for Christmas. I still remember making a little village of houses out of light cardboard. I colored each house. All had white smoke curling out of a chimney that poked from a snow-filled roof. I had icicles hanging from buildings and snow-covered streets with decorated trees in the windows of some of the homes. My sisters waited until we were adults before they told me how much they enjoyed watching me tape the village to our front window each Christmas. That detailed love of decorating for Christmas continues today. To me, there’s no more time of the year that’s more exciting. While colored lights, beautifully decorated trees, homes, and stores are pleasing to the eye, the real excitement that’s inspiring and mood altering is the celebration of His birth. The music and the message of Chapter 2, St. Luke, creates a spiritual euphoria that changes hearts and minds:

“And there were in the same

country shepherds abiding in

the field keeping watch over

their flock by night.

And lo, the angel of the Lord

came upon them, and the glory

of the Lord shone around about them; and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them,

Fear not; for behold, I bring you

good tidings of great joy, which

shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day