Christmas in Warsaw
The day of the 'election,' I saw a postcard on the train. It was discarded in a seat across the aisle from me so I didn't get THAT close a look but I did see Jesse Jackson insisting that whomever got it VOTE NOV. 2. For some reason that made me laugh. I imagined that the text said something like, "You and your baby mama better vote or all black people are gonna be slaves come Nov. 3rd." Which is no less ridiculous than the fliers that were distributed in some black neighborhoods in Detroit and elsewhere that said if you have ever been arrested and you try to vote you will go to jail for 30 years. I'm not exaggerating...
Also seen that day on the train, some grown @ss man coloring in The Big Brain Coloring Book. I can only hope he is a medical student.
I noticed last week that the Christmas lights are going up all over Chicago. I dread The Holiday Season because it is nothing but a hassle. Holiday music you can't escape, and it's EVERYWHERE. Nothing about the gift of life thru God's only begotten son. Jesus didn't have a Christmas tree or chimney. My best friend's husband (who is JEWISH) slipped a disc in his back last year when he tried to take the tree down into their basement for storage. He hasn't worked since. I thought this meant we wouldn't have to decorate the damn thing ever again but since it didn't make it into the basement...it's sitting in the dining room just waiting for us... *SIGH*
I love giving presents, but I give presents all year whenever I can. I am big on 'just 'cause' presents. There is nothing nicer than to give a present that is unexpected and PERFECT. Christmas is such a pressure cooker of commerce. It will be interesting to see this all take place in Chicago, where shopping is at a whole 'nother level. There are miles of stores I cannot afford to set foot in. I dare not even look longingly at Cartier, Chanel, Gucci, Bvlgari, Escada, etc. This is Oprah, the Hilton sisters, the Olsen/Bush twins and Ivanka Trump shopping. I am banished to the suburbs for Wal-Mart and Target. The only other stores I can afford are Walgreen's and Family Dollar. To be one of those ladies with a limo and driver and AmEx Black Card with days filled with nothing but shopping The Magnificent Mile until my fingers get numb from taking my card out of and putting it into my Ferragamo wallet.
I wonder if I should get presents for the people I see frequently and know by name? Mr. Otis, who sells the paper in the morning outside the Walgreen's across from work. Ms. Betty, who owns that antique shop around the corner from me, between Estes and Touhy on the west side of Sheridan. In a town this massive, it's always nice to hear that someone is glad to see you even if you don't know them very well...you've touched them somehow, even tangentially. What would you get someone like that? A coffee mug? A winter scarf? Chicago can be so cold and intimidating. To be singled out as someone, whatever that means, is very sweet. I go into work by a different route so I don't see Mr. Otis as much as I did but anytime I go into Walgreen's on the way to work he always says he needs to see me more. He sees hundreds of people every morning. It's just sweet to be noticed. I haven't gotten in to see Ms. Betty in awhile because now that it's getting cold...the hours for the shop are a lot shorter and she's not there as late it is when I get home from work. She never cared that I didn't buy anything. She liked to sit and chat with me. We've talked about her life, why she's running her antique shop at a loss most months (because she likes pretty things and likes the people who comes in to visit more), Chicago's past. She was a school teacher and when she retired, she invested her savings into an antique store just because it's what she always wanted to do. Her husband is doing very well and she can afford to have the hobby. She's just glad to be doing something she's ALWAYS WANTED to do. She may have to close one day but, she's grateful that for awhile at least...she gets to live her dream. "I don't want to get rich. I just want to be happy and this makes me SO happy." I'd like to be rich and happy, but if I have to pick ONE...I'd pick happy.
Unless I was old. Then I'd pick rich...
Also seen that day on the train, some grown @ss man coloring in The Big Brain Coloring Book. I can only hope he is a medical student.
I noticed last week that the Christmas lights are going up all over Chicago. I dread The Holiday Season because it is nothing but a hassle. Holiday music you can't escape, and it's EVERYWHERE. Nothing about the gift of life thru God's only begotten son. Jesus didn't have a Christmas tree or chimney. My best friend's husband (who is JEWISH) slipped a disc in his back last year when he tried to take the tree down into their basement for storage. He hasn't worked since. I thought this meant we wouldn't have to decorate the damn thing ever again but since it didn't make it into the basement...it's sitting in the dining room just waiting for us... *SIGH*
I love giving presents, but I give presents all year whenever I can. I am big on 'just 'cause' presents. There is nothing nicer than to give a present that is unexpected and PERFECT. Christmas is such a pressure cooker of commerce. It will be interesting to see this all take place in Chicago, where shopping is at a whole 'nother level. There are miles of stores I cannot afford to set foot in. I dare not even look longingly at Cartier, Chanel, Gucci, Bvlgari, Escada, etc. This is Oprah, the Hilton sisters, the Olsen/Bush twins and Ivanka Trump shopping. I am banished to the suburbs for Wal-Mart and Target. The only other stores I can afford are Walgreen's and Family Dollar. To be one of those ladies with a limo and driver and AmEx Black Card with days filled with nothing but shopping The Magnificent Mile until my fingers get numb from taking my card out of and putting it into my Ferragamo wallet.
I wonder if I should get presents for the people I see frequently and know by name? Mr. Otis, who sells the paper in the morning outside the Walgreen's across from work. Ms. Betty, who owns that antique shop around the corner from me, between Estes and Touhy on the west side of Sheridan. In a town this massive, it's always nice to hear that someone is glad to see you even if you don't know them very well...you've touched them somehow, even tangentially. What would you get someone like that? A coffee mug? A winter scarf? Chicago can be so cold and intimidating. To be singled out as someone, whatever that means, is very sweet. I go into work by a different route so I don't see Mr. Otis as much as I did but anytime I go into Walgreen's on the way to work he always says he needs to see me more. He sees hundreds of people every morning. It's just sweet to be noticed. I haven't gotten in to see Ms. Betty in awhile because now that it's getting cold...the hours for the shop are a lot shorter and she's not there as late it is when I get home from work. She never cared that I didn't buy anything. She liked to sit and chat with me. We've talked about her life, why she's running her antique shop at a loss most months (because she likes pretty things and likes the people who comes in to visit more), Chicago's past. She was a school teacher and when she retired, she invested her savings into an antique store just because it's what she always wanted to do. Her husband is doing very well and she can afford to have the hobby. She's just glad to be doing something she's ALWAYS WANTED to do. She may have to close one day but, she's grateful that for awhile at least...she gets to live her dream. "I don't want to get rich. I just want to be happy and this makes me SO happy." I'd like to be rich and happy, but if I have to pick ONE...I'd pick happy.
Unless I was old. Then I'd pick rich...
posted by Chicago Socialista | 6:23 PM
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