The grandchildren we don’t get to see often enough, Josie, above, and Audrey, below. We were out Christmas tree shopping.
We may or may not get home today. Chicago, where we change planes, is having a snowstorm. The airline canceled one of our flights already but booked us on another. Report to follow, possibly with photos of O’Hare chaos.
Does this reflect our local psyche? There is a thing going around this year about what are essentially Halloween decorations with a bit of Christmas trim. I've seen it at several houses. This is a dry terrarium at the City Museum with lizards skittering around but it's still creepy.
This was taken Friday at the City Museum, which, as I have said, is unique in all the world. They have all sorts of wild lights for the holidays, some of which I'll show later. Ellie's sense of wonder is charming.
Lafayette Square is one of the oldest neighborhoods in STL with its original housing stock. Almost all of the 19th Century residences have been lovingly restored. Most of them have beautiful holiday decorations. Note the trees in the center windows of the upper floors. We are invited to a New Year's Eve party at one around the corner and I hope we can make it.
I went out cruising for images in the late afternoon, hitting the usual suspects. Saint Louis University, where I got my undergraduate and graduate degrees, is a Catholic, Jesuit institution. Good for me but maybe not for them, my Jesuit high school made an effort to teach critical thinking. I also drove by the resolutely secular Washington University, the more prestigious school across town that my sister attended. Not a hint of holiday decorations (so no pictures).
Any moment now, right? Seen on a building on Chouteau Avenue in The Grove district. The meaning of the sign isn't clear but I think the acronym in the lower right stands for Association of General Contractors of Missouri. Probably something to do with development in the area.
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it. I thought this picture of Ellie imitating her grandfather (albeit with a complete rejection of guidance) would be something good for the digital tree. Quiet in our house. Neither Mrs. C or I are from here so there's no other family in the area. Awfully fortunate we were not traveling this week. Just us, Emily and Ellie around the tree and at the table today.
I don't know if this was her favorite Christmas present but it was mine, possibly because I bought it for her and I think it's funny. I found it in a New York Times column on off-beat gifts for kids. It is a plate with a vaguely male or female face and lighter or darker skin. The child uses the contents of the meal to make an edible portrait. She took her diced red pepper, the only vegetable she will eat at the moment, and made quite a fright wig.
A quiet Christmas Day at our house. Mrs. C and I don't do gifts but we do make contributions in one another's names to causes that are meaningful to us. Ellie, however, made out like a bandit, which we may see here tomorrow.
And freakishly warm, flirting with record high temp. Many events newly restricted with the virus flare, and I'm high risk. A worrisome day.
We Americans do the craziest things with out homes at this time of the year. Some people's displays look like they could blow out a generating station. Others are simpler but that does not guarantee good taste. One of my neighbors has an inflatable Grinch, perhaps 7 feet high, on the front lawn. Since the character is opposed to the spirit of the season I can't tell if the owners are trying to make a point or a joke.
