EXCITEMENT IS BUILDING

Christmas Eve, and the excitement in a certain girl who spends some of her time in this house is about to bubble over. All four grandparents, her father and a church that sometimes helps her and her dad since her mother has been gone, have built piles of wrapped packages for her. Despite all that has happened to this child in the last couple of years, she is so happy, so cheerful (mostly), so grateful and so positively involved with her friends that she makes me glow. May it remain so.

Locals may recognize that this is looking east on Manchester at the beginning of The Grove neighborhood.            

SOMETHING WE ALL NEED AT THIS TIME OF YEAR

Today is not the day to be alone, particularly in the West. The season is defined not only by those close to us, but also people at any distance who need us. We have so many new channels of communication that can feel impersonal but seeing your family on Zoom is better than not seeing them at all.          

Christmas Eve At The Office

I promise I won't work all day today. There are no photos on my hard drive appropriate to the occasion so how about some cheer from my usual hangout?

Dinner tonight at Emily, Brian and Madeleine's home.  It's a wonderful thing to have a professional chef in the family. Brian's parents and brother are visiting from Houston and it's nice to have them here to join us. 

A break from tradition for us tomorrow with Christmas brunch at the rooftop restaurant of the Chase-Park Plaza, overseen by Chef Brian. Early flight to LaGuardia on Saturday, weekend with my family in NJ. And all of Monday to spend on the magical island where I was born. (Okay, I confess. I'm still a snob about it.) There will be photo ops galore.             

Quiet Anticipation

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Downtown has gotten very quiet over the last few days. The hoards are all in the suburban shopping centers where I, though no angel, fear to tread. What little shopping we do is online and we don't buy much. We'd rather have each other than more useless stuff.

Christmas Eve will be quiet in our home. Our two children are off with their S.O.s visiting their families in Texas and Michigan. I'm happy just to have Carolyn, peace and health. Oh, and that news about the grandchild is okay.

For Your Consideration

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This post is not a comment about The Salvation Army. Just a combination of elements for your consideration on Christmas Eve.

WHAT'S MILDLY ANNOYING THE FAMILY: my wife, son and I were going to dine out tonight. However, St. Louis premier (well, only) Nepalese restaurant that we planned to visit just decided to close this evening. Hmmm, what about our favorite Vietnamese place? Oh, the challenges of the non-traditional middle class.

TOMORROW: Thursday Arch Series (Christmas Edition) and a new Arch photo on Gateway.