Towse: views from the hill

November 16, 2006

But the lights are always pretty.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Towse @ 7:15 am

Some one commented about negative thoughts about the upcoming season and said, “But the lights are always pretty.”

The lights are always pretty.

Pick what you like of the season and enjoy those things.

I love the lights, Christmas trees (I am a huge fan of Christmas trees), cookies, Christmas carols, listening to A CHRISTMAS CAROL on Christmas Eve (what a great voice Lionel Barrymore had), hot cocoa with whipped cream or a marshmallow, listening to Sinatra sing of chestnuts roasting on an open fire and Jack Frost nipping at your nose, and getting nostalgic even though you grew up in California and the snow’s a couple hours away. …

We had three hours after dropping off the mortgage refinance papers to make it to dinner at Cafe Maritime, three miles or so away. We could’ve walked home and set out again, but that involved backtracking a mile mas o menos with a steep uphill climb followed by a 2.3 mile walk to dinner anyway. It all just seemed silly, so we moseyed toward our destination, stopping and poking our heads in at places we usually don’t poke our heads into.

Walking through Macy’s Union Square, as we did tonight, is frisson-making. All those Way to SHOP! people were there shopping for stuff that’s unnecessary, unneeded and pricey. Can they afford it? Wouldn’t their money be better spent on something more prosaic, more substantial, less frivolous?

How about a donation to the San Francisco Food Bank, peoples?

And then I realize, who am I to tell them how to spend or not spend their money?

Just because I think the prices are too dear at the spanking-new thrift store we popped our heads into on Polk doesn’t mean that I should insist others not shop there. ($40 for a thrift store pashmina shawl? helloooo!)

I don’t know what your beef with Christmas is, but mine is the egging on of people who really can’t afford it to spend far too much on a holiday that, theoretically, should be about something far far from new table linens for the holiday dinner, pricey electronic toys for the children and a holiday party dress that costs more than the family spends on groceries in a month.

Christmas advertising strikes me the way wine/beer/alcohol advertising strikes me. There are many many many people who need to stay away from alcohol and are trying to stay away from alcohol but look … turn the page in a Wednesday food section and the siren ads murmur, “Buy Towse Estates sauvignon blanc. Drink Towse, it will make your life as sweet as a summer day.”

Oh, don’t get me started.

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