Every
working day, on my commute to and from the time-punching machine, I pass the
following sign perched atop a warehouse that towers over the
sound barrier of Highway 76.
Kindy’s
Christmas Factory Outlet.
I’ve
been looking for a place like this.
Every
tree-blogger worth their salt has to tackle the Christmas tree…but how? Where to go?
I
needed an angle.
Maybe
it’s this Kindy’s. Maybe this sign
really is a sign.
I
checked the Kindy’s website and it looked encouraging…fine photos of bright homes decked out in colorful patterns of blinking lights…a boy perched
on his father’s shoulders planting the ornamental star on the top branch…a
handsome, slim family nestled around the illuminated conifer…plus promises of real
live trees, photographed in a snowy lot, each tree shining green under a light dusting
of downy frost.
Kindy’s
has been around since 1980…the retail outlet for the Brite Star Manufacturing
Company located in South Philly…and, according to its website, it is the premier stop for all things Christmas…the
Kindy’s shopping experience [is] a fun-filled family holiday tradition.
This
could be the place.
Look,
I’m one hardened, sarcastic scalawag of a citybilly. I’m a rogue and I’m a rounder and, yet, around this time every
year, I just say hark that.
I
yearn to be swept away by the holidays.
T’is
the season and I want to feel it…the spirit, the glee, the mirth. I want to wash away my cynicism with good,
old-fashioned holiday cheer. I know my
weather and I know my Wheel so I know not to expect a white Christmas, though
that would be lovely…but I want all the rest.
I want to feel part of something...to feel connected...hard to do while living in this urban grid...hard to do, at this time of year, while fighting traffic, fighting crowds, fighting lines to the registers.
I want to feel part of something...to feel connected...hard to do while living in this urban grid...hard to do, at this time of year, while fighting traffic, fighting crowds, fighting lines to the registers.
I
want that warm glow in the bottom of my belly…I want to turn into a happy
stooge…heedless of the wind and weather…I want peace and joy on
Turtle Island…I want to deck the halls…I want to sing along.
I
want to be jolly.
And
so…with a seasonal sense of optimism, under a typical sky of the Long Snow Moon…scudding
trails of storm-clouds twisting inside-out, revealing their dark and rainy
hearts…I traveled through the mean streets to the Kindy’s Christmas
Factory Outlet.
Ho,
ho, ho.
