Like Clark Griswold in Christmas Vacation I am enamored of “good old-fashioned family Christmases.” And like Clark, I will go to great lengths to achieve my goal.
Back in, oh say, September, I got it into my head that I should take my kids to downtown Pittsburgh during the Christmas season so that they could experience Kaufman’s Department Store (sorry, couldn’t find a good link). Kaufman’s has been a cornerstone of Pittsburgh commerce since the 1800’s. The store encompasses 11 floors and includes a restaurant, deli, ice cream shop and auditorium among other things. It is definitely an upscale store and in these days of the Super Wal-Mart, it’s a true dinosaur, the likes of which are rarely seen. But if you’re going to see one, Kaufman’s, at Christmas, is the one to see. They still fill the windows along the street with a wonderland of animated scenes. Anyway, my idea became an urgent, screaming must-do last month when Kaufman’s announced it would be closing its doors at the end of the year. Selling out to Macy’s they said.
We made the trip today. We took Daughter, brought along my 80-year-old aunt (who swung back and forth between being thrilled to crying because she’d never get to go to Kaufman’s again) and stopped to pick Son up at his apartment. We had lunch together at Applebee’s to give the traffic headed to the Steeler game time to thin out. We found a street level parking space in the garage right across the street from the store so Auntie didn’t have to walk too far. And then the fun began.
Bundled up in our heaviest coats, hats and hoods pulled down low against the blowing snow, and Christmas carols playing overhead, we began our wide-eyed stroll past the windows that encircle the building. Some featured bright, festive displays of holiday fashions or housewares, but the real attraction was the windows telling the story of a little girl named Virginia who wrote a very famous letter to the editor and that editor’s even more famous reply. The detail in the displays was amazing and I loved seeing the wonder on the kids’ faces as they took it all in. Then again to see the looks on their faces when they walked through the door and got their first look at the inside. We didn’t buy a single thing but we walked through each floor just so they could see it all and my aunt treated us to ice cream sundaes.
It was a perfect day. To amaze our jaded, materialistic kids was priceless….and so was the joy the trip down memory lane gave my aunt.
Sounds like a fun day for all — especially your aunt.
Comment by FTS — December 12, 2005 @ 8:20 pm