Friday, November 17, 2006

' Tis the season. . . already? ? ?

Wednesday (day before yesterday) I happened to have some time between buses during a transfer at North Star Mall. So I went into the mall to browse around -- the food court shops sometimes will offer free samples of their eats.

And. . . what greeted my ears from the p.a. system, but muzak-style Christmas songs! And 'tis the season decorations were already hung from the mall ceilings!

Now folks, this is simply ridiculous! A week BEFORE Thanksgiving, and Christmas is already "in the air. . !" ? ? ? As one newspaper comic strip put it this morning (or yesterday), the 25 December holiday is starting earlier every year!

This simply IS NOT RIGHT! There should be a law against decorating (visually or aurally) for Christmas before Thanksgiving! And now that I've mentioned it, Halloween stuff was for sale in the stores not long after Labor Day. Again, such is WAY TOO EARLY!

Leaving my too-early-holiday-celebration protest aside, here are some words about the said mall. Way back when we lived in Devine, and we wanted to do mall shopping, we usually shopped South Park Mall or Ingram Park Mall; these were the two closest to our home. But once in awhile we'd go on around on Loop 410 to Central Park Mall, one of the "double malls" that flanked San Pedro Avenue on the south side of the loop. Central Park had a double carousel inside, which was very fun to ride. As for the other of those double malls, North Star, I doubt we ever darkened its doorsteps. It had a reputation as being for the very wealthy, i.e., those who lived in Loopland.

Alas! When I moved to San Antonio in '02, I was saddened to see that Central Park Mall had bit the dust. Whatever happened to that delightful carousel I don't know to this day.

And altho' North Star Mall continues to cater to the wealthy Looplanders, there is a NEW ultra-rich mall, over near Fiesta Texas. It's called The Shops of La Cantera. THAT one even has a Neiman Marcus store, and some store called Nordstrom that especially caters to ultra-rich African-American women. As if there were very many of such women here!

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