19 DEC 25
“Open this!” Patience declares... dropping a shiny silver package almost on my head around seven o'clock that morning...
“Happy birthday!” Oxbear adds...
...as I peel back the paper to reveal Patience's gift which she chose herself off my list... a pair of panda slippers... since the old bunny ones gave out awhile ago from too much use...
“Thank you sister”... hugs...
About an hour and a half later the whole five of us are thundering east towards Soulard Market in a sixteen degree windchill to meet about half of the rest of the family to examine everything from duck meat to dark sweet cherries...
While S places a listed order of Christmas candies in a shivering corridor of vendors... Oxbear shares stories of childhood... like the time he collected animal tails and Gloria would pause for Arkansas roadkill wielding a pair of scissors to help add to his collection...
The look spread across Puck's face of this-is-a-whole-new-addition-to-your-weirdness-Dad... is palpable... and maybe priceless...
After loading up on things like peanut brittle and a bag of giant carrots and potatoes for the road...
...three vehicles spin north towards Crown Candy Kitchen... winding through battered red brick neighborhoods... Victorian beasts waiting renovation...
...which ends in hot plates of BLTs as thick as historic novels and tamales and grilled cheese and milkshakes and fat hand-packed peanut butter cups...
...then a quick hit across the street for coffee for those who will and baked potato casserole samples in a creamy sauce and spices that rival any potato I've tried...
...while Patience and little cousins play with the owner's puppy... happy to find playmates...
We're still on the road into the afternoon... as Yali is escorted to ice skating with his buddy R down south...
...and the rest of us make a “quick” stop at the South County Mall which is so full of fascinating things that it might have taken a week to look through it all...
And back home while Puck takes my car out to O'Fallon for the evening... there're cheeseburger sliders for dinner...
...with the new “Knives Out” film for Oxbear and myself once the kids are tucked into warm blankets for the night...