Page 383 - Demo

Holiday Photos By Kathryn Kirk:C a t c h T h e S p i r i t O fC h r i s t m a s P r e s e n t E a r lyT h e magic of C hanukah and C h ristm as aw ait young readers behind the w ind ow ofC ousin A rthur%u2019s child ren %u2019s bookstore C ousin A rthu r%u2019s also offers signed e d itio n s by localw riters and illustrators, and invites children to a free storytelling hour, every Saturday m orning at 11am, w ith a program of holiday readings on Dec. 20. (P hoenix/K irk Photo)BY ELIZABETH FOSTERThe year my sister was ten and I was 12, our mother stopped to run an errand on the way home from buying our Christmas tree. She left us alone in the car with the admonition to %u201cbe good%u201d for Santa. When she returned 15 minutes later, the car windows were steamed up from the exertions of a terrible fight that had involved some of the noble tree%u2019s branches as weapons. The Christmas spirit had gone tired and sour. The Grinch stole, however briefly, our fierce resolve to be good for the mythic fellow in the red suit.Our mother was stern. She warned us again about not pouting, not crying, etc. but we weren%u2019t fooled into thinking we were the only naughty ones. Just the day before, she herself had let loose with a forbidden epithet when a tray of Christmas cookies fell on the floor and little silver candles went rolling everywhere.In fact, a howling four-year-old is a familiar sight on the streets this time of year, but so, too, are his irritated parents, juggling bags of groceries and a Christmas wreath, which is bound to get stolen off the front door anyway, The trick may not be how to get into the holiday spirit in the first place, but how to stay there, how to feel the least stress and the most pleasure in the season.The constant babble of advertising is enough to drive even the most reformed Scrooge back into the counting house. The effort to please everyone and forget no one, the grinding rounds of shopping, the struggle to stay on some reasonable budget, and the emphasis on material exchanges can drain the joy right out of the holiday. Fruitcakes and cookies and rich holiday foods start pouring in, threatening to smother the family in sugar and spice.If you want to catch the spirit in all its early, magical splendor, now is the time. Christmas trees grow up overnight on the street comers, Fulton Mall sparkles with thousands of tiny red and white lights, and a canopy of green and red bells over Court Street entices the wanderer deep into the Italian bakeries, pastry shops and delicatessens of Carroll Gardens. The shops of Seventh Avenue and Montague Street have become a feast for all the senses, especially the eyes. It%u2019s Christmas time in Brooklyn, with only 20 shopping days left until the holiday culminates in the giftgiving ceremony under the glittering tree, and friends and family gather for the traditional winter feast.Even if shopping is put off to the last minute %u2014 which can prove a threat to the fragile nature of comfort and joy %u2014 theren lontv nf nthor w avs hnt.h sm a ll and ---------g-----------------%u201e - %u00bblarge, inexpensive and extravagant, to bring home the spirit in it early stages of hope, anticipation and joy. Maybe the angry side won%u2019t be so bad this year if the spirit has been sufficiently appeased by the rituals of the season.The Men In Blue Can HelpYou Play The Man In RedHoliday greeting cards are available all over town in a seeminly endless array of design, color and message. Sending Chanukah or Christmas cards, singly or by the dozen, is a simple, meaningful gesture that can be as much fun for you as for the person you remember. Most stores that carry greeting cards also sell gifts, Christmas ornaments, wrapping paper, andcards and wrapping paper I%u2019ll bring out.%u201d party supplies, so you may find yourself taking the initial shopping plunge without even realizing it as you browse for the perfect card to send your grandmother.When you walk into Alan Bergmann%u2019s Windmill Shop at 131 Seventh Avenue in Park Slope, telephone 857-7223, be prepared for a auantitv of greeting cards vast enough to overwhelm even Bergmann himself. %u201cI keep six or 700 blank greeting cards on display, but I keep looking around, thinking about which ones I%u2019ll clear out for all the Christmas stuff I have upstairs,%u201d he says with a laugh. %u201cThe closer it gets, the moreThe store is already so jam-packed with boxes and racks of cards and sprinkled so liberally with small gift items, that it%u2019s impossible to imagine even one more card fitting into the racks.The Windmill Shop and a number of other card and gift stores in the area, including Scribbles in Park Slope and the Minimax Hallmark Gallery and Overtures in Brooklyn Heights, are featuring a particularly beautiful series of Christmas cards this year designed by local entrepreneur Ira Shapiro. The cards are black and white graphic reproductions of present-day Brooklyn winter scenes, including a view of the Promenade and a child building a snowman on the comer of Henry and Hicks Streets. The cards are available singly or in boxes of 10 ($7.50), and would send an accurate picture of Brooklyn on a snowy day to far-away loved ones.The visitor in search of the holiday spirit enters Overtures at 216 Hicks Street, telephone 643-9345, and is greeted with familiar seasonal tunes and the fragrance of a potpourri of nutmeg, cloves, and bay leaves ($6.50). %u201cWe want to get people to enjoy themselves when they come in,%u201d says Richard Klein, who owns and manages the shop with Michael Davidson. %u201cAlthough the 18th round of %u2018Winter Wonderland%u2019 can drive you crazy.%u201d This year, Klein and Davidson are decorating Overtures with fresh holly wreaths and scores of ornaments. Small wooden and glass ($1.50 and up) and handpainted porcelain ornaments ($12) hang from the holly that twines around the decorative pillars in the shop. Christmas cards range from the artistic to the cute to the extremely off-color.Klein and Davidson also feature the welldressed stuffed animals of the Great American Bear Company, including such favorites as %u201cAudrey Hepbeam as My Bear Lady%u201d ($55), %u201cHumphrey Beargart%u201d and %u201cNapoleon Beamapart%u201d ($49.95 each).Another vast source of holiday greeting cards and other gift items is the Minimax Hallmark Gallery at 172 Montague Street, telephone 6254)202. Manager Stacey Rosenstock expects %u201coutrageous mobs%u201d of people over the next few weeks, but she and the Minimax are in the Christmas spirit. %u201cThis is favorite time of year,\%u201cand people are starting their shopping early.%u201d Twinkling foil ornaments and garlands stretch across the ceiling. In the back of the store, Christmas and Chanukah cards are displayed on stands and in boxes.Scribbles at 115 Seventh Avenue, telephone 783-1706, is a place to catch the holiday spirit in its first stages. A myriad of ornaments shimmers throughout, hinting that they%u2019d make special gifts for your own or a friend%u2019s tree ($3-$25). A potpourri of cinammon and cloves ($5.95) scents the air. After the eyes and nose have been appeased, you notice all the greeting cards and enough gift wrap for an ocean ofContinued on Page 17D ecem ber 4, 1986, T H E P H O E N IX , Page 15