Xmas Eve, by one in the afternoon, the offices downtown were emptying out; the liquor stores and See’s Candies shops were filling up. Around Union Square, the expensive jewelers were packed. Gosh, the economy of the jewelry business is bizarre. On how many months of afternoons do Shreve’s and Tiffany’s seem empty? But late on Xmas Eve, despite a bleak economy, the jewelers are mobbed. All the business of the year seems to be done in one day. …
Around the Square – it’s nice to see – young families make the rounds, stopping to look at the old-fashioned animated windows in Sak’s and to smile at the façade of green wreaths in all the windows of old Magnin’s, now Macy’s. … “Gladden the heart of childhood” -- well, that a downtown Xmas certainly does. Kudos and a tip of the Santa’s cap (and hundreds seem to be wearing those chapeaus today) to all those, who in this age of digital effects, labor so intensely and intently to produce these old-fashioned delights. In the lobby of the St. Francis, true to its grand traditions, stands an enormous, intricate gingerbread castle. Kids raised on Playstation and the High Resolution Screen are, nonetheless, enthralled, their mouths wide open. Fantasy, but three-dimensional…
At Borders’ and Stacy’s, I run into a few political types. Xmas has snuck up on them – they began electioneering twenty-four months and stopped scarce two weeks ago. So they are just getting now to their Xmas shopping. … Other San Franciscans who felt they ought to scrimp or cancel – times are tight -- give in, too, at the last minute. Walgreens is wall-packed.
At Farallon, the afternoon tables are busy with a more sophisticated crowd. On Xmas Eve, after weeks of holiday parties, they stop for a gathering with old friends. Carolyne Zinko, the Chron’s social writer who hasn’t had a night off since Thanksgiving and who still has three weeks more of heavy reporting (after New Year’s, there’s the Inauguration), pops in to talk with a few friends. Among them Denise Hale, glam as can be. You wouldn’t have guessed that she just stepped off a plane from New York. The day before in Manhattan she gave her East Coast party at Le Cirque. Martha Stewart was there. Denise is loyal to pals, through sweet times and tough. Graydon Carter was there as well. …
Inside, Daniela Faggioli … Tatiana Sorokko … Gene Tartaglia of Mecca … Tom Peterson … Nelson Mui of San Francisco Magazine …and others from the world of high couture and high finance gather. … Through the door, coming to Mrs. Hale’s table, is a rare sight, a seasonal one: one of the grandees of San Francisco. She is of a name that goes back to the Gold Rush … through the Silver Boom … the building of Pacific Heights and high society. This is no dot-com-monied lady. This is an international name. She is Dodie Rosekrans. She is elegant, understated, with fur boots of a peasant design, a purse of renaissance design, and a necklace of big gold links and horns. The necklace isn’t of typical elaborate French design, though it is from Paris. It looks like something primal, ancient, and yet festive. It is jewelry. But not from a jeweler. Mrs. Rosekrans buys from artists.
Mrs. Rosekrans lives in Paris now, rusticating in a Ruskin-like palazzo in Venice when things get too hectic. But she is a San Franciscan. And returns to The City every Xmas. … Later, as she leaves Farallon, some children in fashionable sweats, being wrangled by smiling parents cross her path. The children are fascinated by Mrs. Rosekrans’ necklace. To them it is one more magic bauble, part of Xmas in San Francisco. It is a magic moment. Both the grand lady and the children smile. And many Xmasses in San Francisco suddenly connect. …
Down the hill, at the Fire Station on Sansome Street, a hook-and-ladder returns from a call. The tail-driver deftly turns his wheels and the lengthy machine backs into the narrow stall neatly. A passer-by calls to the firefighters “Let it be an easy trick tonight!”
And today, Xmas Day, let it be an easy trick for all who pull duty on the holiday – firefighters … cops … nurses … hotel desk clerks … waitpeople … Cable Car gripmen … and even PG&E employees. Let it be an easy trick. And for those who today wish they just had a trick to pull, some work to do, let that burden be easy as well…
Around the corner – it is now almost five p.m. – a tiny jewelry store stays open. If the economy of the big jewelers baffles, the economy of these small shops bewilders. But in this shop, things are busy. The goods are fine and fancy. The customers are all workingmen – trash collectors, DPW guys. From their looks, they are old time San Franciscans. They may not know DKNY from Kenneth Cole; they may wait until the last minute, but they know the old time shops run by people they grew up with. And while they may be late, they know what’s important in a busy life, in busy families: something special, something pretty, something that speaks … something that the wife deserves. ...
On the way home, a cab driver, a Brazilian kid, is wearing some sort of Laplander’s knit hat. It’s as fancy as anything Mrs. Rosekrans might wear. And as honest. … He has just gotten off the cell phone to his grandmother in a small town outside Brasilia. “She has nine sons and twenty grandchildren,” he says, “this is the first time I will not have been there on Xmas Eve.” He will quit early tonight. He has two toddlers. “We make a Xmas for them, my wife and I,” he says, “some food from the old country. ... Funny, most people think because we are from Brazil, we eat fish. We never saw fish up in the country. We eat meat on Xmas eve. This year chicken and rice! ... "
“No beef!” he laughs, “No beef. Not this night. I love America. But I do not believe the Bushies about the mad cows. So we’re not going to beef on Xmas.”
No one should. … Make it merry. …
Here's a sentimental piece: View image
