When I was a kid, going to downtown Cleveland at the holidays was totally magical! It was an event we excitedly anticipated. All the stores were done up in decorations. The store windows were works on wonder. The closest you might get to imagining it is the opening scene of "A Christmas Story." You'd go see Santa at Higbee's and shop for family afterwards at The Twigbee Shoppe. Maybe dinner before at The Silver Grille was they had the yummiest Welsh Rarebit and you got a cute cardboard stove to take home. (My sister remembers when your meal came in a real stove.) Then, on to "Halle's Seventh Floor where you'll be looking for" Mr. Jingle-a-ling! But the crowning glory was to walk in the atrium of Sterling Linder and see their magnificent tree! Once the tallest indoor Christmas tree, it's last showing was 1968 so I do have memories of it beforehand, being 13 when the store closed. I feel bad for kids (both old and young) to have missed out on the golden age of department stores and their wonderful windows!
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