Grumpa Joe's Place

Yesterday I ventured into Chicago with my daughter and two grandchildren for our annual “breakfast under the tree.” Before Macy’s was Macy’s it was Marshall Field’s. For years Field’s sponsored a special Christmas breakfast in their famed Walnut Room. The atrium is several stories high, and at Christmas they dress a three-story high Christmas tree. This year the theme was Believe.

We arrived at nine-thirty expecting to walk in and take the elevator directly to the hostess desk on the seventh floor.  Wrong! The store was still closed. I found a sign with the hours and learned that they opened at 10 a.m. this week. Oh well, not to spoil a good adventure, I suggested we  walk a few blocks to see the city of Chicago Christmas tree. It is always very beautiful. The walk was blustery and windy, but what the heck it is December. Surprise, when we arrived at the Daley Plaza the tree was not there in its usual place. It was gone, not a needle on the sidewalk anywhere in sight. The Chris Kindle market was being disassembled. The Jewish Minora and the Christian creche were still there, as were the pigeons warming themselves around the Eternal Flame memorial. All I kept thinking was these dirty Progressive bastards. They must have begun removing the tree at one minute after midnight. For as long as I remember, the tree, and the plaza were left up through the week between Christmas and New Year. Obviously these symbols, and cultures are offensive to others. It doesn’t matter that they have offended all Jews and Christians by these actions.

We walked back to Macy’s and waited another five minutes for the door to open. Another surprise awaited us at the Walnut Room. The original Macy hours for the breakfast changed. They no longer open for breakfast the week after Christmas. Thankfully the tree was still up and we got to admire the tree adorned in blue lights and silver sparkles. We waited another hour for the room to open for lunch. Thankfully, the service was fast but the food was ordinary. We slopped it down and left for home.

It is obvious to me that Macy’s does not like Chicago or the traditions they inherited when they bought Field’s. Quite frankly, I don’t believe Macy’s will survive in Chicago for as many years as Marshall Field’s did.

Filed under: family | Tagged: Breakfast, Christmas, Field's, Macy's, Walnut Room |