An A++ Holiday Theme

"You'll shoot your eye out!"

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing loud for all to hear!"

"I never eat December snowflakes. I always wait until January. "

If movies are a part of your holiday celebration, you might recognize the above quotes from "A Christmas Story", "Elf" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas". As a family, those are a few of our favorites that we watch each year, As a couple, my husband and I try to take in "Love Actually" and then for myself, a little "White Christmas" or "The Bells of St. Mary's". Everyone seems to have their own treasured flicks and no list is the end all be all, but if "A Christmas Story" is one you enjoy, then making a trip to Cleveland is a must.

My family 'fleed to the Cleve' this past July for a Tamburitzan festival. It is a three-day weekend held in a different city each year with performances and rehearsals, but there is some down time to take in a few sights. Not far from our hotel was "A Christmas Story" house, the century old home on West 11th Street used in the film back in 1983. A die-hard fan restored the home to look like the actual set in the holiday classic and it has become a popular tourist attraction.

We decided to make this the one thing we had to see during our visit. We did not know what to expect because while pulling into the neighborhood, it didn't seem like we were in the right place. You can park on the street but some people who live there try to make a few bucks by offering their driveway or side yard for parking. Plus, the street itself looks a lot different without snow and the Bumpus' dogs running outside.

The large gift shop is the first stop you make to buy your tickets for the tour. Luckily, we had some time to kill before ours began so we had plenty of time to browse. This shop is a Christmas collector's dream with lots of non-movie items for purchase, but as you can imagine, there is lots of movie memorabilia to stock up on too.

The Aunt Clara bunny costume, bars of Lifebuoy soap and of course, the fragile leg lamp are all available for purchase. It is tempting not to plunk down some cold hard cash just so you too can experience Mr. Parker's joy when he witnessed "the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window."


Our tour guide provided some interesting facts about the movie and the house, but it is the "stuff" that most of us couldn't wait to check out for ourselves including: the Red Ryder BB Gun propped up by the tree, the Leg Lamp in its crate and the Little Orphan Annie decoder ring set up on the hamper in the bathroom.

The kitchen was equipped with the under the sink cupboard where Randy hid when he thought "Daddy's going to kill Ralphie" after the big fight with Scut Farkus. I am glad Brian Jones made his dream a reality and made the house something every fan can enjoy. There is even a flag pole out front, which many people have been tempted to put their tongue on, but on an 85 degree day in July, it is just not the same.


You really get to know a film when it is on repeat for a whole day - which is how I got to know it so well during the TBS Christmas marathons. I would pick up the movie in different parts, but eventually it didn't matter what I had missed, I could get drawn in instantly. A few years ago I bought the movie on DVD and can watch it whatever day we choose during December and it has become one my kids truly enjoy watching.


I remember the Christmas when, like Ralphie, I really wanted something. For me, it was the year of the Cabbage Patch Kid. My sister and I both wanted our own so badly even though 6 years separated us. That Christmas morning we spotted two big boxes and ripped the paper with wild abandon. But the boxes did not contain authentic Cabbage Patch Kids,  they contained homemade dolls, with soft faces and painted on eyes.

I tried so hard to be happy with my doll. I am not sure what my sister had going on, but I was busy with my struggle and it was real. I did not want to upset Santa by being an ungrateful kid but it seemed to me, the North Pole elves got something wrong.


My mom says there was just no way to get the dolls that year and so she had a friend of a friend made the ones we ended up getting. I am not sure what happened to them, heck I don't even remember the names we gave them, but a mere seven months later, my sister got her for real cabbage kid for her 4th birthday. I got mine a month later for my 10th.


So, the moral of the story is - dreams do come true just for some of us, they take a little longer. For my sister and I, we are no worse off because we did not get our Cabbage Patch Kids the first time around.  In fact, the story of that Christmas is a family favorite which brings tears of laughter to our eyes. Our 'Christmas Story' might be a little more real, which makes it all the more endearing.


It is the memories of being a kid at Christmas -  the excitement, the traditions, the possibilities that all come streaming back as I watch my kids. I hope when they are adults they look back on their Christmases past as fondly as I do mine. With only a few days until Santa's sleigh takes to the sky, there is magic in the air.  No matter our age, if we are young at heart, maybe, just maybe, we can experience the childlike wonder once again.

Nick, be careful. It's Frag-il-ay!

Nolan and Ol' Blue

Nora, make sure to drink your Ovaltine.

Give Christmas A Chance

Christmas is hard. There is so much to do between the shopping and the baking and the cards and the shopping and the baking...yes, I think you get it.

Each year I say, ' Things are going to be different.' I have always had the Donna Reed vision of Christmas where I am wearing a lovely holiday dress with two-inch heels, singing Christmas carols as I take cookies out of the oven, pausing ever so briefly to kiss my husband under the mistletoe. The kids are sitting at the table, smiling at each other, gazing around at the beautifully decorated tree with wrapped presents underneath.

But the reality is, I still have some decorations stacked in a corner not placed. I bake my cookies between dinner and kids' extracurricular activities.  Shopping, luckily, has been made easy though the wonders of the internet so I feel good in that department, but there isn't much magical about what I do.

Here is the problem - my childhood. My mom always did her best to make Christmas special. She made cookies, sent out cards, did the decorating. I remember her with the electric cookie gun making the tasty bite-sized morsels. I remember my special monogrammed ornaments hanging from the tree and oh, the tinsel!

Most of our family decorations from 40 years ago are gone, but just recently, while browsing in a specialty store, I saw an elf statue exactly like the ones that use to sit on our mantle. He had a buddy and each of them were playing an instrument. Back then they looked a little creepy and even now they still look a little creepy, but it filled me with such joy to see Elfin again.

I really wanted to enjoy more of the season this year so, I got started a little early. In the past, I have been a staunch supporter of Thanksgiving. I wanted the holiday to have its due without being overshadowed by Feliz Navidad. My little protest involved barring all things Christmas until December 1. That is when the decorations would come out, the carols would come on and the celebration would begin.

I have since realized that my little protest was not doing the Pilgrims any favors and I was not going to force Walmart out of business by not going out on Black Friday. This year, I went along with the herd and moooove over bacon, I have seen the light!

I had a present plan before Black Friday and with a click, click, click, I was 75% done with my shopping in an hour. I took my Christmas card photo the day before Thanksgiving and had cards designed and ordered before I digested my turkey. My tree went up on November 25, to take advantage of my husband's couple of days off, achieving a world record for earliest tree debut in the Keleschenyi home.

I am happy about the strides I made this year. It did make me a little sad to jump right into Christmas before Tom Turkey officially made a comfortable exit, but in reality, the extra days were just what I needed. It gave me the option to use the limited weekend time we have as a family to do fun things like see a Live Nativity, visit McKeesport's Festival of Trees and browse the Lincoln Highway Hub's Christmas Open House.

I even visited the PPG Wintergarden with my youngest the weekend before Thanksgiving, just because we were downtown and we could. (This would have been a no-no for my old self.) I did have reservations about walking through the doors with the voice in my head saying, 'It's too early! It's too early!', but I powered through and had one of the most lovely experiences ever. It was early morning, hardly anyone was there, and my little guy and I were able to actually look at all the gingerbread houses. We even made a stop at each Santa from around the world and he slowly read the descriptions aloud.

It is difficult to keep the focus on what Christmas is really all about with all the details that come with it. If Christmas was tomorrow, which thank God it isn't, I would still have a few cards that didn't go out and one batch of cookies that didn't get made and nothing is wrapped yet. I would have one child who would not get much because I just got his list yesterday. But on the plus side, there are already some great memories that I have stored away from this holiday season.

I am very pleased with my experiment this year. I have learned that like it or not, in today's society, you have to adapt. I can no longer be the poster child for trying to save Thanksgiving. That is a lost cause. It was a valiant effort, but no more activism for me, only peace.  My new mindset has made December more enjoyable and it looks like I may have started a new holiday tradition, one that will continue to make room for the joy that the season brings.

Creepy Elfins Circa 1970 somethin'

For Everyone Except You

This is the time of year when sweets are front and center stage. Christmas cookies, gingerbread houses, candy canes - it is like December is an all access pass to Sugar Town. I will not lie to you. I am pretty much the mayor of that town and I do indulge myself, within reason. Just last week, I took a photo of a chocolate cake and made it the lock screen on my phone. Yes, I've got it bad.

But something happened to me recently that made me think about the others. Those who cannot indulge because of a food allergy. The nut allergy has become something so common that there are special sections in some school cafeterias where kids with the allergy have to sit. It has also become an issue, at least in my school district, that prohibits homemade or store bought treats from being brought to school for birthdays or holiday parties. Everything is handled by the food service company to ensure the utmost safety during special occasions.

I remember when my son was in preschool and the teachers passed out a list of recommended treats to be brought in for snack day. We were told to check labels and look for the mention of nuts or items made in a facility that processes nuts. I remember hearing some parents complain about having to take these extra steps. You don't really think about it unless your kid is affected and since my children do not have food allergies, I never really understood what some families go through.

For the past decade or so, my repertoire of homemade Christmas delights has included chocolate covered pretzels. I have always loved them, especially the red bag of Sarris pretzels. Prior to me making them myself, I thought they were time consuming and difficult. But a couple relatives, who made them and passed them out as tasty parting gifts after a holiday visit, convinced me they were easy and I should give it a go.  One year I did and I never looked back.

They are nice to give out to teachers, friends, and co-workers. In fact, I started making them for the other students in my kids' dance group. We pass out treat bags each year at our Christmas party and my pretzels always got a compliment or two - some of those came from my own kids who get to enjoy the leftover melted chocolate and broken pieces.

We have a little girl in our group who has a dairy allergy. For the past couple years, she has not been able to eat the pretzels in her bag because of the milk in chocolate. (I was not aware of this until recently.) Her mother is really good about trying to provide treats her daughter can eat whenever there is food involved at any of our practices and gatherings since unlike nuts - milk is in a lot of stuff.

At our November parent meeting, we talked about the items we would be putting in the treat bags. Someone asked if I could make my pretzels again, which I was happy to do, until the mom pointed out that her daughter couldn't eat them. I didn't think it was such a big deal at first. There are other items in the bag. But then I thought about this sweet little girl having to be told, 'No, honey. You cannot eat those,' while watching her other friends, and possibly her sister, chomping like crazy. If I was going to make them I knew I would have to actively check the ingredients and try to find some sort of dairy free chocolate to use. Was there even such a thing?

I made a call to the store where I buy my chocolate and they told me they did not have anything I could use. I went to another store and found a couple baking bars that contained milk powder, wondering if that would be ok but after contacting the mom, I found out they were not. She did provide me with two items I could try - a dark chocolate bar at Aldi and special chocolate chip morsels sold at Giant Eagle.

I was a little apprehensive about using the morsels since they were different from what I normally use. But they melted really well and the only difference I noticed working with it, is that it took a little longer for the chocolate to set. As for the taste, my daughter and my husband cleaned out the left over chocolate bowl and said they could not taste a difference.

The night of our Christmas party I was distracted when Santa came to pass out the presents. It was a bowling party so many of us parents were trying to save face and knock some pins down. But before the party was over, I was caught off guard when the arms of a seven year old suddenly wrapped around my waist. With eyes twinkling and a wide smile she said, " Thank you for the pretzels, Kristen." Her mom explained how happy her daughter was when she asked if she could eat them and was told yes. (Which probably does not happen as often as her parents would like.)

That moment has been replayed so many times in my mind since that night. Her hug made me feel really good. For parents of kids who do not have food allergies we might not always think to ask the right questions when food is being provided to a group. This can cause hurt feelings and force parents to pick up the pieces when their kid is upset because they cannot eat what everyone else is eating.

This experience helped me to realize there are alternative ingredients and recipes out there to consider. A little modification on my part avoided any unintended exclusion. I am thankful to this mom for being a great advocate for her kid and also for bringing awareness to a condition that affects more people than we realize. Chocolate covered pretzels should only cause tears when there aren't any left not because someone cannot eat them.

A recent batch of pretzels with dairy free chocolate