Christmas 2023 with Julie: Lights, Gifts, and Movies

It is safe to say that Julie Rodriguez and I had a most wonderful Christmas season together. It started last Thursday night (21 December) when I came to her apartment right after work. Julie, her roommate Joan Burke, and myself rode together to Tilles County Park in Ladue. We rode through Winter Wonderland, a major drive-through Christmas lights display. There was a long line of vehicles to enter the park, but after about 20 minutes we were in the park and slowly driving through the display. There were plenty of beautiful lighted items--including animated lights--for the three of us to enjoy.

After our visit to Winter Wonderland, Julie decided to head to Candy Cane Lane, a stretch of Murdoch in south St. Louis near Francis Park. There was another long line of vehicles in the area, but once in we were treated to some beautiful residential light displays.

 

The next night (22 December) had the three of us hitting the road again. This time, we went to Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park in Eureka to check out Santa's Magical Kingdom. We wound through a hilly, forested trail to see the lights. There was another great crowd of tourists there. (The weather that week was unseasonably warm.) 

Saturday night (23 December) saw Julie, Joan, and I back to the road, heading for World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Madison, Illinois. The motor sports facility was hosting Wonder Lights Christmas, an annual light show that Julie and I took in last year. There was quite a good crowd again at this facility. Once in the raceway, we enjoyed some terrific light displays accompanied by music that we could hear on a dedicated radio frequency.

The three of us greatly enjoyed seeing the light displays in the days leading up to Christmas.

I was home on Christmas Eve, apart from getting fuel for the car that afternoon. Christmas morning, I opened my presents that were under the Christmas Tree. From Mom, I got a Starbucks gift card and a three-pack of Moleskine journals. Rick sent me three books: The Complete Screenplay for the Movie "Oppenheimer;" "Defeat: Napoleon's Russian Campaign;" and "The Fatal Alliance: A Century of War on Film."

I left home at midday to drive to Julie's apartment, where we had a nice lunch featuring chicken. Afterward, we exchanged gifts. I gave Julie a colored pen set and a nice magenta sweater; these items were on her wish list sent to me. I opened a box she had given to me a few days earlier, but which I brought along for this occasion. It had a St. Louis CITY SC baseball cap, which was on the wish list I sent Julie.

Julie and I then settled down on the couch to watch the classic 1980 comedy film "Airplane!" on her home video. It's one of my all-time favorite movies, and hers as well. A great laugh fest.

After watching a movie at home, we decided to watch a movie in the cinema. After finding it sold out at the first theater we went to, Julie and I were able to get tickets to see "Ferrari" at the Marcus Des Peres Cinema. This new drama from director Michael Mann opened on this day. We both enjoyed "Ferrari" and especially liked the auto racing action sequences.

After the movie, we returned to Julie's apartment, where she gave me some leftover chicken to enjoy this week. We hugged and kissed each other goodbye after a terrific Christmas Day.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

Tilles County Park: Tilles Park - St. Louis County Website (stlouiscountymo.gov)

Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park: Eureka Jellystone – Your Vacation Destination for Six Flags® and St. Louis

World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway: New Home Page - World Wide Technology Raceway (wwtraceway.com)

Starbucks: Starbucks Coffee Company

Moleskine: Moleskine® Official Website - Notebooks, Planners and More | Moleskine

St. Louis CITY SC: St. Louis CITY SC (stlcitysc.com)

Marcus Des Peres Cinema: Des Peres Movie Theatre | Marcus Theatres

Julie and I at IPMS/Gateway's 2023 Christmas Party

After getting off work last night (19 December), I drove to Julie's apartment to pick her up and then take her to Affton Elks Lodge #2635. This month's IPMS/Gateway meeting was also the annual Christmas Party.

Julie and I parked at the Elks Lodge and we brought our things into the hall. I brought some tortilla chips and salsa, while she had some sliced bread. We put our items on the buffet table and waited for the meeting to start.

After club president Marion Morris called the meeting to order, we lined up to get dinner. I let Julie go first, then got myself into line. We had quite a few members with several guests--mostly significant others. The club bought meat from Smokee Mo's Arnold BBQ Restaurant and bottles of soda, while club members and guests brought the side dishes and desserts. Nobody came away hungry from this dinner.

After the meal, Morris was presented a certificate from the Civil Air Patrol for recently building a model of a CAP aircraft from World War II for the Jefferson Barracks POW-MIA Museum. 

This was followed by elections for club officers. I was unopposed for secretary, so I will be back in that office in 2024. I was also on the ballot for Gateway's Bob Stroup Award for Member of the Year. Three other members were nominated. This award will be presented at next month's meeting.

Morris then ran the annual Recognition Contest, in which members saw images projected against the wall and had to choose from multiple choices on the answer sheet. Julie also played along. This year's contest theme was "Wrecks," with images of wrecked aircraft, ships, armored vehicles, automobiles, and miscellaneous items (mostly science fiction; Julie is quite good with that). I tied two others with the highest score of 20 correct out of 25. I won the tiebreaker and received a Hawker Hurricane kit as the prize.

Speaking of kits, there was finally a raffle of kits the club bought that all members in attendance each had a chance to win. My ticket was one of those picked and I selected the Artemis I space launch vehicle kit, which recently came out.

Julie enjoyed her time there, chatting with a few of the other members in attendance. As the meeting broke up, Julie and I packed up our things and got into my car. Then, I took her to her home, Julie and I hugging and kissing in the car before she left. We will touch base regarding Christmas early next week.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

Affton Elks Lodge #2635: Lodge #2635 Welcome (elks.org)

IPMS Gateway Chapter: IPMS Gateway Chapter (google.com)

Smokee Mo's Arnold BBQ Restaurant:  Smokee Mo's Arnold BBQ - Best BBQ Restaurant In Arnold (smokeemosarnoldbbq.com)

Civil Air Patrol: Civil Air Patrol | Civil Air Patrol National Headquarters (gocivilairpatrol.com)

Jefferson Barracks POW-MIA Museum: Jefferson Barracks POW/MIA Museum | A Promise Made, A Promise Kept (jbpow-mia.org)

Julie and I Take in BandTogether's Holiday Concert

Last night (16 December), I drove up to Julie's apartment. There, she and I got into her vehicle and we went to 560 Music Center in University City. This facility hosted the annual Holiday Concert of BandTogether, a Metro St. Louis volunteer music organization.

After parking in a nearby garage, Julie and I walked through a light rain to 560 Music Center. We first went into the Pillsbury Theater for a pre-show featuring the band's 12-person color guard performing a routine.

Following the pre-show, the audience made its way to the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall for the concert, whose theme was "You Better Sleigh!" They performed five selections in the first act, including instrumental versions of "Santa Baby" and "Go Tell It on the Mountain." Julie and I attended last year's concert, and we were really enjoying this year's show.

A 15-minute intermission followed, which included another show in the Pillsbury Theater by the color guard. They danced and twirled flags to the Christmas song "Underneath the Tree." They did quite a beautiful job.

It was then back to the Concert Hall for the rest of the concert. The band performed five more selections, including "Laughing All the Way (For all who love snow...)" and "All is Calm," based on the classics "Jingle Bells" and "Silent Night," respectively. The house lights were brought down for the latter number, and audience members lit electric candles (or in Julie and my case, our cellphone lights) during the performance.

Prior to the final number, "Choose Joy," the conductor expressed his thanks to all who supported BandTogether in the past year. He also paid tribute to his mother, who passed away just days before, and it was hard for him to keep from tearing up as he talked about his mother. Julie and I agreed this was an honest gesture on his part.

The band performed an encore number, "Sleigh Ride," before the concert finally ended. Julie and I walked out happy, as did everyone else in attendance.

After walking back to the garage and getting back into her vehicle, Julie and I headed back to her apartment. I stayed around with Julie and her apartment mate Joan, who was nursing some soreness and had passed on going to the concert. I enjoyed a mug of hot chocolate as we watched a few YouTube videos projected onto their large screen TV. We saw several videos from Six13, a New York-based Jewish a capella group who did song parodies tied to Hanukkah, which just ended the previously Thursday. They did songs based on "West Side Story," "Hamilton," and "Star Wars," as well as music by Billy Joel. We agreed Six13 did a terrific job on these Holiday-themed songs.

After that, we saw an 60th anniversary special episode of "Doctor Who" on Disney+. Julie is a big fan of the series and recently went to "Doctor Who" themed First Friday at the Saint Louis Science Center. In this episode we saw, Doctor Who and his assistant went back to 1925 London to take on the Toymaker, who was trying to turn an early experiment in TV transmission into a present-day torment for the world. I found it very entertaining; however, I was also really tired. With that, I called it a night and drove home, stopping on the way home at White Castle for some sliders.

When I got home, I found that my mailbox had been knocked a bit off base and its front hatch removed from the box. I didn't understand what could have happened. This afternoon, I called the police who came out to have a look. The officer noticed a scar on one side of the mailbox which I had not seen before. This officer believed some drunk motorist hit the mailbox last night before I got home. He also found the front hatch and reattached it to the mailbox. The officer said he would look elsewhere in the subdivision, but thought it was an isolated case. I was glad to know that and thanked the officer for coming for a look.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:

560 Music Center: E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall | 560 Music Center | Washington University in St. Louis (wustl.edu)

BandTogether: BandTogether – St. Louis' LGBT+ Band and Colorguard since 1997 (bandtogetherstl.com)

Six13: Six13 | Being Jewish never sounded quite like this

Doctor Who: Doctor Who | Home

White Castle: Home - White Castle

Dates with Julie: Garden Glow and St. Louligans Christmas Party

Wednesday evening (6 December), I arrived at Julie's residence. After exchanging Christmas gifts to place under our respective trees, I drove us to Missouri Botanical Garden to tour the Garden Glow Christmastime light display. After parking on the street and walking to the Garden, we paid our way into the display and walked through it.

It was rather mild for an early December evening and there was a large crowd that evening. Julie and I really enjoyed the various displays of light throughout the garden. 

Julie and I were very impressed with this light show. It was accompanied with music in some instances. Animated lights accompanied by music were projected onto one side of Tower Grove, the Henry Shaw house on the Garden's grounds. That was super cool.

I drove Julie home, after making a stop for fuel on the way to her place, then on the way home stopped by Hi-Pointe Drive-In located in Kirkwood for a belated dinner. I had a cheeseburger with fries and cola, all of which were very good. It was my first visit there, and I highly doubt it will be my last.

After work on Friday (8 December), I picked up Julie and drove us to 2nd Shift Brewing in St. Louis for the St. Louligans Christmas Party. Most of our group were present at this party, which featured a catered buffet dinner. Julie and I each bought a beer from the counter to enjoy with our dinner. We heard that the Winter Classic soccer match against the St. Louis chapter of American Outlaws will be played on Saturday, 6 January 2024 at World Wide Technology Soccer Park. Two weeks later, on 20 January, St. Louligans will hold their Annual General Meeting at the Schlafly Tap Room.

I drove Julie back to her place before returning home. Our love for each other remains strong.

Later.

Websites of Entiries Mentioned in this Post:

Missouri Botanical Garden: Missouri Botanical Garden

Hi-Pointe Drive-In: Hi-Pointe Drive-In | Best Burgers In St. Louis MO (hipointedrivein.com)

2nd Shift Brewing: 2nd Shift Brewing

St. Louligans: Saint Louligans – Supporting Soccer in the St. Louis Area – St. Louligans – Supporting St. Louis Soccer (stlouligans.com)