Very nicely written.
Thanks and Merry Christmas to you and all of your readers.

Thank you for the mini-journey into another decade, suburban St Louis and mall hopping with you and your friends.

Merry Christmas

A hearty thanks to you, DanUp, chuckb and the other writers who have come and gone (Especially lb, wherever you are).

Merry Christmas, and keep up the good work.

Your gift is under the ficus.
-CS

Watch out for Robot Santa!

and this post will be one of the best presents I get all day! thanks again, RB.
in particular, this reminds me of the mood I was in last night, reading about the ideas of impermanence in the dalai lama’s new book, the Art of Living (which I’ll be giving to someone tomorrow, hopefully not causing any controversy).
also, the reminiscing reminded me of that deerhunter song (which I listened to about 3 times last night) called Saved by Old Times. good stuff.

And just so everyone knows, I’m making donations in all of your names to The Human Fund!

Is back in 1998. At this time I was stationed in 29 palms for MOS school. Most of the base was on leave. I think I was the only one left from my class. I just didn’t see any reason to use up all of my leave and spend a paycheck to fly home for a whole 3-4 days.

My parents present arrived the day before. It was a 17 inch Samsung TV. So I went out and bought a playstation and play Gran Turismo for a little bit. So I went out for a walk. One of the guys in the class ahead of me was also still on base. He was from this area, I knew that because he heard me playing “Stars” by Hum on my guitar a few weeks before. So we went back to his room and drank beer and played christmas Carols on guitars…

It makes me really happy to be able to spend Christmas time with my family. While I was in I was always the one that didn’t take leave around Christmas and Thanksgivings. I left that available for the guys with wives and children. But now I must say I do prefer to spend Christmas time with family. {though It was nice to go out for christmas in San Diego and see all the fairer sex dress up in Christmasy cheer.}

You’re a fantastic writer.

Merry Christmas and/or whatever else you celebrate everyone!

Happy Birthday Cards Fan In Chinatown!

I’m stuck in an airport hoping to get home and this provided the perfect distraction. Didn’t get to do shopping with mom or dad this year because of weather, but hopefully I can just make it home. Thank you, Merry Christmas and God bless the Cards.

Merry Christmas to everyone here. I appreciate all of the work you, Chuckb, and DanUp do. As well as the work LB and Azru did before, and everyone’s fanposts. It has been great being able to satiate my Cardinals obsession every day here on VEB, thanks to all.

Made me a little sad. Nothing wrong with that. I think I’ll go throw on a little Badfinger.

Happy Holidays to all!

I never could have dreamt of as cool a baseball site as this one, last year.

Thanks RB. And happy holidays to all

i love this time of year, and I know and love that sad wistful feeling (though for me its not attached to Xmas).

I knew Crestwood was going down, but I didnt know it was that bad.
It was the mall of choice when I was a kid, but I havent been back in a year and a half or so.
I live closer now to the newly improved South County Mall (which was a joke when I was a kid).

I had heard they are going to tear Crestwood down and re do it somehow, but I forget the details

Loved the post. Very beautiful, made me quite melancholic. I’ll bookmark this entry, as it’s one of the most beautifully crafted blog entries I’ve ever read. I’m a sucker for nostalgia, and I can tell this came from the heart. Thanks very much for sharing, Merry Christmas.

But I come here to read about baseball, not your idle memories from your youth. If I wanted that, I’d pick up Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul or some equally horrible piece of writing. What I want when I come here is to hear about the Cardinals. It’s the reason I have this place bookmarked, not because I’m interested in your failed relationships. Seriously.

Nah, I’m kidding, of course. This is one of my all-time favorite posts on this site, even though it has nothing to do with the Cards. From one writer to another, this is beautifully written and quite touching. I’ve wondered what we were going to get on this site around X-Mas, and I couldn’t have possibly hoped for anything more satisfying than this. Thanks for sharing, I sent this to a few friends who have no interest at all in baseball.

I mean, um, bah humbug!

Spent a lot of time at Crestwood Plaza when I lived back home, attending college in Shrewsbury in the early ‘80s and then living there for a couple of years. Your post brought back a lot of memories, like the cute woman who cut my hair at Hair Care Harmony (wonder if that’s still there?) and getting my old Ford Fairmont fixed at the Sears garage.

Merry Christmas to you and yours, to Dan and Larry, and to all the VEB readers!

I grew up in Alton, Illinois and have lived here most of my life. Alton Square Mall used to be a pretty alright mall about fifteen years ago, and now its about half empty… been that way for almost ten years. I remember while working at a record store there about eight years ago hearing the rumors that an Abercrombie store was coming to our mall, and that it would bring in so much business that it might keep the rest of us out of the red. Alas, the store ended up across the river instead (Jamestown mall, iirc) and less than six months later my store was closed.

I of course hung out at that mall like crazy with friends throughout most of middle school and a bit of high school before getting a couple jobs there at various points, so it makes me sad to see it in its current state. But all of Alton’s pretty depressing anyway, so it fits right in I suppose. At least we have Mike Shannon’s favorite, Fast Eddie’s Bon Air, though, right?

Red Baron, thanks for bringing so much of yourself to what you write for this site. I’ve been reading this blog for months but have never contributed a comment until now. I think we’ve all got those memories that we hang onto and guard carefully for fear that sharing them will somehow make them less significant. Thanks for trusting this great community enough to go beyond the usual middle infielder debates (for the record everyone, let’s give AK another chance, ok?), and for taking the risk to let us in the way you did today.

red baron, best post I’ve read on here maybe ever. thanks.

what a beautiful post. i really loved it. no one ever thinks about the ‘why’ in stuff like christmas light decorating, but you did a great job nailing it.

thanks so much for this.

by sean morey…very funny.. it’s on youtube..i was gonna post a link but don’t want to offend anyone..it makes fun of americans being selfish and children in other cultures..very funny

…for the great post- it was a nice late Christmas gift when I checked in today. I’ve been on the site for about a year now, and one of the first posts I read was the year-end “best of 2007” post. Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate the stat-heavy stuff (because I know I can usually check in here and someone will have already done the work I don’t have the time or the patience to do) but the humor and the quality writing are what keep me coming back more than I probably should.

Just yesterday, I was telling someone about one of my favorite Christmas eve memories- It was probably ‘91 or ’92 and I was sitting by the fireplace, putting back yards of beer with a few friends at the Fox-n-Hound at the Cheshire Inn at closing time and the only other people in the bar were the bartender and another group which consisted of Brett Hull (wearing a Santa hat) and three young women of questionable morals. All I could think at the time was that, although I wouldn’t mind trading places with him for about an hour, It was great to have friends that really meant something to me. At that moment, I really wouldn’t have traded places with him. We exchanged Christmas wishes as we left, and I headed to Rosie’s Diner with my friends for slingers, then went home and wrapped presents until 4 AM and got up about two hours later to open them with my family. To me it’s a sad and lonely and funny memory of being young and stupid, and it reminds me that Christmas is about cherishing family and friends. When I tell that story, people mostly look at me like I just farted- they really don’t get it. Anyhow, someone pointed out to me that the Cheshire either has closed entirely or is closing, and I had a similar experience, being visited by the ghosts of my youth. But enough nostalgia- here’s to Rasmus in center field and Ben Sheets on the mound at Busch in 2009!

My mother told me (yesterday morning) that they are going to try and transform the failing Crestwood Mall into more of a destination place. They are going away from the traditional mall setting and more towards an entertainment (live theater, movies), food (typical restaurants located in and near malls), and art galleries…including an indoor expansion of the nearby Laumeier Sculpture Park.