Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Northbrook Voice: Do your share; give gifts

 


Holly Schulz in Hip Hip Hooray

     This is my piece in the November/December Northbrook Voice. I think it strikes a compromise between mere boosterism and something somebody would actually want to take the time to read. The assignment was to write about giving gifts for the holidays.

       
     Babies don’t know there’s a pandemic. Little Eli arrived despite all the world’s woes. Because I’ve known his mother since she was a newborn herself, and her parents since we were all teens, a gift was in order, crisis or no.   
     But what? An infinity of merchandise is available online. The Internet, however, wouldn’t help me pick a present the way Holly Schulz did, waiting behind the counter at Hip Hip Hooray, a jam-packed toy and game emporium at Northbrook’s Willow Festival shopping mall. “I’m looking for something for a baby...” I ventured. 
     “Babies are this way,” she said, cutting to the chase. “Boy or girl?”
     The holidays are approaching, and while dinner and celebrations may be up in the air, presents are not. In fact, presents are almost mandatory.
     “Right now, we are more isolated than we ever have been before,” said Lise Schleicher, owner of BasketWorks, a Northbrook based gift basket company. “Because we can’t actually go somewhere and be someplace, sending a gift is a physical way of reaching out and touching someone and saying ‘I’m with you, even though I’m not there.’”

To continue reading, click here, go to page three.

3 comments:

  1. The link didn't work but i managed to find it anyway. Sometimes we forget how much small businesses are suffering, thanks for reminding us that it matters. The "It's a Wonderful Life" connection fits the time of year.

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  2. The reference to Bedford Falls and Pottersville stopped me for a millisecond -- I'm sure even readers who weren't born until 50 years after "It's a Wonderful Life" was made have seen it multiple times. Judging by the Northbrook Voice, I would say the village is a vibrant and homey place to live and unlikely to end up a Pottersville.



    john

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  3. Goat Boy was an excellent choice and a pleasant diversion. But today's news only moves us further down the road to Potterville where we'll all be goats. I hope for a return to reason for Little Eli and us.

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