December 6, 2004
There’s No Place like Home Plate for the Holidays
By Karan Eschweiler
As much as I try to be a good Rams fan, and as much as I do like the time to focus on my daughters’ budding basketball careers, I so find myself craving a good Cardinal game.
I miss the rush to get home from work, change into my Cardinal red, meet up with my friends and get to the stadium to see some batting practice. I sometimes find myself craving nachos supreme and a cold frosty one in a plastic cup. I really miss the sounds of the game; the crack of the bat from a Pujols homerun, the pop of the glove as Rolen delivers another strong throw to first base, the roar of the crowd as Edmonds robs another opponent of a homerun.
It is so sad. My husband thinks I am so sad. My cell phone plays “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”. I actually call myself so I can hear it. It isn’t the same as Ernie Hayes on the Busch Stadium Organ, but it will have to do.
I decorate a Christmas tree in my house using only ornaments that represent the Cardinals or baseball. I put red lights and decorations on the outside of my house. I actually bought a Christmas decoration at a craft show to go in our downstairs “sports bar”. It is a baseball bat painted with holly leaves and Christmas lights. Cool, huh?
In my continuous effort to keep the baseball spirit, I had my daughters get their Christmas pictures taken this year in Cardinals jerseys. We added Santa hats and a red scarf and stuck a stuffed Cardinal in a Christmas tree. We’ll use them for holiday cards this year and send them to everyone we know.
We had a great time trying to come up with a sentiment to write in our holiday cards. I wanted something using baseball terms that could double as a holiday greeting. I threw out things like “Swing for the Seats in 2005”, “Hope your New Year is a Grand Slam”, and “There’s No Place Like Home Plate for the Holidays”. It really got bad when we started offering advice like “Keep all your Bases covered in 2005”. My oldest daughter, Dani, got the biggest laugh of all when she offered, “It’s a New Year. Don’t Foul it Up.”
We giggled and laughed and played with baseball/holiday lingo for the car ride home. The houses we passed were lit up with lights, the air had a chill to it, and a Christmas CD played quietly on the car stereo. I was with my family, we were having fun, the holidays were approaching and I am a Cardinals fan. How great life can be!
To everyone at The Birdhouse and anyone who reads this, I’d like to offer the sentiment we finally agreed to put in our holiday card: “Tis the Season to wish you a Champion Year in 2005!”
