Twas the night before Christmas

And all through the land

Was utter exhaustion

The holidays were at hand

IT’S CHRISTMAS EVE. Time to wake up and smell the pine needles. Savor the flavor of spicy egg nog and hot mulled wine. Take a walk through the holly berries and spot the mistletoe in the treetops above you. Reach deep inside and find the spirit of the season — then let it radiate so others can feel the warmth.

And if all this seems hard — remember the children. They’ve been waiting all year for Santa’s arrival, and my “mole at the Pole” tells me a big stack of letters have come in from the Oakland hills. Here are some excerpts:

“Dear Santa: This year we’re on a cruise. If you could deliver them (the presents) on the cruise that would be great, but if you can’t — it’s awesome if you deliver them at home. There will be cookies and cider on the cruise but only cookies at home…”

“Dear Santa: I really, really, really want a pet. Any kind of pet. I just want a pet — badly. Maybe you can get me a hamster.”

“Dear Santa Claus: Of course I want a cell phone…”

“Dear Santa: I have been good most of the time. I would like a blue bike. No — a red bike.”

“Dear Santa: I want a toy machine gun that doesn’t shoot anything but makes the noise.”

And finally, the wishes of a little girl who didn’t mince words when she ended her letter with this: “Okay — only two words — may I please have an Aurora dress (from Sleeping Beauty), a sleigh, and snow on my Aurora dress.”

In reading all this, I can’t help it think how much better we’d be — if our own wishes were this simple.

E-mail bag

More letters are pouring in on the makeup of Montclair. With rumors that Cold Stone Creamery wants to open here (as reported in my Dec. 3 column), reaction has been swift to the advent of more chain stores in the village:

LaRee Jensen-Graham writes, “I have seen the dedication to service of Maurine Marie at Montclair Malt Shop, I have benefited from the knowledge and experience of Erik Hoffmann at Montclair Village Hardware, I have experienced the personal attention and marveled at the artistry of Jameela Bragg at Esther’s Garden (gone now to Orinda because of the very high costs of overhead).”

LaRee feels if competition from the major chains forces the little guys out, the younger generation will miss out on the personal attention and service offered by our “small town” merchants.

But reader Sharon Collins has a different perspective: “I think the idea of a small community shopping area is great, however, I have not found Montclair’s businesses for the most part to be very ‘thankful’ that they have this opportunity be a part of this wonderful community. For the most part, the people who operate the businesses do not show friendliness towards their customers.” She feels that competition can bring out the best in an area, and she wants Montclair to “show that it is the best.”

But maybe the future can best be told by looking at the past.

Harriet Schlader remembers the way things used to be: “It has saddened me each time a nice retail shop has gone out of business or elsewhere. Remember Rose and Rodden (next to the B of A, with shoes and women’s clothing). There was another nice dress store on La Salle next to the Travel Agency which I miss. The Ice Creamery was a place where my daughter worked, briefly, and we frequently visited as a family and sent Woodminster patrons there after a show on a warm night. The bakery, J. Coop Ltd., and on and on…”

Schlader thinks that shoppers, merchants and landlords should agree to a plan for preserving Montclair — and making it even better.

Seasonal offering

And finally, here’s an addendum to last week’s story about figgy pudding. When I mentioned the Jones family no longer makes the traditional English faire because of the hazards of cracking one’s teeth on the hidden six pence — I discovered a “pence-less” pudding for sale in Montclair.

The Malt Shop not only has little containers of the holiday dish, it also carries the brandy butter complement. So bring me some figgy pudding and bring it right here!

I’ve seen him a couple of times. A bent over man with a flowing white beard, hitchhiking along a rural canyon road. It’s Christmas, I’m thinking, and he looks like Kris Kringle. Still, I keep driving — feeling cautious and guilty at the same time. “What if he is Santa?” I ask myself. “What if I’ve lost the ability to believe?”

Then I remember last week’s hold-up at the Knitting Basket, where a man walked into the store with a gun. I remember the string of recent robberies in Montclair, catching shoppers off-guard.

The holidays bring out the best — and the worst — in people. We want to believe in the goodness of mankind. But for some, this is only a season to steal and to victimize. Santa is out there, but so is the Grinch. Let your heart be merry — but your eyes be watchful.

Speaking of Santa

The last of Santa’s workshops and photo sessions is this Saturday in Rockridge. Bring the kids from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Santa is set up at 5467 College Avenue.

And take a ride on the free cable car running up and down the busy street.

Chain reaction

Everywhere I go, people stop me to talk about the future of Montclair. My Dec. 3rd column on chain stores in the Village really touched a nerve.

Here’s more feedback: Robbie Neely with Friends of Montclair Village writes: “Hear, hear! As you might recall, voters in our survey last summer — what do you like most/least about the Village? — frequently mentioned the absence of chains and the uniqueness of shops under “like most.” And, under “like least” the lack of dining diversity was among the top vote getters.”

Montclair shopper Sheryl Nureck says she’s originally from New York and always seeks out neighborhoods with stores that make people feel connected to their neighborhoods. She, too, wants to keep that small-town feeling. “I hope in the end, it’s not just about money for the real estate owners (landlords),” she says.

But local Realtor Lydia Nayo (Coldwell Banker) offers a different perspective: “I want to believe Montclair is a sufficiently diverse community to be able to handle two ice cream shops with different ambiances and experiences to offer.”

Nayo says the Village has competition in other categories such as dry cleaners and restaurants, and “the answer will be for loyalists of a favorite place to keep it their favorite, and for the merchants to do their work and keep up with change.”

Animal tales

The raccoon and the pussy cat are the subject of two tales from readers. The “coon” nearly died while dining in the trash at a local swim club. How he got there was most unfortunate. The club’s cleaning crew unwittingly wrapped him in the nightly garbage — and tossed him in the Dumpster. He was freed when the day crew saw the trash take on a life of its own, with the bag flopping wildly in the bin. And you thought only cats had nine lives.

Speaking of cats, they’re part of the ambiance at Quinn’s Lighthouse on Oakland’s Embarcadero. Restaurant owner Bodo Eichler says he feeds four stray cats. They give him such joy, they’re like part of the family. All I can say is the fish must be really fresh at Quinn’s. You know how finicky cats can be.

Holiday surprise

What’s a good English Christmas without figgy pudding? Just ask Frances Jones, who says she’s stopped making the dish at her house, after a guest nearly cracked her tooth on the filling.

No, it wasn’t the fruit that was hard — in fact, this recipe was fig-less. It was the six pence hidden in the holiday offering — a tradition that required guests to cut their portions into tiny, bite-sized pieces. With no figgy pudding this Christmas, is there a void in the holiday season? Apparently not. “It’s like the fruitcake tradition,” says Jones. “You know, everyone hates fruitcake. We just kind of gave it up.”

Do you see what I see? I borrowed this line from a popular Christmas song last week to ask a serious question.

Do you see the advent of more chain stores in the Village as a threat? Does it matter to you if Cold Stone Creamery moves in (a possibility that’s still up in the air) or if small shops struggle to survive in the environment we’ve already created?

Well, apparently I’ve struck a nerve, because the e-mail is piling up. Here are some of the responses:

Reader Don Mackey says the “chain environment I fear” has already arrived in Montclair. But he suggests we vote with our pocketbooks. “The landlord should have the right to sign leases with almost whomever he deems fit (taking into consideration that all codes and statutes are adhered to). It is the customer who then decides over time if that was a good business decision on behalf of the landlord and the tenant.”

Mackey says he doesn’t want to see any more national accounts in town. “Call me crazy, but I would like Montclair to be distinguishable from any other ‘strip mall USA.'”

Reader Marc Viale has a different perspective. “I welcome the arrival of new stores in Montclair Village,” he writes. But he thinks that Rockridge small business merchants have done a better job of providing unique and successful small businesses.

“Rockridge residents would not allow a major chain to enter as their needs are exceeded by the existing merchants,” Viale says. “If anything this is a wake up call for Montclair small business, as Montclarions want more.”

I’ll keep a running dialog (with more reader feedback) in future columns, as I strive to be the voice of the people. After all, that’s the job of a Town Crier.

Highway sentiments

Diane Hill has these comments on last week’s column update on Highway 13: “I was so pleased to see that Caltrans is considering a change in the form of the median — so plants can go in along even more of the highway than before.”

“I found it interesting that the reason, they claim, to put in an asphalt lane is to make highway cleaning easier,” Hill says. “I’ve noticed that areas that have a wide asphalt are not necessarily cleaner. So much for that argument.”

Holiday treat

No Christmas seems complete without the classic “A Christmas Carol.” While lots of theater companies offer it, the most talked about show seems to be at Moonlight Productions in Piedmont today (Dec. 10) through next Sunday (Dec. 19).

The children’s theater group is directed by Danny Buell, who has acted in “A Christmas Carol” every year since he was 4 years old! For more information, call 510-482-1569.

Flower power

Thanks to reader Jonathan Taylor for giving me the “dirt” on Oakland’s daffodil project. He says the idea “sprouted” from the almost entirely volunteer organization Keep Oakland Beautiful.

“Thousands of daffodils will bloom in public spaces all over Oakland,” he writes, “and dozens of volunteers have worked hard to bring the program to life.”

Taylor says his group looks for ways to keep Oakland beautiful, clean and green — especially involving children. It’s an official chapter of the national organization Keep America Beautiful.

Humbug

Parking lots can bring out the best, and worst in holiday shoppers.

Reader Randa Peterson says she witnessed a verbal altercation over Thanksgiving that involved two senior men, arguing about a parking spot at the Montclair Safeway.

Each one had a spot, by the way, but that wasn’t good enough. They wanted the same spot, no doubt closer to the door.

It reminds me of the gray-haired motorist who thrust his middle digit in my direction at Albertson’s one holiday season. I can only surmise that the man hadn’t eaten — and was acting impulsively on an empty and rumbling stomach.

WHAT DOES your town mean to you? Can it be just a soulless place to spend money? Or do you yearn for a village with sweet little shops that are the lifeblood of the merchants who run them. As Bob Dylan once wrote, “The Times, They Are A’ Changin.”

Small towns take on a different demeanor when chain stores move in. It may start with a video store, a company name that’s widely known. Then a big coffee shop moves in down the block, and a fast food chain. Pretty soon, your little town looks like a strip mall — a place where profit is king and nobody really knows your name.

Call me old fashioned, but I don’t want this to happen in Montclair.

There’s been talk that Cold Stone Creamery may move into the Village, where Travel Service Montclair was on La Salle.

The scoop from building owner Andy Namba (of the San Jose area) is that he’s been speaking with a wide variety of prospective tenants — including Cold Stone Creamery. But Namba has no written contract yet with anyone. “It’s way too early to speculate. No one business has been selected,” he shared.

For its part, Cold Stone Creamery spokeswoman Ann Christenson says the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based chain is looking to open an additional store in Oakland — but no lease has been signed for any site, including the one in Montclair.

Still, the buzz on the street is at fever pitch, and some merchants are worried.

Maurine Marie owns the Montclair Malt Shop. For eight years, she’s been carefully crafting the personality of her little ice cream parlor. She serves not just sweets, but nostalgic gifts like rubber chickens, Trolls and retro-style Pez candy dispensers.

Her shop is creative — and one of a kind. It’s the kind of shop that makes Montclair unique, and it’s been featured in TV and print, time and again. Cold Stone Creamery has stores nationwide. It’s trendy and hip — and the younger generation loves it.

The Malt Shop is a symbol of a more innocent time, and frankly, it’s an endangered species. And while I recognize that competition can be good for business, it can also be its demise. Do you see what I see? Do you care? Let me know how you feel.

Carpool sting

Just when you thought it was safe to pick up riders at the casual carpool area on Park Boulevard word comes that the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department is slapping fines on motorists.

Rider Amy Graves says a car she got into recently was stopped by a deputy for blocking the bus lane. Rather than wait for the unlucky driver (who was getting a fat citation), Amy and her brother hooked up with me at the carpool stop on Park near Leimert. You can add “blocking bus zones” to your list of carpool no-no’s.

Tree takedown

If you like vistas, you’ll love what the East Bay Regional Park District has done to the corner of Shepherd Canyon Road and Skyline Drive. They’ve toppled a stand of scraggly Eucalyptus trees that were considered a fire hazard to the neighborhood, not to mention an obstruction to motorists at the junction of four ridge-line roads. The reviews are mixed. But as the stumps come out and the hillside gets green, folks are warming up to the idea.

Internet DJ

Oakland hills disc jockey “Audio Vidya” is on the air again. The former Live 105 personality has gone global with a radio station on the web called the Audiofile.

To hear it, follow the links from her Web site, www.audiovidya.com. She says she plays hits that were never hits, but should have been — alternative pop from strange-sounding groups like the Buzzcocks and Radiohead.

Even more interesting, you too can be an Internet DJ for just $9.95 a month. An East Bay company called Live 365.com lets you have your own “station,” download your own music and even add your own voice. How do they make their money? With commercials they drop in every few minutes — just like your traditional radio stations.