Stew Leonard's

I go to Stew Leonard's because it has the best lobster salad I know (Thanks, Charlie!).  There's something about the combination of their lobster salad on a croissant (a real, buttery croissant, not that flour-y stuff they sell in the corner stores, or the dough-y stuff they sell in the supermarket.  I'm talking about the melt-in-your-mouth croissants, Not even Stew Leonard's own croissants are good enough to eat with their lobster salad).  There's something about the combination of Stew Leonard's lobster salad and real croissants that is somewhere between divine and perfection. 

So I go once a week or twice a month, and I buy their lobster salad.  Now, if I were more astute or more observant or if I gave a hoot about such things, I probably would have realized that a person named Stew Leonard might have been Jewish.  But I didn't.  The thought never occurred to me, since their stuff is like farm fresh (there's all these annoying cow sounds throughout the store), and I just never associated the thought of farmers with Jewish people in the Diaspora.  I just didn't. 

So last time I'm there, I see this huge sign for a Menorah Lighting Ceremony.  I immediately look around for a Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, but don't see one.  Oh, I think, maybe he's Jewish.  I think no more of it.  But as I'm driving up today, I see a huge sign for "TREES" on sale.  Not "Christmas Trees," just "TREES."  I'm thinking, so you can't even ACKNOWLEDGE Christmas?  I get it that you don't celebrate it, but what about your customers who do?  Or is this a message that Christian customers aren't welcome in your stores? 

So I drive up to the store, and there is a HUGE traffic jam.  Lots of people leaving have trees on their cars, and I'm thinking, "are those Christmas trees?  Why are they buying them here?  Don't they get it that this guy is dissing Christmas?'  (Notice that I have these thoughts but they don't stop me from going for my lobster salad....)

So I get a parking space, and I walk into the store.  There's the Menorah Lighting ceremony sign, and there's all the greenery -- there's wreaths, and evergreen balls -- and then I see this sign for Fir Crosses, that will last all season.  I didn't see the crosses, but I saw the sign.  And then I saw another one.  And finally I saw what was left on a display case of crosses made with some evergreen.  Many of them had a little red bow in the center, but I picked out one that's a 24" boxwood (whatever that is) cross. It was the only one left with a purple bow trimmed in gold.  Purple, of course, is the liturgical color for Advent, which is the coming of Christ the King.

Like I said to the checkout lady, this is the first time in maybe 30 years that I've bought a Christmas decoration.  Because it's a Christmas decoration, not a holiday decoration.  There are generic holiday decorations there for those who choose. The poinsettias seemed to be selling well, and there are the evergreen balls, and there are the (pagan) trees.  And that's wonderful for people, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindus, Buddhists, agnostics, atheists, whatever -- for people who are like into decorating their houses and want some non-religious holiday decorations, they are there at Stew Leonard's.  As an astute businessperson, in recognition of the fact that many of his customers may celebrate Christmas, there are the crosses, bedecked with all the symbolism of the holy season.  But there's no Christmas trees, no reindeer, no Santas, no elves, none of the popular mythology that goes along with the commercialization of Christmas and which could be difficult to explain to a non-Christian child.  There is plenty of year-round entertainment for kids; it's never seasonal.  For observant Christians, there are the crosses, and for observant Jews, there's the Menorah lighting.  Everyone's religion is acknowledged; the Jewish guy who owns the store gets to observe his religion his way, acknowledges my religion, and doesn't mingle, mix or distort either of them with popular cultural mythology.  I saw really astute marketing today, but with religious and cultural integrity.

I'll keep shopping there.