Cinnamon Bear

Like most kids, my sisters and I used to make yearly trips to a department store to get our wishes granted by a magical figure. We always saw Santa, that was just expected. But what Portland also had, and what we also got to see, was Cinnamon Bear.

Sadly I don't appear to have any photos of him (nor does anyone else) but I remember the anticipation, the cheap suit and the big scary lips. I also remember the cinnamon bears he used to hand out (by far one of my favorite pieces of candy.) When Lippman's finally went out of business, so did Cinnamon Bear and I was old enough to handle it.

I still remember riding escalators and having this sense that there was something special about to happen.

What I didn't know about Cinnamon Bear, and the inspiration for this post, was he was the central character in a Portland radio station's Christmas story. Get Rich Slowly have posted the first 5 mp3s for download. I expect I'll be listening to them on the way home. Maybe it will add a bit of magic to my Christmas malaise.