[drink] Where to Go When You’re Thirsty on Christmas
The holidays are a breeding ground for alcohol-related cliches. Aunt Pat has too much egg nog and starts hitting on your boyfriend. Your mom gets into the chardonnay and cries over feeling unappreciated. The underage cousins sneak some peach schnapps and throw up under the Christmas tree.
This reality made me think: why should we have to do our holiday drinking in the presence of relatives we only see once a year? Why can’t Christmas night be a time spent drinking with friends the old-fashioned way: in a bar?
I have never experienced the bar scene on Christmas, but I imagine it going one of two ways: either everyone’s in good spirits because they got what they wanted from Santa and they’re now free from family or it’s really depressing. I spoke to a few Wichitans about going out on Christmas, and found that my suspicions were pretty much confirmed.
Christmas baby Jon Cressler says he heads to the bars every year on the 25th to celebrate his birthday. “It’s always packed!”
Jeff Smith has braved the bars on Christmas Eve and says he found it a bit depressing. “There’s a lot of lonely people there.”
Jenny Eskandarion is a Wichita native who is currently in the military. A few years ago when she was in Korea, she headed out to the bars on Christmas with friends. “Most of us were away from our family, so we dressed up in green and red and wore different [Christmas] hats. I wore antlers. It was fun. There wasn’t a whole lot of other stuff to do, so we had a birthday celebration for Jesus.”
So save yourself the embarrassment of imbibing too much around your extended family and head out to some local bars to get your fix this Christmas. Here are a few East and West side options that sound like fun to me:
Pumphouse (825 E. 2nd St.) 8 p.m.-2 a.m.
Hooters (3151 N. Rock Rd.) 4-11 p.m.
Fox and Hound (1421 N. Waterfront Pkwy.) 6 p.m.-2 a.m.
Walt’s (7732 E. Central) 5 p.m.-2 a.m.
Jerry’s (630 N. Robin Rd.) 9 p.m.-2 a.m.
Side Pockets (600 S. Tyler Rd.) 6 p.m.-2 a.m.
What’s your favorite watering hole on Christmas? Have a great story about spending the holiday at a bar? Sound off in the comments.
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The Vagabond is also open on Christmas Day.
Christmas night as a great night for hitting the bars. Show off the new threads, get away from annoying family members, revel in the joy of the season. I highly recommend everyone go out that night. Everyone is so much more friendly. I’ve met more people in bars on Christmas night than any other night of the year.
Now, Christmas eve is a whole other story all together. It is the single most depressing night to be in a bar. . . ever. All of the lonely souls who have chased away everyone that they ever cared about are found drinking, by themselves, on Christmas eve. Anything to dull the pain.
Instead, my siblings and I have started our own Christmas eve tradition. We get together, buy a case of beer and spend the evening watching “Elf” and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” It’s a wonderful holiday tradition that we come to look forward to every year. And best of all, we still get to drink and enjoy wonderful company.
Merry Christmas all.
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