The Halls Are Fully Decked

If I were Christian the commercialization of Christmas would bother me. Fortunately I’m not Christian and last year when Bill O'Reilly insisted that Walmart use Christmas and ONLY Christmas to charm customers into buying their toaster ovens and firearms I felt a certain amount of relief. After all, if O’Reilly, a self-proclaimed-perfect-American-Christian-crusader, doesn’t have a problem with the commercialization (and the consequential secularization) of Christmas then I certainly don’t have to worry about it. So while I worked retail too long to believe that Christmas is truly the holiday of peace and good cheer (most holiday shoppers are neither peaceful nor cheery) I do know that it is the holiday of great decorations and fantastic discounts and I’m down with that.

And let me tell you, when it comes to commercialization no one beats LA. There is no display too flashy, too kitchy or too extravagant. Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills kicked off the holiday shopping season with a free street concert and a firework display over Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. The Grove (an outside mall in North Hollywood) has rockette-style-showgirls in skimpy holiday outfits and top-hats and manmade snow that floats down from the roofs of festive establishments like Nordstrom and The Gap. Not to be outdone, Old Town Pasadena started their holiday shopping season with snow, Santa and live reindeer. I was told today that Studio City once brought in an Elephant for their Holiday festival (I have no idea what an elephant has to do with Christmas…maybe all the reindeer were in Pasadena). Trailing far behind is Santa Monica. No show girls, no fireworks, no reindeer and not an elephant in sight. But they are going to bring in enough snow to host a snowman building competition. Add that to the children’s holiday symphony, a temporary ice ring and the menorah lighting hosted by Starbucks and you got yourself a respectable spectacle.

I know it’s all very ostentatious and gauche. My San Francisco friends would be horrified.

I also know that I’m absolutely loving it. All of it. I can’t wait to build my Santa Monica snowman.

Kyra Davis
Bestselling Author of:
SEX, MURDER AND A DOUBLE LATTE,
PASSION, BETRAYAL AND KILLER HIGHLIGHTS,
OBSESSION, DECEIT AND REALLY DARK CHOCOLATE
and
SO MUCH FOR MY HAPPY ENDING