Think Snow.

So it’s Christmas.
We rode with my friends parents to downtown Los Angeles to Pershing Square. On the ground level was a landscaped park with normal variety of trees, bushes, and mowed grass with a paved common area for gatherings and political speeches. However we were just looking for the underground parking entrance. Once we found a parking space we made our way back up to the park level and started walking towards Clifton’s Cafeteria. Down a block or two and around the corner.
It was just about Christmas 1956 and all the downtown L A department stores display windows were festively decorated with toy scenes with trains, Christmas trees, reindeer and with mechanical dancing dolls. Dolls like those observed singing and dancing in the Disneyland ‘It’s a Small World.’
Stretching from street light to street light was garlands of green plastic wreathes of holly and big translucent lighted red bells. All about every hundred feet or so.
We quickly made our way to Clifton’s, a favorite eating place for we kids. Inside the decor was jungle bushes and waterfalls with lots of bird and jungle sound effects. Once we strolled through the cafeteria line and made our selections we would head for a table surrounded with plastic jungle foliage with dripping rain water in the background. Not so Christmasy in the cafeteria though
But later when walking around the streets in front of the department stores looking in the decorated window displays you get the sense something is missing. Even though on display is Santa rocking in a rocking chair and little wiggly elves busy making toys. It just ain’t Christmas. What was missing was snow on the ground. How could you have Christmas without snow. It was southern California, 65-degrees outside with a thin presents of smog. Certainly not a picture of Christmas as depicted on many Christmas cards with a little house in a field of snow with smoke coming from the chimney. But if the good folks in Australia can celebrate Christmas in Summer, so we in L A also can celebrate Christmas in a semi-arid climate. Merry Christmas. Hand me that bottle of sunscreen.