Signs of Christmas in the Southland

At first thought, Southern California shouldn’t evoke the Christmas spirit. Sleighs and other reindeer-powered vehicles are prohibited on freeways and our Christmases are seldom white. Those strands of flickering lights--the ones that take hours to untangle and then don’t work--are nearly impossible to attach to palm fronds. And according to James Murakami of UCLA’s department of atmospheric sciences, the North Pole is all of 3,860.55 miles from Los Angeles. Santa should find Christmas here a logistical nightmare. Still, in the eyes of many, this is Tinseltown and it did snow in Malibu last week. Indeed, if you know where to look, there are signs of Christmas all over the Southland all year long.