Alternative Music: The Music Exchange in Glendale...

Alternative Music: The Music Exchange in Glendale has CDs for people who just say no to “Jingle Bells.” Offbeat bestsellers include “Merry Axemas” and “Soul Train Christmas,” manager Derek Pettet said. A holiday album by El Vez, a Chicano Elvis impersonator, also is hot.

Happy Hanukkah: As a preschool teacher, Sylvia Rouss, above, couldn’t find books about the eight-day Jewish festival for the 3- and 4-year-olds in her class. So the Tarzana resident wrote “Sammy Spider’s First Hanukkah.” It helps the youngsters learn how to count to eight.

Kwanzaa Too: Four years ago, the Perkins family of Sylmar began celebrating the African American holiday of Kwanzaa, as well as Christmas. “Each year it seems to become more embedded in our family’s tradition,” said Barbara Perkins, wife of L.A. Firefighter Stanley Perkins and mother of Kelsey, 10, and Cody, 8. Starting Friday, the family will light a candle nightly and discuss the seven principles of Kwanzaa, starting with umoja, or unity.

Christmas Village: Naomi Beard, a pastor at the Church on the Way in Van Nuys, starts planning Christmas decorations in summer. Although the colors are always burgundy and gold or green and silver, the details vary. This year, parts of the church look like old- fashioned villages, complete with snow.