Grand Traditions

So, after the traditional Stephensmas source-lunch in town, your narrator finally made it to Wanamaker's for the greatest of all River City Christmas gifts: the annual Light Show...

...only to find that it had been desecrated.

See, probably since before the Christkindl was even born, the show's been constructed around its all-out climax of "Deck the Halls." And while, to its credit, the mega-chain that took over the place a couple years back has pumped heavy gelt into redoing the figures and restoring the old Magic Christmas Tree, said owners deigned to overhype the latter's return by tossing the old finale in favor of "O Christmas Tree."

To put it nicely, the result was like expecting a Mass... and getting a chicken-slaughter instead.

Forgive the mini-rant -- just one of those many things only the water ice-slurping, Tastykake-gobbling, Birds-loving Pharaohites among us would understand.

That said, thanks be to YouTube for a glimpse of the spectacle as our kind were raised with it:



And as the blessed Octave winds down, continued wishes for all the best of Christmas to one and all.

-30-