It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,
Ev’rywhere you go;
Take a look in the five-and-ten, glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,
Toys in ev’ry store,
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas;
Soon the bells will start,
And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart.
– James Pierpont (1857)
The holiday decorations are up. The Muzak in all the stores has been tuned to the “Christmas Lite” channel. Santa has been hanging out at the mall. Even the check-out ladies at the supermarkets have donned their elf hats and little light up wreath brooches. Yes folks, it is definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas on the Suncoast, minus the snow of course!
This article appears in Dec 9-15, 2009.