The Coral Gables Times

A creche, Santa and his sleigh, and a Christmas tree are universal signs of the season. A civic display in Warwick, Rhode Island, has all three.

Suburbia Today ROUND TABLE 5 How Does Your Town Keep Christmas? Santa Claus may come by helicopter, but a survey finds most "exploding" suburbs contentedly traditional Edited by GEORGE FIELDING ELIOT

THERE'S ONE specially nice thing about Christmas—it doesn't seem to change too much. Every year, everywhere, somebody raises the cry, Let's do something different this Christmas! And every year, everywhere, almost everybody winds up doing just about what they did last Christmas—and loving it. Innovations, if any, are an addition, rather than a change, like new ornaments on the trees. For instance, these days Santa often arrives by helicopter. No more reindeer? A little chap from Ferndale, Michigan, had the answer to that. "Look at those antlers spinning around, Ma!" he cried gleefully. In his heart the reindeer were right there. A group of fourth-grade youngsters in Cheviot, Ohio, symbolized this instinctive desire to preserve the Christmas image by writing—with touching reverence and imaginative skill—a modernized version of the coming of the Christ child, as though He were to be born today, in their own town, with the Holy Family finding accommodations in a garage instead of a stable, and bedding down the newborn infant on the seat cushion of an old car instead of in a manger. Solid citizens show imagination, too. In Oak Cliff, Texas, the Optimists' Club gives an annual shoe party—lunch and toys for 40 children, followed by a visit to a store for new shoes and socks. Now something really new has been added—the beauty shops of the city give a free hairdo to every girl in Oak Cliff's two orphanages. That may be a novelty, but what could cheer a feminine heart more than this bit of frivolity? In Littleton, Colorado, a yule log is hidden away in the woods near Palmer Lake; townsfolk clad in red cloaks participate in a great hunt, the lucky finder of the log having the privilege of riding it back to town with everybody else pulling on the dragropes. Oakmont, Pennsylvania's, high school invites the whole community to its annual Candlelight Service, in which the combined choruses of the school march into the darkened auditorium, boys in dark suits, girls in dark skirts and white blouses, each carrying a lighted candle. Marietta, Georgia and Annapolis, Maryland, look forward to the annual presentation of Handel's famous oratorio, "The Messiah," in Marietta by the combined efforts of the Music Club, the Community Symphony Orchestra, and the choirs of the several churches, in Annapolis by the musical groups of the United States Naval Academy. But possibly the midshipmen themselves appreciate even more the annual Christmas dinner to which they m bring guests and at which they can smoke! INTERNATIONAL friendship and understanding, in harmony with the spirit of Christmas, are dramatized by the school children of Warwick, Rhode Island, where each school stages a pageant around the songs and Christmas legends of other lands, with the children dressing the part in Tyrolean breeches or Greek shawls, as the case may [?] We did come upon a few instances of overemphasis on the commercial angles of the Christmas season, but they were not suffered gladly. In New Jersey, Summit public opinion has done away with too-garish street lighting, reducing decorations to garlands of greens; nearby Somerville protests that starting Christmas decorations in October is a little too previous. Our Raytown, Missouri, editor notes "limited participation" in a street-lighting contest sparked by the electrical industry, dryly adding that "nothing is done to discourage unrestricted lighting and decoration." In Birmingham, Michigan, the stores have one night in which they are open for men only, to buy gifts for their wives. We were tempted to ask, "Wives only?" but refrained. On the whole, we found widespread attention to the spiritual values of the Christmas festival. A California editor took note of the ancient belief that the date of Christmas was fixed by the early church to replace the still more ancient pagan fes- Continued on page 31