How California created Christmas
[...] why must I leave California this coming Christmas week?
Because too many people — including my wife, who is insisting our family spend this holiday in her native Wisconsin — fail to recognize the truth:
Yes, I know that California’s status as the headquarters of Christmas is not widely known, especially given the widespread cultural misperception that the holiday should be cold and snow-white.
The Golden State popularized the modern Christmas via our entertainment industries, designs it through our toy makers, digitizes it through Silicon Valley, distributes it through our ports and provides beautiful weather in which to celebrate it.
Sadly, some fools overlook the key “I’m dreaming” phrase and travel to cold, bleak places to recreate such white Christmases.
The version sung by Bing Crosby, who gave California the Del Mar Racetrack and the annual golf tournament at Pebble Beach, is probably the best-selling record of all time.
The 1942 recording — and the films and TV shows that used it and similar tunes — actually redefined the holiday.
For my money, the best California Christmas film is the original “Die Hard” — an action film set in a Los Angeles skyscraper that ends with snow the city — and the best Christmas music came from former Los Angeles County resident Phil Spector (now in prison after his murder conviction by an L.A. jury) and the Carpenters, the city of Downey’s gift to the world.
[...] this year, California’s Christmas present to the rest of the world is the long-awaited resurrection of the “Star Wars” movie franchise, courtesy of those California giants of American storytelling:
While Mattel faces financial challenges, other toy makers — from giant Hasbro to smaller firms like Jakks Pacific — have established stronger presences here in recent years, making Southern California Santa’s workshop, or the unofficial capital of toys.
[...] while we all know Santa Claus delivers toys and other gifts to good girls and boys, we should be honest with our kids and let them know that Kris Kringle, who was early to embrace globalization, relies on overseas manufacturers, often in Asia.