CONNECTING CALIFORNIA-I make a lot of lists at the holidays–there’s always much to do. This year, I wondered what California holiday things are worth celebrating. Here’s my top 5. What’s yours?
5. Alta Dena Certified Dairy egg nog. The old-fashioned kind, not the fru-fru new flavors like pumpkin. Hard to find (I’ve had to go to the Smart & Final in Highland Park to hook myself up this holiday season). So think creamy. Nothing artificial. I’m a teetotaler, and it’s so good I can drink it straight. Rick Perry haters should try to ignore the fact that it’s now owned by a Texas-based company.
4. Our polite snow. People think California doesn’t have winter, but it does. But our snow is more polite. It falls in the mountains and looks beautiful. You can visit it, but it doesn’t follow you home, like that rude, stalkerish snow they have back East.
3. Christmas Tree Lanes. I live near two – St. Albans in San Marino and one of the state’s oldest Christmas tree lanes, Santa Rosa in Altadena. Fresno and San Diego have great lanes too. Lights entertain, enchant – and yet calm — small children. The drive back puts them to sleep.
2. The original Die Hard. Sure, I love It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street, too but the first Die Hard is simply the greatest Christmas film of all time. And it’s an LA Christmas movie, a rare thing. This is the film’s 25th anniversary, and a student of California will enjoy a visit back to the good old days for this state, the 1980s. Yippeekayay!
1. Strategic, advance leaks of the January budget proposal from the state Department of Finance.
Ok, I’m kidding about that last one. But those leaks should include more fiscal presents this year.
Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!
(Joe Mathews is Connecting California Columnist and Editor, Zócalo Public Square, Fellow at the Center for Social Cohesion at Arizona State University and co-author of California Crackup: How Reform Broke the Golden State and How We Can Fix It [UC Press, 2010]. This column was posted first at FoxandHoundsDaily.com)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 102
Pub: Dec 20, 2013