Shanghai's Surreal Seasonal Symbols December 2010

I have to confess. I am glad that Christmas is over. It was a touch surreal here in Shanghai, as you will see. There was no religious aspect to it at all, unless you were in an actual church. That Communism thing again. I didn't see one Nativity scene or reference to the birth of Christ. Sad.

First of all, if this is what you can see well into December, it's kind of hard to get into the Christmas spirit as we know it in North America. Now I know Christmas is all about the birth of Jesus, but the surrounding non-religious traditions make up a big part of the holiday, too.

A display on the grounds of our housing development.
Santa here looks like a filthy little gnome.

Santa, you're under arrest.

He was carted away a few days after I took this. Jail, perhaps?

The vignette in its entirety

See how green everything is?

What is this?!? Some sort of Daliesque deer?

The whole scene

A little sparse...they added cotton batting later to resemble snow.

Here we go. Much more realistic.

I could swear I was home.

In all fairness, let me now show you some of the prettier displays.

There were so many decorated trees. This must have taken forever to do.

The tree in the lobby of Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Pudong

Honey, I'm hoooome!

A Ritz display

Another one

Now this is more like it!

**** SPOILER ALERT!!!****

DO NOT LET ANYONE WHO BELIEVES IN SANTA READ ANY FURTHER

Finally, to end on a sardonic note, a look at the Mission Impossible Santas rappelling down the wall at the Green Sport and Leisure Mall across the street. Bizarre, not to mention disillusioning for those Western kids who grew up believing there was only one jolly old elf.