People here don’t tend to go overboard when it comes to Christmas decorations. The municipalities embellish the villages, towns, and cities with festive LED lights, but private individuals keep a low energy profile. On Long Island, I recall seeing houses decorated with literally thousands of light bulbs; some of these homes were even featured in Newsday, the local paper. I do hope this wasteful custom is a thing of the past, given the environmental issues we face. Another observation is that French Pères Noël apparently avoid sooty chimneys (and the fires that often burn at their bottom) by choosing a mountaineering approach; this photo, taken last Saturday in the Stanislas neighborhood of Cannes, shows one small and three tiny Santas invading a residence.