Christmas in New Orleans

Christmas in New Orleans is, in beauty, akin to Christmas in Paris--trade in the snarky locals for totally awesome laid back locals and they are equal in so many more ways than mere beauty.  This being my first Christmas in New Orleans I have tried to make my rounds and experience many of the town's holiday traditions.  Outside of seeing my first black Santa at the Thanksgiving parade down Decatur, my first stop was the Roosevelt Hotel.


 

 

I walked from the dark of night into an orgasmic wanderlust of sparkle and color and thousands upon thousands of lights.  It is magnificent.  It is also a little overwhelming, like a surreal cotton candy acid trip in the North Pole, but it is beautiful.  This has been a tradition of the hotel since 1994, but  the lobby had been decorated for Christmas off and on since the 40's, depending on the owners.  The birth of the version we see now, though it has evolved over the years, started in 2009 when the hotel reopened with a flourish after Katrina.

On Christmas Eve I had the opportunity to see the bonfires along the Mississippi. I'm always down for a good bonfire, add that to Christmas Eve and you've got a beautiful family evening.  Kind of feels like the kinds of things people would do where I grew up in North Carolina.  One of these families kindly brought me in to their bonfire circle and explained to me that the bonfires are supposed to guide Papa Noel, New Orleanian's Santa Claus.

I went to a play on a Réveillon dinner in the Bywater, which, for all intents and purposes, was a potluck. It has been explained to me by my lovely regular Miss. Gloria that when she was growing up the Réveillon dinner was the feast you ate on Christmas Eve that was supposed to ride you through Midnight Mass to Christmas morning. As most traditions the dinner has morphed into an opportunity for special prix fix menus at some of the best restaurants, gala opportunities in Uptown, and most importantly, an opportunity to get together with whatever form of family you have here and feast and drink and be merry.

My final Christmas in New Orleans moment included a walk to the Quarter to see the lights at Jackson Square, a chilly moment with the Mississippi River (this is for sanity, the river is so constant and calming), and a quiet moment along Decatur listening to a loan musician's rendition of Louis Armstrong's "Christmas in New Orleans".  My walk ended with Christmas Caroling at Washington Park near Frenchmen Street.  I had forgone the Jackson Square Caroling because I wasn't really in the mood for all of the people that would involve and knew the Washington Park one would be a good neighborhood activity.

New Orleans' Christmas has been criticized by some tourists for downplaying Christmas over New Years.  I have kind of seen this outside of the above, work hasn't been as busy, it seems like a lot of people went out of town, my neighborhood has been silent except for the random bursts of fireworks.  It would surprise me in no way shape or form if this was actually the case because New Orleans knows when to keep things sacred and when to party. 

Save the party for the eve of the New Year--which is in about 25 hours.