Christmas comes but once a mall

Here, as everywhere else in the Western world, the malls are full of their own particular displays of holiday symbology. Some of it's sublime, some of it's kitchy, but it's all heartwarming and a welcome change. At least there's something early in the winter to look forward to before January and February land on us...

A couple of weeks ago I was out roaming around with P-Doug in the outer western spiral arm of the GTA galaxy, and on our way back in we decided to go downtown to the World's Biggest Bookstore (so-called) and SAM the Record Man's flagship store. While were were down there, we navigated the city in the underground passages that connect much of Toronto's downtown core. We ended up at one end of it, at the College Park shopping mall, where we saw a really nice display...


Christmas tree at College Park


Christmas stairs


Tree and me — what a ham, huh? (...I'm up in the ceiling glass, by the way.)


More recently... namely, today... I was at the Bayview Village Shopping Centre. It's a rather upscale mall for an off-Yonge uptown location; surprisingly downtowny in its feel. Still, that didn't stop the place from putting up a Christmas display so charmingly quaint that it would have been right at home at some farmer's market in one of the back counties...


It even snows in the malls now


Yippee!! The schools declared a snow day!


Just opposite the display, I caught a glimpse of this in a store window... Obviously it's part of an unfinished display. I think. Or is it? Hmmm! A naked woman, bereft of her arms, garbed only in a Native necklace... This has got to be a devastatingly clever allegory for something. I'm just not sure for what...


Allegorical! I know it!!


And finally, this one's from last weekend... the squirrel trip. While I was down on Front Street, I happened to snap this example of the Christmas decorations they've lined the street with. When I got home, I realized it was remarkable in another way. In Canada, there are (I believe) only six banks with federal charters. Possibly seven; but that's how carefully controlled the banking industry is here. When you look at this shot, you're looking at the headquarters of over half of Canada's banking establishment, right in this frame... The Toronto-Dominion Bank ("TD-Canada Trust"), the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ("CIBC"), the Bank of Montreal ("BMO"), and the Bank of Nova Scotia ("Scotiabank").


Merry Bankmas