There’s much been said already about the commercialization and the chintzy-ness of “modern day” Christmas. For example, LED lights and interactive life size inflatables have displaced gingerbread houses lit with tiny glass bulbs and hokey crooked wooden elf cutouts garishly lit from a couple of red floodlights. Hmmm…. perhaps the chintzy-ness has always been there? Whatver the case, ’tis true- our society is morphing and old habits are being traded in for new ones. If they’re not being replaced then they are at least being updated. image: poolandpatio.about.com