Are places like Hawaii and Arizona inundated with scenes of Frosty the Snowman and Winter Wonderlands like the northern states who actually see snow sometimes? Or do states with warner climates have their own Christmas themes?
And I am aware that Arizona does get minute amounts of snow on rare occasions, but you know what I mean.
Yes Skwerl AZ is inundated with frosty the snow man, santa on a sleigh etc…etc… It is very weird though [I’m born and raised in New England] to see huge Saguaro Cactus all decked out with Christmas lights. But they do it. As a matter of fact they light up their Spanish roof’in Tile Adobe houses with tons of lights and they even feature sweaters and fleeces at department stores. Granted you can only wear them at night and when you travel north, but hey its still weird. Also especially in Phoenix, most people are transients, only here ot make a name for themselves then they move on. Lots of young Professionsals. The number one or two reason they want to leave after they make a little name for themselves or enough money to want to settle, is they miss the change of the seasons. Thats why I moved outa there. I missed the Fall. I also missed the intelligent conversations, but thats a whole diff story.
A better question is how do they do it in Oz? Santa on the beach?
Picturing Santa in a set of jammers…
Not a pretty picture.
I’ve visited Brazil in December, where most of the country is not only tropical but experiencing the austral summer at that time of the year, and snow is still a pretty prominent theme in Christmas cards and decorations. Talk about strange. But having said that, I must add that Christmas is not the big-deal holiday there as it is in the U.S. (Lent, or Carnaval, is the thing), so maybe they’re just not paying attention.
in texas, people outlined their entire houses with christmas lights, sprayed all the trees in the yard with fake snow, erected “life-size santa with eight reindeer!”-type plastic monstrosities in their front yards, and hung plastic lit-up icicles from their roofs. (my dad and i wandered around the neighborhood, taking pictures. we figured no one would believe us otherwise.) so i’m guessing snow is a pretty big factor in the christmas ideology, wherever you are. i mean, texas has about the same likelihood of snow as [insert comparison here].
i’m hoping to god it was only a texan thing.
I lived in Hawaii for 7 years (and miss it still). National advertising has snow etc., but the local stuff has it’s own twist. Every year in downtown Honolulu, they put up a statue of Santa taking his boots of and relaxing, etc. Not to mention Hawaiian takes on Christmas carols like “Mele Kalikimaka” (Hawaiian for “Merry Christmas”) which starts off, as I vaguely recall,
and a tune sung to “The Twelve Days of Christmas” which begins
It’s been a few years, and for the first few I was neck deep in tourists, but I do recall fantastic light displays like they have on the mainland, including palm trees lit up with lights, images of Santa surfing in, and getting together at a friend’s house to share in his family’s massive celebration. The Christmas Eve service at St. Andrew’s cathedral in Honolulu was just like the ones back here, though.
BTW, technically speaking, they do actually get snow in winter in Hawaii on top of Haleakala on Maui and Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island.
If there are any true kama’ainas out there, please help me out. This haole’s been back on the mainland too long!
Obviously the OP has never been to Flagstaff or northern Arizona. I lived for awhile in Mesa (no snow) and Globe (3 days of snow in winter, 3 days of 100 degrees in summer), but the northern part of Arizona is fairly snowy. I believe the San Francisco mountains (near Flagstaff) even have a ski slope or two. I haven’t been to AZ for some time, but I doubt if the snow’s dried up yet. 
I’m in Brisbane,Australia where it is subtropical. Yep, we get the dumb snow themes plus Santa in boardshorts and thongs with a stubbie of beer themes.
In Hong Kong last year at least there was this really big snow making machine put in Kowloon and they do have Santas there so its no different to westernised scenes , just that there isn’t as much natural snow.
cjhoworth, just to follow up on your post: probably the best-known version of “Mele Kalikimaka” is by Jimmy Buffet on his “Christmas Island” album. This same version is played in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” when Chevy Chase is looking out his back window dreaming of the swimming pool he wants to buy his family.
This is all true, but I live in North Texas, and it snows here at least once a year. Sometimes two or three times. Every few years we get a big as hell snow, too.
Even those parts of Australia in the temperate zone are well and truly into the hot Aussie summer by the time Christmas arrives. As Primaflora pointed out, there are attempts at marketing the “Aussie Christmas”, but here in Sydney at least by far the majority of Christmas advertising and decorating is done strictly along traditional Victoriana/snow lines. Weird, but people seem to like it.
(BTW, wearing a Santa suit in a heatwave is not a popular job).
At Walt Disney World (Lake Buena Vista, FL), they bring out fake snow machines and dust Main Street, U.S.A. with snow.
My brother, who lived for a time in Tampa, said that the annual procession of decked-out-in-Christmas-lights boat parade was quite special.
Yup - Celebration, FL (small suburb of Walt Disney World) has their snow making machines out in force, as well as the snow machines at Magic Kingdom (but only during the “Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party” special after-hours park event (seperate admissionn fee, but you get free hot chocolate).
I’ve sent Christmas cards with pictures of
[li]Santa scuba-diving with manatees.[/li][li]Santa in Bermuda shorts lying on the beach towel, and a trail of Santa’s “traditional” outfit scattered in a long trail (hat, one mitten, other mitten, one boot, other boot, belt, jacket, long pants, long underwear).[/li][li]Santa water-skiing behind eight reindeer, each in its own speedboat.[/li][li]Santa in the space shuttle.[/li][li]Christmas trees decorated with starfish and sand dollars.[/li][li]Pelicans standing on a pier decked out with garland.[/li]
And yes, my neighbor has his houseboat decked out with a full-sized (plastic) Christmas tree, with tiny white twinkle lights on the boat railings, getting ready for the boat procession on Lake Tohopekaliga.
Kind of funny, how in SK we are all shocked that we’re going to have a snowless Xmas, which almost never happens 
i lived in denton for two years, which afaik is considered north texas… during the entire time i was there, i saw snow once. it came out of the sky, landed on the ground, and melted. in 15 minutes. (at that point i really started missing finland. ) what is considered big as hell snow in texas? i never got around to seeing it… although many friends told me it was actually quite impressive.
Just drove by there: the snow schedule is 6, 7, 8, and 9 p.m. daily 'til Christmas.