New Orleans puts on one of her most beautiful faces during the holiday Season: just take a stroll down Canal Street and into the French Quarter to enjoy the lights and sounds of the Yuletide season. And City Park is probably the most beautiful jewel in the Christmas crown, with its Christmas in the Oaks display of over 700,000 lights adorning the centuries-old oaks in the park. If you’ve never driven or walked through the park for this celebration, it’s well worth the trip.

One of the hallmarks of this year’s Christmas in the Oaks celebration is a tape (available for rental for only $2) that provides an audio tour of the City Park tour. Highlights of the locally-produced album Creole Christmas are included in the tape and are sure to please New Orleans music lovers, with tracks by Pete Fountain, Aaron Neville, Irma Thomas, Johnny Adams, Rockin’ Dopsie and a host of others (see Rick Coleman’s article on the album, this issue).

Speaking of new releases, or rather re-releases, check out the album by Mamou (known locally for their straightforward rock interprestation of Cajun music (figure that one out!).We say, enjoy this year’s holiday season, promote peace and love your neighbor well!