As usual, I spent Christmas Day hanging out on The Strip.

As you can tell from the photo above, any place that had holiday decorations was insanely crowded and a bit irritating at times.

It was slightly unpleasant because I had grossly underestimated how cold it was, wasn’t dressed for it, and ended up scrambling from the inside of one casino to another.

This lady at the patio bar in the Flamingo was trying to get warm in a way that I don’t recommend … over an open flame.

I spent most of the day at the Flamingo, Bellagio, and Caesar’s. I was really bummed that Caesar’s didn’t have a Christmas tree like they did last year.

Last year’s tree photos are here:

http://www.vegasrex.com/photos/christmas-2006-photos/

Instead, they replaced it with some kind of religious Asian shrine. I don’t belong to any religion. I don’t believe or disbelieve anything. I don’t pretend to know what is going on. I believe the accepted term for what I am is “Agnostic”. But to cover my bases, I pray to everything. You know … just in case one of them really is listening.

So I respectfully went through the ritual with this thing. I lit the incense, stuck it on the sand, and gave a thumbs up gesture to it. I like to think this multi-armed diety and I are on good terms.

I played a few machines in the Bellagio, and lost every dime I put into them (Merry Christmas to you too … bastards).

I then checked out the Bellagio Conservatory again … along with the rest of the free world. It was too crowded to relax and enjoy so I didn’t stay in there long.

I did notice some chicks around town who, despite the cold, just had to wear short skirts.

We don’t have a Taliban here ladies, you don’t have to assert your feminine liberty by freezing your labia off. It’s okay to put some damn pants on when the wind chill is 32 degrees.

If you have to wear a hood with a short skirt, you’re obviously hopelessly confused.

Traffic was also fairly heavy, so it made me glad that I took the Monorail. Love it or hate it, it beats sitting in this crap.

Caesar’s has already replaced the “Celine Dion” sign, and given us a heads-up on her replacement.

Apparently it shall be titled “The Showgirl Must Go On”.

Catchy.

It felt like half of Asia was in town. I’m not sure why, but this is a big time of year for Asian tourism. Everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Ever the ambassador to the city, I spotted this Asian guy with a big camera around his neck … I whipped out my camera, and said “Do you want to have a camera battle?”

He looked at me quizzically and said “Battery?”

I said “No … battle”

He said “Battery?”

I quickly regretted trying to interact with our guests. This is why I keep to myself. I’m the only one left in town who speaks English.

In retrospect I probably should have taken his camera battery, but I just smiled at him and told him to have a nice day.

He probably thought I said “rice is gay”.

The wind was howling from the North (hence the cold), and the planes were taking off directly over The Strip. Some of them were pretty low. I got several cool shots of the planes. I swear I saw a couple of passengers giving me the finger, but it might have just been my imagination.

Anyway, we just hung out for awhile and took in the atmosphere.

It was a nice way to spend Jesus’s fake birthday.

More Christmas photos:

You can see more Bellagio Conservatory’s Christmas Display here:

http://www.vegasrex.com/2007/12/03/bellagio-christmas-2007-display/

The Palazzo:

Encore: