Lighting Up the Miramar Tree

Rick Caruso’s Rosewood Miramar attracted a hoard of parents and children when it staged its colorful Christmas tree lighting by managing director Rick Fidel.

Hot chocolate, apple cider, and prosecco cocktails with colorfully decorated cookies and macaroons were the order of the night as the oceanside hostelry lit its 17-foot fir that had been flat bedded in from Silverton, Oregon, and festooned with 5,000 decorations by Petals by David, a Big Orange decorator, and Perla Mercade with her team of 15 ‘elves’ completing the Herculean task in just 24 hours.

The festive event, which attracted more than 300 guests and had real snow spread over the Great Lawn, also raised gifts for Toys for Tots Santa Barbara. Singer Mo Hebert and the Peter Smith Quartet from L.A. entertained, as well as Victorian carolers.

Just a couple of days earlier, La Arcada, the charming thoroughfare off State Street – just a tiara’s toss from the art museum on State Street – held its 28th annual Christmas Walk with carolers in Dickensian costume, a snow-making machine, and free popcorn.

Yuletide is officially a go…