We'll just call them "decorations." We're in the final weeks of 2005's anti-evergreen, how-dare-you-wish-me-a-Merry-Anything-a-thon formerly known as the happy holiday season. In an effort to avoid excluding or including any winter celebration that may fall between today and sometime early next year, this isn't about Christmas trees. Ralph Jones Display specializes in adornments to decorate your unique festivities, whatever they may be.
Eight months out of the year, Ralph Jones is a retail fixture store with a custom cabinetry shop, display cases, racks and mannequins of every make and model. As August closes, though the weather outside is frightful and still well above 100 degrees, it transforms itself into a winter wonderland. The first week of December is considered almost too late in the season here, and while the staff insists the showroom has been "stripped" and "picked over," it still is crowded with boughs wrapped in lights, strewn with ornaments and accented in their famous ribbon bows.
Still family-owned and run by the Jones family at its original East Charleston site for over 25 years, Ralph Jones is, by Las Vegas standards, steeped in tradition. Long known to locals as the place to find fine festive ornamentation, it has gained its extensive clientele through word of mouth only. Renowned for its lavish holiday displays commissioned by the hotel-casinos, this year's roster includes Circus Circus, Sam's Town, the Las Vegas Hilton, Binion's and the Palms' custom order replete with lime green and purple garlands.
Custom and pre-dressed trees and decorations are available to the public, too. Employee Jennifer Lyons suggests starting with a single item, such as a handcrafted Mark Roberts Mermaid Santa. Next is the selection of an artificial tree from quality manufacturers in every imaginable green, available from petite to 14 feet, pre-lit and even flocked. Choosing coordinating ribbons and ornaments can take all day.
If traditional holiday fare doesn't suit your seasonal sensibilities, Ralph Jones has a number of unique offerings such as inverted trees curiously mounted to the ceiling so as to save floor space for gifts—and keep precious heirlooms out of the reach of pets and children. Their bottle-brush bristle tree in hot orange and red tops my wish list. But however you deck your halls this season, have a happy, non-denominational winter celebration. If you so choose.
Ralph Jones Display, 2576 E. Charleston Blvd., 382-4398,
www.ralphjones.com.
Jennifer Henry has got the goods on what to get and where. E-mail her at
[email protected].