Dateline, the Xmas season of 2012: I did pay my annual visit to the famous lights in Canoga Park. Or whatever name the community wishes to use, that being the San Fernando Valley's original name-shifting zip code. I have since run across Reseda Forest and Reseda Village.

Facades: I ran across one at the "head" end of one of the lights' Lanes: Candy Cane, Candle Light---not sure. The very well-appointed home had a high wall out front with props for "It's A Small World", but go through an opening and the enterprising residents were selling hot dogs and sodas to a teeming clientele. That's okay, I had eaten.

Something else was out front gathering more folks in the intermittent and benign drizzle, going from "teem" to "team" as t'were. It was a middle-size contingent of a high school marching band I had seen earlier in front of a more "regular" house. The percussion section had the evening, leading in and out of the winds' and horns' features. They rattled and snapped in precision, enthusiasm and movement.

The wind folks were valiant but dealing with factors I deal with yet in bands---youth regrettably not in the fore. Attacks retreated and pitches had less than romantic flirtations with gravity. And while an avenue can become "Candle Light Lane" there are plenty of dark areas, even as they set off the displays, but at least the band had the benefit of students and faculty bearing lights to assist their reading.

And standing in the back of the throng I watched a bit of the action through someone's tablet. Tablets are omnipresent, of course, so much so I spotted the spark of another on this one's screen.

Facades, themes, feedback, music, gadgets, lights, cameras----such as they are in the 10's, action. We unwrap offerings of various values and march into 2013.