WINTER WONDERLANDS

Canadian Marge Knebel heard the familiar strains of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" while walking along the Strip recently.

With shorts-clad tourists bustling by and a warm breeze blowing in the air, Knebel noted the lack of snow and anything remotely Christmasy along Las Vegas Boulevard before she turned to her companions and said: "No, it's not."

Then, she walked into the Bellagio Conservatory.

"In here, it does," said Knebel's sister-in-law, Judi Geake.

The three of them -- Geake, Knebel and her husband, John -- stood marveling at the conservatory's winter show, which includes 22 animatronic penguins wearing Santa hats and life-sized reindeer made of pecans.

As they absorbed the holiday atmosphere, trying to figure out if those poinsettias were, in fact, real (they are), they came to realize an unwritten rule about Christmas on the Strip: It's not that big of a deal.

Or, so casino representatives say.

"We do downplay the Christmas aspect. It's more of a winter season," says Dale Wisniewski, assistant director of facilities at Caesars Palace.

It could be argued that a seven-story Christmas tree in front of the resort isn't really downplaying it. In years past, a giant, decorated fir was erected outside the front of the hotel. This year, construction kept Caesars from continuing the tradition, but the tree will be back in some form next year, Wisniewski says.

Still, with winter in mind, Wisniewski and his crew decorated with more than 1,000 red poinsettias, 8-foot wreaths, cranberries, ivy and various other things closely associated with Christmas.

They want guests to get a cheery, wintery feel when they come to Caesars, Wisniewski says, because not everyone celebrates Christmas.

Paige Dixon, floral designer for Wynn Las Vegas, concedes there's a little Christmas to the decorating, but not much. And nothing religious.

"The (displays) are not excessively screaming Christmas. It's more of a wintery, frosty feeling," Dixon says. "We have a mixture of clients who come through our space and" Wynn wants to reach out to everyone.

Christmas balls adorn flower displays in the atrium; berries and branches are incorporated into arrangements. The decorating approach is more of a European one with a little bit of Vegas bling thrown in for good measure, Dixon says.

Most places on the Strip do some sort of holiday decorating. Monte Carlo erected a tree in the lobby. The Fashion Show mall revived its annual holiday show, complete with Santa Claus, indoor snow and plenty of kitsch.

The V Theatre in the Miracle Mile Shops offers visitors the chance to talk to Santa and get their pictures taken.

Even though Bellagio calls the conservatory display the winter show, it's hard to ignore the touch of Christmas.

"I think maybe it wasn't so deliberate," Audra Danzak, the resort's director of horticulture, says of this year's definite Christmas overtones.

She wanted to try some new things this year, Danzak says, so she added the animatronic penguins, where one teeters on a ladder trying to decorate a tree. Thousand of flowers make up an oversized Christmas card that rests underneath the flying pecan reindeer.

"We want to keep it festive, fun, youthful and mystical rather than trying to identify a certain religion," Danzak says of the show. "We try very hard at that. Everyone has their feelings and we have to be aware of that."

But what people see can be so subjective, as Knebel and Geake proved.

Knebel didn't think the decorations had anything to do with the Christian holiday. She got a wintery feel from it.

"It's 100 percent secular," Knebel said. "There's not a single religious symbol visible anywhere."

Geake, visiting from Chicago, looked around the conservatory and saw Christmas everywhere.

"But these are the traditional Christmas ornaments," she argued. "It really looks like Christmas. I appreciate that it's red and green because some places try to be so politically correct that you can't tell they have Christmas decorations."

Contact reporter Sonya Padgett at spadgett@reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-4564.