CORONA DEL MAR TODAY

Christmas Comes But Once A Year — And At Roger’s Gardens, That’s Today

Logs burned merrily in a fireplace, “White Christmas” played wistfully in the background, icicles and toys and ornaments twinkled from shelves and trees.

It may be October to you and me, but at Roger’s Gardens, Christmas is here. The holiday shop opens to the public today with room after room filled with sparkling silver reindeer, table linens, tree skirts, stockings, Santas and more. Twenty-five trees were decorated in themes — one tree was covered with glass ornaments shaped like fairy tale and Nutcracker characters. Another was decked out with antique-looking airplanes and train toys. Others gleamed with oyster ornaments and shell garlands.

Eric Cortina, Roger’s creative director, said the big holiday trends this year were in the colors — think black and white, and red, he said. (Cortina also has his designs featured — ornaments shaped like lanterns and champagne corks among them.) Shoppers at the private opening were buying lots of crocheted ornaments and retro-inspired decorations, like the Elf on the Shelf and vintage-looking wreathes. Prices ranged from under $5 to thousands. On the first day of the preferred shopper preview, crowds of mostly women filled their baskets with goodies while sipping mimosas and sampling pastries and holiday candies.

The Christmas season typically draws 250,000 visitors between October and December, said Gavin Herbert, Roger’s president and chief executive officer. Although Halloween is the fastest-growing holiday for sales, Christmas, he said, remains on top.

Roger’s Christmas shop opens at 9 a.m. Roger’s is located at 2301 San Joaquin Hills Road. Call (949) 640-5800 for more information.

And yes — the Halloween shop remains open with plenty of spooky, October-appropriate stuff for sale.