MERRY WEIRD CHRISTMAS?

It’s the time of the year when stores bring out all the stops to outdo each other coming up with eye-popping window displays. No place does this better than the department stores and shops that dot Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue in Manhattan. But many of those same stores also have branches at the Mall at Short Hills, the same mall where I reluctantly took part in a sting to catch a killer in AssaultWith a Deadly Glue Gun.

On a recent trip to the mall I came across some window displays that left me rolling my eyes and scratching my head at these decidedly un-Christmasy decorations.

For example, the windows at Dior featured life-size jungle animals covered in red Toile fabric.

Both Prada and Hugo Boss had colorful modern sculptures in their windows. The Prada ones reminded me of the Minions from Despicable Me. The one in the Hugo Boss window looked like a bunny head perched on a bucket perched on a pig head perched on a square face with feet.

Cacti used as shirt racks filled the window at Pink, the men's shirt store. Cacti in New Jersey. In December. Maybe in New Mexico but New Jersey?

The Christian Louboutin window did have Christmas trees, but Christmas trees with human-looking arms and legs!

Maybe the theme for this year was Merry Weird Christmas?