Holidays in Greater Palm Springs

December is the best month of the year here, which is precisely why everyone you're related to suddenly wants to visit.

Here's how the holidays in Greater Palm Springs actually work — New Year's Eve, the tree lightings, the Walk of the Inns, the Christmas light routes worth burning the gas on — plus the mistakes visitors make with total confidence every single year. Assuming everything's open. Assuming a table's available. Assuming a reservation on the 24th is a formality.

There's a running thread of low-key alternatives too, because a fair number of us would rather skip the parade entirely and nobody should feel weird about that.