Letter from Havana: As he greets children in the shaded park of the sweltering Spanish colonial square of Plaza de Armas in the historic heart of Old Havana, Santa Claus lends a surreal touch - and not just because he's black.
It's just that you don't associate the cold European Christmas with temperatures of 85 Fahrenheit. And then there's the incongruity of Christmas coming to this godless, communist town.
Jesuit-educated Fidel Castro only legalised Christmas after the visit to Cuba by Pope John Paul II in 1998. Could it be that El Jefe, now aged 78, is losing his faith in atheism and has one eye on the hereafter?
His recent fall, in which he broke an arm and a leg, and the death shortly afterwards of his old friend, Yasser Arafat, certainly brought on another round of speculation on Castro's health and his longevity from Cuba-watchers.
Castro's doctor has been doing his best to put a damper on such wild talk by recently making the case that humans can theoretically live for 120 years.
And Fidel seemingly makes a joke of the world's obsession with his age. There's an old story here that he was once offered as a pet a baby turtle which could live to well over 100 years. Reluctantly refusing the offer, he said sadly: "Thanks, but you're only getting to know them when they go and die on you."
Castro got an early Christmas present in November when a star appeared in the east. Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived on a two-day visit and signed trade agreements which will be worth billions of dollars over the next decade. At the same time he symbolically placed a warm protective arm around the Cuban leader, who was likely feeling the effects of some icy Cold War winds after the re-election of George Bush.
Christmas is evident in the narrow Spanish colonial streets of Old Havana and it is also high season for tourism. Many in Europe and Canada now want to get away from the Christmas cold and gloom, and from the lengthy shopping frenzy the event has become.
In the balmy evenings along Obispo Street, the main drag in the old city, those visitors might enjoy a softer, gentler Christmas, as trees and fairy lights decorate the hotels, small shops, cafe bars and galleries, and a big luminous moon hangs high overhead.
Obispo, and Old Havana in general, has been having a major facelift over the last few years and it looks particularly well at this time.
The importance of the old town's fabulous Spanish colonial architecture had been acknowledged in 1982 by UNESCO, which designated it a World Heritage Site. Alas, many of the old buildings are in danger of falling down and the teeming streets behind the tourist areas can feel like labyrinthine caverns of crumbling gothic gloom.
But in recent years there have been great advances in the restoration of Havana's endangered buildings.
Obispo has been paved with cobblestones and much of it has been renovated. Near the local headquarters of the Committee for the Defence of the Revolution there's a magnificently restored old building which is now a bank; you can get your convertible pesos there from its ATM.
The company responsible for the work of restoration in Old Havana is Habaguanex and, given the great historic and cultural importance of this place, it is fitting that the person in charge of Habaguanex is also Havana's historian, Mr Eusebio Leal.
The company was started 10 years ago with the intention of renovating old buildings and turning them into bijou hotels for the cultural tourist seeking the old-time feel of the place. Now the company runs numerous hotels, bars and restaurants, the profits from which go back into restoration work.
Ordinary Habaneros are proud of the work of rehabilitacion being carried out all around the port of Havana.
"It is our face to the world," a taxi-driver said. "It must look its best."
Out on the five-kilometre Malecon seafront boulevard, many of the old colonial houses facing the sea have also had much-needed facelifts. Although some have had to be demolished for safety reasons, they are to be restored in keeping with the Malecon's characteristic architecture.
In the past year ornate streetlights have been erected which are almost exact replicas of those that lit the area in the 1920s.
My favourite lodgings in all Havana is in a restored colonial house right in the middle of the Malecon. This old house has a balcony with a view to kill for, and an unfailingly helpful landlord who is a veteran of one of Havana's finest hotels, the Seville.
The house beside it was not so lucky. It was in such a dangerous state that it had to be demolished.
Sitting on an old rocking chair on the balcony of this delightful old colonial house, I feel I must surely be looking out over one of the finest views anywhere in the world.
Below, on the six-lane highway, an assortment of curiosities hurtles or chugs by - all sorts of classic 1950s Oldsmobiles, motorbikes with sidecars, little yellow bubblecar-like Cocotaxis, bicycle-taxis and joggers.
To my right, the lights of Old Havana sweep and sparkle, chief among them the great beams from El Morro lighthouse.
This was formerly known as the O'Donnell lighthouse, named after Leopoldo O'Donnell, who built it in 1844.
To the left, the traffic curves between the diamond necklace of new streetlights and the heavy troubled sea stretching towards the Nuevo Vedado neighbourhood with its glittering champagne supernova of lighting from the strip of hotels which, in the 1950s, was controlled by the Mafia. Although the casinos are no more, you can still get a sense of Goodfellas' glam in the big-band dance shows from that era which are performed each night in many of these hotels and in places such as the legendary Tropicana.
Once upon a time in the mob-owned Hotel Capri, actor George Raft was the official greeter. Over in the Nacional Hotel, at a Mafia reunion in 1946, Frank Sinatra got into trouble for being photographed buddying up to the capo di tutti capi, Charles "Lucky" Luciano.
In the Riviera, another wise-guy hotel on the same strip, the luckiest bellhop in the world found that all his Christmases came together late one night when he escorted tipsy screen queen Ava Gardner to her room and she "made him an offer he couldn't refuse".
These ethereal ghosts of Christmases past provide plenty to mull over while rocking on a balcony and looking out on the partially rehabilitated Malecon, while across the road, on the promenade, rumba rhythms erupt and youngsters get into celebrating Christmastime in Old Havana.
