Denver - A Top Christmas Destination?

I read in the Denver Post the other day that Conde Nast Traveler named Denver one of the best U.S. cities to visit at Christmas. They mentioned such things as the Denver Zoo Lights, shopping and ice skating downtown, attending a performance of A Christmas Carol and The Nutcracker, and even visiting the Mile High Tree on the 16th Street Mall, which can be seen in the photograph on the left. That tree is kind of nice during the evenings, but during the day it is all metal and wires, and pretty damn ugly. 

I guess the Christmas lights on the 16th Street Mall, seen in the photograph on the right, are nice, but personally, I think the lights in downtown Fort Collins and Boulder are much nicer. Plus, those communities are much smaller, and to me have more of a holiday feel to them. And I also have to note that Denver is only one of 23 cities featured in the article, which includes Chicago, Charleston, South Carolina, Alexandria, Virginia, St. Augustine, Florida, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, all of which I have either lived in (Chicago) or visited, and would prefer to visit rather than Denver during the holidays, if I didn't already live here. One of the other recommendations is Las Vegas, which I can't imagine being a great place to visit during the holidays. Talk about a crass kind of Christmas.

The Conde Nast article also mentions the Denver Christkindlmarket, located in Civic Center Park, which it calls one of the best German Christmas markets in the country. I visited it this past Friday, and took the photograph on the left while I was there. It was a nice place to walk around for a bit, despite the cold temperatures and strong winds, but I would not come to Denver just to see it. I recommend the Nuremberg or Munich Christmas markets instead, although I think that both have been canceled again this year due to the coronavirus. Am I being disloyal to my adopted city? Do I care? You can probably guess the answer to that. In any case, check out the complete list of Conde Nast's best Xmas cities at https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/the-best-places-to-spend-christmas-in-the-us.