When I was 5 years old and the world was full of magnificence, my mother would take my brother and me to downtown San Francisco to see Santa Claus. I thought the city beautiful at the Christmas season and still do.

Others seem to feel the same way, even in this season of uncertainty.

"I love Christmas in the city," said Jasmine Lee, who was shopping on Grant Avenue in the week before Christmas. She is a young woman in an Australian hat, looking at handmade leather wristbands offered by a street artist.

"I like the spirit of the holiday, the lights, the energy of the city at this time of the year," she said. Lee lives in Marin - "I love Marin," she said - but grew up in the city, and was drawn back at Christmas, like many expatriate San Franciscans.

"It's a big deal," said Wendy Petel, who came by BART to the Westfield San Francisco Centre so her daughter, Natalie, who is 6, could see Santa Claus. "It's more special in the city," she said.

That may be true, even this year, when the economy has gone bad, every store is offering deep discounts, and this season's Christmas movie mouse is named Despereaux.

But the Christmas star still glitters atop the Transamerica Pyramid, the buildings of the Embarcadero Center are outlined in lights, and the week before Christmas was cold enough that even the Muni inspectors in the Powell Street station wore so many coats they looked like bears.

There has been a touch of snow on the mountains that ring the bay this year, and the low wintry sunlight makes even drab buildings look bright.

There are two ice rinks this season in the city where ice is usually only found in drinks. One is in the shadow of the Dewey Monument in Union Square, the other near the venerable Ferry Building.

At the Embarcadero little kids from a Chinatown school put out their hands for passing skaters to slap - a high five from some half-pint boys and girls. At Union Square, a tall woman all in black towed a little girl around the rink.

"We come up every year," said John Reynolds, who brought Tala, 8, and Eion, who is a little younger, to see the city and to learn how to ice skate. They are from Santa Cruz and live at the end of a road in the woods.

"Santa Cruz is great," Reynolds said, "but it's a small town." He's been coming to the city for Christmas for 50 years, and to prove it he pointed out the sights of Christmas past. "Gump's was over there," and he pointed north, toward Post Street; "and I. Magnin was there," pointing south toward Geary Street.

"We like to see the lights, the sounds, the music," he said.

Just then, a siren went off - an ambulance, a cop car, or maybe a fire engine, mixing with the usual downtown racket - a cable car bell and a street musician playing Christmas carols on a sax. Reynolds smiled. "We'll see the city and then go home to the redwoods," he said.

First visit to Santa

Down the block and around the corner, past flower stands that sell fresh flowers in December, past store windows containing live dogs and cats awaiting adoption, past the Salvation Army soldiers with their holiday kettles and inside Macy's, Alicia Pucci stood in line to see Santa Claus.

In her arms, she held Sofia, who has just turned 1 year old. "It's her first visit to Santa," Alicia said. "Sofia was born in San Francisco," she said. "Her daddy's from Italy, and I'm from L.A."

Sophia likes the city at Christmas, Alicia said. "Oh yes, she likes the lights and she likes to see the trees. I love it myself," Alicia said. "The cable cars, the lights on the Transamerica building you can see coming across the bridge."

She was going to have the little girl's picture taken with Santa. Perhaps Sophia might keep the picture and show it to her own children on a Christmas yet to come.

Children not asking for much

Santa was also sitting in a large chair, very much like a throne, under the grand dome at the Westfield mall on Market Street. It's hard to understand how he could be in two places at once. Perhaps he took the cable car.

The Westfield Santa said he sometimes goes by the name Fred Kelly, and he lives in Portland, Ore. He is retired, he said, having worked with children for 20 years. "My age?" he said. "Just say I am as old as the hills."

The children aren't asking for much this year, he said, "They are not grabby. The girls ask for dolls, and the boys ask for airplanes and cars. Scooters are big this year. The older ones want electronics. I tell them if they are good, they will get what they want."

Does Santa have some holiday advice? "It's the same as always," he said. "Pray for peace."