Inside the stained-glass pyramid, a gentle, foamy snow fell on the animatronic polar bear. To a pulsing salsa beat, the man at the keyboards warbled "I wanna wish you a merry Christmas," as parents, including some mothers in Islamic headscarves, lined up to conduct their children into Santa's village for a photograph with the man himself. 

It was indeed a merry Christmas in Dubai, the tiny, striving Arab emirate that, year round, expresses something of the all-Santa-no-manger essence of the modern, secular holiday: lightheartedness, panting consumerism, glittering shallows and, for those who seek them out, depths as well. 

My wife, Sarah, and I were in the Pharaonic-themed Wafi Mall, but we could have been in a polished-marble-and-Starbucks shopping complex anywhere in the world, right down to the way our 17-month-old, Ike, burst into tears when he came face to face, ho-ho-ho, with Santa himself.That generic, anyplace quality is part of the public face of Dubai, which some of its many foreign residents tend to compare to Disney World, or even Las Vegas. It is Middle East lite, as a friend living here puts it. It is less complicated, less densely layered and, as a result, maybe less unnerving than destinations in the region like Istanbul, Cairo or our home base, Jerusalem. 

To any tourist, it might seem odd to pass over those other, ancient Middle Eastern cities for Dubai. Yet one can get quite enough of layers, thank you. There is something to be said for the surfaces of things: for the setting sun glinting on the faceted Persian Gulf; for the shimmering reds, blues and greens in the avian cacophony of the bird market in the neighboring emirate, Sharjah; for the shiny chrome noses of the white Bentleys parked at the doors of the Burj al Arab Hotel. 

For, yes, we did splurge and stay at the Burj, the soaring luxury hotel that opened in 1999 and is already so cherished by Dubai as a symbol of its splendor that its image adorns every license plate. Well, we stayed there one night, and were careful not to run up the bill with extras like sampling the "bath menu."  

The rest of our trip we stayed with Jason Davis, the American consul general in Dubai, and his partner, Matt Smith, and benefited from their considerable local knowledge. And so, though we kept up a frantic pace and stayed 12 days, far longer than most tourists stay, we left feeling we had barely glimpsed the many surfaces of Dubai and its close neighbors.Much has been said about the economic miracle of Dubai, one of the seven desert microkingdoms - altogether, at about 32,000 square miles, they are just about the size of Maine - that make up the United Arab Emirates.  
  
Particularly given the region's chaos, it is impressive when seen up close: The cranes operating at all hours; Internet City and Media City, where companies like Microsoft and CNN make their regional homes in what was desert five years ago; the colossal island development, shaped like a palm tree, that is being built out into the gulf. They say you can see the palm from space. After the island opens for visitors next year, planners say it will more than double Dubai's beachfront and eventually include 49 themed hotels (Balinese, Sicilian, Mexican, etc.).