Holiday decorations and lights are my favorite gift of the holidays, often returning each year to the SF staples, many for over a decade or more, like the Fairmont Gingerbread House which already this year has a smaller footprint than the past,
Macy’s Christmas Tree at Union Square
which I am so grateful for this year since I thought last year was its farewell, with the proposed closure of Macy’s Union Square location, which is right across from the Westin St. Francis Sugar Castle, which I heard was already much smaller last year. Since Pier 39 is the one that usually stays up the longest, it is the one that bookends the holiday season for me.
Neighborhood Christmas Tree Lanes like Alameda’s Thompson Street
and San Jose’s Christmas in
the Park complete with Snowman Hot Chocolate is another annual must,
I always try to discover at least one new experience, like the Four Seasons Apres Village Winter Wonderland in Palo Alto last year
and this year Mr. Skunk and the Giant Christmas Tree via the Skunk Train
while happen to be passing through
Healdsburg on the day/night of their tree lighting to and from Willits.
I got to add to the experience of the Oakland Mormon Temple this year from just the decorations to catching an actual free concert after Thanksgiving in the auditorium.
It is always fun to revisit ones I haven’t been back to for years like afternoon tea at the Rotunda overlooking the Macy’s tree
and Union Square and Holidays at Filoli which daytime admission for their holiday decorations is now included in their membership.
If
you wonder just like others why I would go back to ones I have seen already or
why I go back almost/every year to the same ones, it is because as a Buddhist,
I know nothing is permanent and I am old enough now to see the “end of many eras”
from doctors retiring to restaurants closing to yes even the end of Christmas
decorations.
Things that are now just part of the past include the Christmas Village at Hyatt Embarcadero once collector Len Conacher passed away, Tom and Jerry House with both Tom and Jerry also passed, South San Francisco Chestnut Christmas Lit Houses, that is now down to just a handful of decorated houses post Covid and with the very recent passing of Bob Widmer, the status and future of Pleasanton’s Widmer’s World is also unknown after this year.
These are the reasons why it’s so important to never take it for granted as these experiences are the best gifts to me.
