Christmas In the Park

With over 15 years of enjoying Christmas festivities under my belt, you would think that I have experienced pretty much anything Christmas related in the Bay Area.  Some no longer around like the Hyatt Embarcadero’s Department 56 Snow Village that was originated by the late Len Connacher and then a short return by a different collector backdropped with Hyatt’s famous curtain of lights and the Livermore Lights, one of the winners of the Great American Light Fight who have since moved away for a job opportunity due to exposure from that show.   

Some are paid admission which I have been to once, which was enough like the Dickens Christmas Fair, Global Winter Wonderland which has since moved from San Jose to Sacramento, Gilroy Gardens Holiday Lights, Discover Kingdom’s Holiday in the Park, Santa Cruz Holiday Light Train and Niles Canyon Holiday Lights Train. 

Others although paid, I have repeated twice like Oakland Zoolights and Vasona Park’s Fantasy of Lights. 

A few I wish I could do annually but due to distance presents a challenge like the Apple Farm’s 25 Days of Christmas in San Luis Obispo - http://cookwithzee.blogspot.com/2014/12/apple-farm-you-had-me-at-pie.html, 

I have been kicking off my holiday season every year with the Embarcadero Building Lighting - http://aroundthebayandaway.blogspot.com/2016/11/its-christmas-once-again-in-san.html followed by stops at Union Square’s Macy’s Tree, Westin St. Francis’ Sugar Castles, Fairmont’s life sized Gingerbread House, the Oakland Mormon Temple and two Christmas Tree Lanes around the Bay religiously - http://aroundthebayandaway.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-tree-lanes-bay-area.html and even managed a couple Away (Pacific Grove and San Diego) as my blog is appropriately named.  So you can imagine my surprise when I actually find something new that has been around for decades just waiting for me to discover it. 

How did it take me so long to discover and check out San Jose’s Christmas in the Park? Partly it is probably due to the lack of time and dry weather between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day to squeeze in my favorites listed above and partly because South Bay is the one area I rarely explore. 

This year I had a renewed determination to finally see it for myself and I am so glad I did.  Since this is a new find for me, I experienced this truly through the eyes of a child seeing something for the first time.  I found myself literally clapping with excitement from the 12 Days of Christmas lighted display at the entrance

 

 

to what seems like hundreds of decorated Christmas trees courtesy of different schools and organizations

 

 

to the animated holiday displays

 

 

and finally to the Snowman Hot Chocolate

 

 

 

 

that was the perfect treat to warm your cold hands as you stroll leisurely through the park.  Unlike most festivities this time of year, this one is open from 9AM because there are quite a lot to see aside from the lights.  We arrived at the perfect time around 5PM when we could still see displays best during the day

 

 

and of course the wonderland that lights up the dark.

 

 

Although we only needed about an hour to see everything, this has surely made the list to repeat and even tempted to return again this year.  Now if only I could find the time…

Christmas in the Park - http://www.christmasinthepark.com/Default.aspx

194 S Market Street,
San Jose, CA 95113
Until 1/1/2017 9AM-Midnight

Christmas Tree Lanes Bay Area

Anyone who knows me, friends, family, my Cook with Zee blog followers - http://cookwithzee.blogspot.com/2015/12/may-your-christmas-be-bright-and-merry.html,  and fellow Yelpers, will know this is one of my favorite times of the year and it has nothing to do with presents.  I love, love, love, Christmas lights and decorations as it really gets you into the Christmas spirit joining like minded individuals who appreciates the experience over physical things.  This goes right in line with my happiness style as an Experiencer that I recently discovered with Jennifer Duke’s Happiness Dare where I could have sworn she wrote the section just for me (have we met?) but at the same time happy to know there are many others just like me who value the same things. 

Duke welcomed me to the “club of the beauty seekers, adventurers, and pay-attentioners” confirming my “enthusiasm of a child and a deep sense of wonder finding supreme happiness by engaging in meaningful moments”, reaffirming what I have been saying for as long as I can remember, “You don’t look for happiness in a store.  You look for it in moments.”  That would explain why my two passions that spawned both my blogs are experience driven, food and travel and worthy of exploring in a future post. 

In the meantime, back to what fills me with joy this time of the year. 

Christmas Tree Lane, Thompson Street, Alameda, CA

Living in the East Bay, my first introduction to Christmas Tree Lanes where an entire street/neighborhood went all out with holiday lights and decorations was Thompson Street in Alameda over 20 years ago.  A stroll down this 1 block in Alameda is a gift in itself as one of the residents on that street will often dress up as Santa and sit in a sleigh on the median on the weekends and children from another house serve free hot chocolate the Friday or Saturday before Christmas making you feel like what a small version of the North Pole must look like. 

 

 

 

 

Chestnut Lit Houses at the Parkway Estates on Woodside Court – South San Francisco, CA

Just like Thompson Street, the whole neighborhood decorates their houses to the max at Parkway Estates starting at the corner of Woodside Court and appropriately named Treeside Court.  Unlike Thompson Street which is mainly 1 story homes, these houses are of a grander scale so there are more “prime real estate” space for going all out.  With one house often playing live festive Christmas music to another sporting a “snow machine” handing out candy canes, it is hard to choose a favorite.  But if I must, it is a toss up between the corner house and the Bear themed house with an inflatable teddy bear peering down at you from the second floor and a revolving bear tree downstairs that I always have a soft spot for.

 

 

Christmas Tree Lane, 1900 Block of Eucalyptus – San Carlos, CA

Upon learning that I religiously return to the Alameda and South SF ones at least once annually without fail, I was told about the one in San Carlos about 3 years ago in case I wanted a change in scenery.  That year and my second visit this past weekend coincidentally happened to be the week before Christmas so is definitely much more crowded than earlier in the month but you also get to see the owners outside gathered with their friends for private parties around a fire pit in case you just want to thank them for the time and electricity to create this winter wonderland for us.      

 

 

You may be tempted to compare them to each other and may even have a preference of one over the others which is okay too.  For me, having blocks of festive lights and decoration great for kids and us adults that looks at it with the enthusiasm of a child, makes each special in its own right so there are no cons.  Like Duke's Happiness Dare, I dare you to try not to smile.