A group of old-fashioned Christmas carolers in Victorian costumes brings holiday cheer to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.
Look what I stumbled upon yesterday during an afternoon walk through San Diego’s history-filled Old Town. Folks in Victorian costumes were roaming about, singing Christmas carols!
I learned this group is composed of Old Town San Diego State Historic Park staff and volunteers. They were having a great time spreading Christmas cheer, pausing to sing at the various museums, restaurants and shops around old San Diego’s picturesque central plaza.
I was even given a cool little book filled with Christmas carol lyrics. Thank you guys!
Merry Christmas!
Carolers smile, laugh and enjoy the day in front of a reconstructed building at Old Town San Diego’s central plaza.I was given this Caroling Lyrics Booklet. Songs include Jingle Bells, The First Noel, We Three Kings, The 12 Days of Christmas, Deck the Halls and Silent Night.The colorful group of Old Town roving carolers heads to the Cosmopolitan Hotel, which is decked out with festive wreaths.After entertaining some surprised diners, the group heads through the Cosmopolitan Hotel, much to the delight of one server!Singing traditional Christmas carols around the old fountain in the outdoor courtyard of Casa de Estudillo.Now the Christmas carolers are in the Wells Fargo History Museum next to the original 1867 Concord stagecoach! Several people listened outside the nearby door and applauded.A crowd gathered as Christmas carols were heard outside the Threads of the Past Living History Activity Center. One quilter joined in the public singing!Joyful, uplifting Christmas carols are sung as customers leave Toby’s Candle and Soap Shop.
Bill “Santa” Swank has written a really great book about the history of Christmas in San Diego!
I was privileged today to meet Bill Swank. Perhaps you’ve met him, too. Since 2002, Bill has been the volunteer Santa Claus at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion during Balboa Park’s popular December Nights. He’s a friendly good guy who effortlessly spreads cheerfulness and joy.
Bill Swank is probably best known for being a leading expert on baseball and the San Diego Padres. He’s written numerous books about baseball history. His knowledge is so deep, the San Diego Historical Society has called him our city’s top baseball historian.
His most recent book, published earlier this year, is titled Christmas in San Diego. If you love both Christmas and San Diego, I know you’ll treasure this book. It’s loaded with history, local traditions and hundreds of fun, very unique photos. (Six photos from Cool San Diego Sights are in the book! How cool is that?)
Bill “Santa” Swank believes the true meaning of Christmas is found in the Golden Rule. His excellent book also proves another important truth: that human hearts are warmed when we are generous and kind. In the book you’ll see community-spirited Santas through the decades bringing joy to many generations, lifting the spirits of all.
From Christmas Eve way back in 1775, to the present day, Christmas in San Diego covers over two hundred years of local history. You’ll find out how both famous and ordinary San Diegans have celebrated the holiday season, and learn a good deal about many historical places and events. Personally, I love the parts concerning unselfish Santa Claus volunteers who’ve participated in a surprising range of charitable activities. Touching young and old alike, with a twinkle-eyed smile and merry Ho, Ho, Ho!
I was privileged to shake the hand of Santa Claus today. Read Christmas in San Diego, and you will be able to peer into Santa’s heart.
Everyone has a great time at the 2015 December Nights celebration in San Diego’s glorious Balboa Park!
Saturday was the second day of the December Nights holiday event in Balboa Park. (It’s 2015, and we’re coming to the end of Balboa Park’s centennial year. It has been a real blast!)
I walked around randomly and took a bunch of photos during the afternoon, while it was still light outside. This year December Nights was just as wonderful as ever! At night, the lights came on and the scene was pure magic!
Tens of thousands stream into Balboa Park from across the Cabrillo Bridge. December Nights is one of the largest holiday festivals in the United States.This nice lady in an information tent usually works at the Balboa Park Visitors Center.Folks in Santa hats enjoy dancing at the Gator by the Bay stage in the Plaza de Panama.Lots of unique Christmas gifts were out on display for purchase throughout Balboa Park during December Nights.Of course, you can buy mistletoe from this guy near the Natural History Museum!One of many fun images near the Old Globe Theatre that celebrate local author Dr. Seuss’ classic book How The Grinch Stole Christmas!Kids by the Botanical Building paint a huge community canvas during December Nights.A close-up photo of colorful holiday-themed artwork painted by creative kids!Poinsettias of many colors fill the amazing Botanical Building.Mother duck and ducklings are a bit wary of all the excited humans crowding about the reflecting pool.One of the several Santas in Balboa Park will be stationed here at the Casa del Prado once night falls.Children file onto a stage on the Casa del Prado patio. Joyful dancing could be seen here throughout the day.Another Santa Claus will be stationed here in the evening near the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.Some fun holiday decorations next to an artist studio in Balboa Park’s Spanish Village.Christmas presents dangle from a tree in festive Spanish Village during December Nights.Many glittery, colorful Christmas trees could be seen throughout Spanish Village.A funny Jungle Bells banner near the entrance to the world famous San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park.The one and only light up cotton candy! Just wait until it’s dark!Folks are buying goodies at the cookie shack near the Spreckels Organ Pavilion during December Nights.Another Santa will be seated in the colonnade at the organ pavilion, welcoming many kids.In mid-afternoon, the Peninsula Singers community choir was performing on stage beneath the giant Christmas tree.These folks enjoying a December Nights concert are dressed for the season.Deep friend bacon, cheesecake, candy bars, candy and cookies! Yikes! This stand is by the ride-filled fun zone, in front of the San Diego Air and Space Museum.These guys preparing food are in front of the Japanese Friendship Garden.Performers in folk costume wait behind the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages stage during December Nights in Balboa Park.Traditional costumes, holiday food from many nations and cultures, and cheerful crafts were found around the International Cottages!
Santa Claus is ready to leap from a helicopter onto the deck of the USS Midway aircraft carrier museum on San Diego Bay!
Santa has been known to make some pretty grand entrances. But this one takes the cake!
Jolly old Saint Nick paid a visit to San Diego today, and arrived by air as usual. He dropped in by parachute, landing atop an aircraft carrier!
A Toys for Tots toy drive is being held on Navy Pier next to the USS Midway Museum. Bring two new toys and you’ll receive free admission to the very popular museum. The Marines have a huge truck they need to fill up! Santa will be performing a whole bunch of parachute jumps throughout the day. Bring the kids!
Look! Here comes Santa Claus! I guess Rudolph and the other reindeer are getting lazy. Or maybe they’re just resting up for Christmas.
Old Saint Nick nimbly descends from the blue sky in order to greet the nice boys and girls of San Diego. Beats using a sooty chimney.Santa doesn’t need a tailhook when landing atop a huge aircraft carrier. Just a sturdy parachute!The U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and the USS Midway Museum are collecting toys today at Navy Pier. And Santa will be parachuting several more times! Just for fun!A guy checks out an ejection seat during the Toys for Tots toy drive on Navy Pier. I wonder if Santa has one of those on his sleigh?Marines collect toys to help spread holiday cheer, with downtown San Diego’s skyline in the background.Here’s smiling Santa, with Mrs. Claus! Spectacular entrance! They wished me a Merry Christmas! And the same to you!
There are many ways to help others in need this holiday season, in San Diego and around the world.
Tomorrow is “Giving Tuesday”. This special day, celebrated worldwide, is all about generosity and people coming together to help others who are in need.
There are countless ways to give back during the holiday season. Here are 3 opportunities that you might consider…
The Toys for Tots Program collects toys nationwide for children who could use a happy surprise during the holidays.
Provide a toy for a grateful child through the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots Program. Toys for Tots works with non-profit organizations nationwide. You can find a nearby toy donation drop site or create your own by visiting their website.
The Jeffrey Modell Foundation helps those born with Primary Immunodeficiency. The disease is often fatal.
Make a donation to the Jeffrey Modell Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is to fight Primary Immunodeficiency, a genetic condition that is chronic, serious, and often fatal. Donations help provide early diagnosis, treatment, and hopefully, an eventual cure for this devastating disease. About 1 in 500 people are born with Primary Immunodeficiency.
Donate to the Salvation Army. Or be an angel to a child this Christmas, by dropping off a gift at the Salvation Army’s location in San Diego’s popular Fashion Valley shopping mall.
Assist others who need a helping hand by donating to the Salvation Army! Even better, create your own online red kettle, and ask friends and family to help spread the word to fill it!
If you live in San Diego and plan to shop at Fashion Valley, you can be an angel to a child by purchasing a present, and dropping it off by December 13 at the mall. Look for the Salvation Army at the center of Fashion Valley near the Christmas tree and gingerbread house!
Are you a blogger who’d like to help build a better world?
You can learn more about Bloggers Lifting Others Generously by clicking here.
Signs of the holiday season have sprung up around San Diego a week or two before Thanksgiving.
The holidays are almost upon us! Four days until Thanksgiving!
While walking around San Diego this weekend, I noticed some signs of the coming holiday season. So I took pictures!
Ushers file past the fun Dr. Seuss Grinch Christmas Tree in front of the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park.Holiday lights are up in the courtyard of Balboa Park’s House of Hospitality.Poster in Balboa Park advertises New Direction at the North Pole! Joyful music will fill San Diego during the holiday season.The Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park is almost ready for December Nights, which will be held December 4 and 5 this year.Frosty the Snowman painted on a store window in San Diego’s sunny East County.The Salvation Army will be serving Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless in Golden Hall at the Civic Center.White Christmas opens Friday at the Spreckels Theatre.Kansas City Barbeque is offering active military a free Thanksgiving dinner.The San Diego Run For the Hungry takes place Thanksgiving morning.Traditional holiday garland and colorful ornaments festoon the Donut Bar in downtown San Diego.One of many beautiful wreaths hung all around Horton Plaza in San Diego. Christmas shopping is about to really get started on Black Friday!Surfing Santa poster in a window of the Seaport Cookie Company.Some shiny Christmas tree ornaments and festive entertainment near the Seaport Village carousel.Jolly old Saint Nick is being hung with care near stockings and candy cane pillars at the front door of a Seaport Village shop.
House of England’s Victorian gentleman with top hot and monocle!
This afternoon I enjoyed several daylight hours at the 2014 December Nights event in Balboa Park! It looks like the Christmas spirit is alive in San Diego!
December Nights, which used to be named Christmas on the Prado, is an annual holiday celebration that attracts around three hundred thousand people over two absolutely amazing days. The best time to experience December Nights is after dark, when Balboa Park from end to end is lit with thousands of lights. The scene is vast and magical. Carolers and choirs seem to be everywhere you turn. There are so many jolly Santas taking pictures with families you might think you’d arrived at the North Pole! The traditional sights, yummy smells, and cheerfully lit colors of Christmas abound.
But, alas, my camera doesn’t cope well with darkness. So here are some sunny pics from a couple hours ago!
Santa, Frosty and joyful San Diegans at December Nights in Balboa Park.Presents, ornaments and cacti in Balboa Park’s Spanish Village!An artist studio in Spanish Village behind many very colorful Christmas trees.These handmade blown glass ornaments were out on display.Artist’s message: Let there be Peace on Earth…Is this face painter by the Balboa Park carousel Mrs. Claus or a ladybug?A smiling gingerbread man greets one and all to Casa del Prado.San Diego Floral Association hosted many Christmas trees created by local folk.Sign acknowledges the Balboa Park Centennial, kicking off this weekend!Lots of vendors everywhere had holiday crafts that would make great gifts.A table full of unique Christmas stocking stuffers.One table had cool model ships! I know what this kid wants for Christmas!Kids from Colegio Ingles in Tijuana, Mexico perform in the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.Martin Luther King Jr. Community Choir sings rousing gospel music!Manger scene in one of the huts along back of Spreckels Organ Pavilion.Gingerbread House in the organ pavilion sells Christmas treats to the slowly growing crowd.Santa Claus has landed with his little reindeer on a rooftop!Huge, glorious poinsettia display inside the popular Botanical Building.It’s Wendy! No, I don’t want a hamburger today. Maybe tomorrow. Thank you!Photos with Santa will take place here and elsewhere once the sun sets.Lots of people dressed for the holidays this afternoon at December Nights in San Diego.These guys were probably informed they were naughty.
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How The Grinch Stole Christmas banner on the Old Globe Theatre.
I saw on television that the Dr. Seuss Christmas tree in Balboa Park’s theatre complex was officially lighted a few days ago. I missed the event! Darn it! It looked like a whole lot of fun!
During my walk this morning, I decided to swing past San Diego’s famous Old Globe Theatre and check things out. It looks like all the colorful holiday decorations are up, and everything’s ready for the big Balboa Park December Nights festival in a couple weeks.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas has played at the Globe for seventeen consecutive seasons. Theodor Geisel, better known as much-beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss, lived in nearby La Jolla, a beautiful neighborhood just north of downtown San Diego.
Dr. Seuss Christmas tree at the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.The fun Christmas tree is up again in Theodor Seuss Geisel’s home city!Kids love the whimsical Dr. Seuss displays all around the Old Globe plaza area.Another Who from Whoville hanging out near a bench in the Craig Noel Garden.Fun Grinch shirts for sale at the very cool Old Globe gift shop.Family gets a festive holiday photograph by the Seuss tree in San Diego’s Balboa Park.The grouchy old green Grinch is peering over the gift shop’s roof!How the Grinch Stole Christmas is playing at the Old Globe for its 17th season!
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Here comes a batch of photos taken Friday afternoon and early evening at 2013 December Nights. If you haven’t been to Balboa Park’s massive holiday festival, you’re really missing out. Hundreds of thousands of people turn out during the two day event, enjoying colorful lights, decorations, music, Christmas carols, food, entertainment, and just a whole bunch of fun. Every corner of the park is crammed with stuff to see and do. And it seems half of San Diego comes out to experience it all!
Some might recall that December Nights was once called Christmas on the Prado. Fortunately, the event is as joyful, bright, inspirational and heart-warming as ever. And the crowds seem bigger than ever!
Vendors set up festive booths in courtyard in front of the Museum of Man.Front of the Old Globe Theatre features a banner of the Dr. Seuss Grinch.How the Grinch Stole Christmas holiday tree in theatre complex.Getting ready for crowds in Balboa Park’s central plaza on Friday afternoon.Funnel cakes, lemonade and kettle corn for the holidays!December Nights crowd grows in Spanish Village by late afternoon.Santa awaits beyond colorful decorations in Spanish Village.Enormous Christmas tree decorates the stage of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.One nativity scene in the large creche at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.Tijuana school kids dressed as vaqueros and angels wait to perform.Children perform by big Christmas tree on Spreckels Organ Pavilion stage.The December Nights fun zone rides will become more active after dark.This guy’s shirt wishes everyone a Merry Solstice.Food and yummy smells can be found all over Balboa Park.Sunset nears and the tower atop San Diego Junior Theatre building turns gold.A December day fades above Balboa Park and the clouds are tinged with color.Now the evening crowd is really growing at December Nights!Glee Club of Australia kids sing and dance in Spreckels Organ Pavilion.One of several Santas in Balboa Park.San Diego Junior Theatre kids sing Christmas carols.Balboa Park Miniature Train in front of San Diego Zoo lit with Christmas lights.Balboa Park fountain and Natural History Museum lit up for December Nights.
Cool San Diego Sights! 