christmas

Temecula is rich with tradition, especially during the Christmas season, and the City’s Community Services Department is pulling out all the stops to make their community shines once again with their annual festive favorites, the Christmas Tree Lighting at the Pond and Santa’s Electric Light Parade.

Southern California Edison better flip the switch to auxiliary nuclear. The Clark Griswold’s of our community are invited to participate in the City of Temecula’s ‘Twas the Lights Before Christmas home decorating contest.

Ah, Christmas. That yuletide time of year where strands of lights twinkle in the trees, cozy homes smell of gingerbread and pine, and the faces of children all over the world are aglow with anticipation for the arrival of the man of the hour – Santa Claus himself.

It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but jolly old St. Nick is returning to the Promenade Temecula on Saturday, November 21st – just in time for Black Friday sales. But instead of his reindeer or a few of the elves, this year the man in red is bringing everyone’s favorite blockhead.

The weather outside has been about as frightful as it can be in Temecula and, at Pennypickle’s Workshop’s annual Winter Wonderland, they say let it snow! Let it snow! On Friday evening, December 19th (rescheduled from December 12th) at 5:00 pm, Pennypickle’s will open its doors to the community for a grand celebration of the holidays.

When the Temecula-based Ballet Studio and the Fine Arts Network present “The Nutcracker,” beginning this weekend in Old Town, the sugarplums will dance right out of your head and onto the stage. Recently voted one of the Top 10 “Nutcrackers” in Southern California by the Los Angeles Times, “The Nutcracker” will be on stage at the Old Town Community Theater from December 18th through the 23rd.

One of the most vivid memories I have of my childhood is the old Sparkletts Water Show at Sea World in the eighties. There was just something about those lights changing color to different types of music that just blew my young mind. Now the kiddos in Temecula can have the same psychedelically awesome musical experience with Snowbell Rockin’ Nights at City Hall, Thursdays through Sundays in Old Town.

The Old Town Temecula Community Theater continues their lineup of wonderful holiday entertainment this Sunday, December 14th and again on December 21st, with their annual Candlelight Classics. Presented by the Golden Valley Music Society and Temecula Presents, Candlelight Classics is a special holiday edition of the popular monthly series, Classics at the Merc, which brings some of Southern California’s finest classical musicians into the intimate setting of the 48-seat theater for a truly unique and personal experience for the audience.

Is your closet harboring a reindeer sweater ala “Bridget Jones’s Diary” (or, as Bridget says, reindeer jumpa’) and nowhere to wear it? Well, shake off the dust and shoo away the moths because Thursday, December 18th is your lucky day!

The holidays are about inviting friends to join your celebration and the Inland Valley Symphony is getting into the spirit of the season by inviting some special guests to the stage with “A Soulful Christmas,” this weekend at the Gershwin Performing Arts Center at Murrieta Mesa High School. Under the musical direction of nationally known conductor John Mario, “A Soulful Christmas” will include the Symphony itself, featuring flutist Kate Prestia-Schaub, and the stylized vocal group, the Sylvia Cotton Singers.