holidays

I’ve never understood why people get so worked up about a silly little day where people exchange boxes of chocolates and flowers, high school girls where heart-covered boxer shorts over leggings and kindergartners trade notes adorned with Ninja Turtles and Hello Kitty. These are all good things, right?

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.

It may seem like the holiday season just got started but, the truth is, the time is now to make your New Year’s Eve plans to make sure you get tickets to the right experience for your situation. Whether it’s an elegant date night or an early celebration for the whole family, What’s Up? Temecula has everything you need to know about all the New Year’s happenings in town so you can make your reservations and check one more thing off that to-do list.

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.

It just isn’t Christmas until you see Snoopy and the Peanuts gang skating around to the song “Christmas Time Is Here,” and now you and your family can recreate this iconic winter scene as the Temecula on Ice Skating Rink returns to Old Town this week. Temecula on Ice features a state-of-the-art skating rink, comfortable skates (not the old-school ones that give you blisters!).

Move over Rudolph because the residents of the Alpaca Hacienda are celebrating the season! “The Alpaca Hacienda’s free Holiday Open Ranch event embraces the holiday season,” Beth Osborne, co-owner of the Alpaca Hacienda said.