Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year. We have lived in San Diego for a full year now. One year ago, Josh had just gotten back from a deployment in the Middle East and we were still settling into our little studio apartment. Neither of us had ever lived on the east coast and it was the first Christmas we had spent away from family. So we spend a lot of our time unpacking and figuring our way around this new town we found ourselves in.
This year we’re a bit more prepared for Christmas. We have a tree, some decorations, and have been exploring the different holiday festivities around San Diego. The biggest event that we’ve seen is December Nights at Balboa Park. There are about 350,000 people that visit the park over two days. It really does get you in the Christmas Spirit.
Balboa Park is just north of downtown San Diego and there are many spots from the park where you can get a great view of the skyline.
They have both set up all around the park from holiday trinkets to every food you can think of.
At the Spreckels Organ Pavilion they had performers throughout the day. We have started doing this thing where we decided to go to this different events around town, but don’t look up that much about what the event. I enjoy doing this for large public event like this because it makes it more magical. You get to explore the park for the first time again, everything you discover is new.
shirt jcrew factory | jacket kenneth cole
We enjoyed most wandering around the International Village. Each of the houses were serving traditional foods from their country. There was also a biergarten setup where each of the countries represented at the park were serving cocktails from their homeland. This was one of our favorite parts of December Nights. We have been to Balboa Park many times during our year that we have lived here, but it seem like the International Houses are closed more often than not. So we took this time to walk around all the houses and see what each of the houses had to offer, and boy did it all look amazing!
Past the International area they had a small carnival set up. Which really brought me back to my childhood where I spent many summers at the Dollywood Carnival.
In the center of the park they had a several bands that played throughout the night where there was dancing along with another beer garden section that was offering some local craft beer. There were also loads more food vendors offering everything from lemonade to asian food to nachos.
Of course no visit to Balboa Park is complete without a visit to Panama 66. Which is a restaurant/bar that is owned by San Diego Museum of Art. They have a terrific local craft beer selection that is always rotating and never disappoints. Plus when the whole park isn’t taken over, they always have a bunch of fun things going on.
shirt levi (similar) | jacket zara
We hope you guys are having a fabulous holiday season thus far!
slightly luminous 