Christmas on the Prado

There is this FABULOUS annual event in San Diego called December Nights. (It used to be called Christmas on the Prado, but since 'Christmas' isn't so politically correct anymore...whatever.) It is a two-day event at Balboa Park, the 1,400-acre cultural park in the middle of the city. (Also my favorite place in San Diego.) December Nights is kind of like a big carnival and cultural festival in one. There are carnival rides and fair-food stands, stages set up everywhere with varying performers, and most of the park's 15 museums are also free during the event. But the BEST part is at the International Cottages, where you can get food, drinks, and desserts from dozens of different countries while watching traditional music and dance performances from different countries all night. Basically, it's the best community event ever, and I made sure that Josh and I requested a night off for it MONTHS in advance.

First of all, we were rockstars in getting there. Over 300,000 people show up for the event, and getting there/parking can be BRUTAL. Last year, we were not nearly as familiar with the area, and we spent, oh, like 90 MINUTES trying to park. (Yeah, I was cranky.) This year, we avoided the interstates that were jammed with all the newbs and Josh led us on his wild, twisty route that he takes to frisbee golf. Less than 30 minutes later, we were walking into party central. Boo-yah!

Our first mission was to get some FOOD! I had to drag Josh past all the fair-food, promising him that he would feel so much better about trying some new ethnic foods than scarfing down some BBQ tri-tip or a giant turkey leg. (I'm not sure he believed me.) I waited in the Chinese line, and Josh waited in the Lebanese line, and it was awesome.
The best part, though, were our Scottish desserts. My Edinburgh Cloud (lemon fluff with homemade raspberry sauce) and Josh's double chocolate cake were AMAZING!
The most amazing part of the night was when we were watching an Israeli performer play the accordion and sing. When he started playing Hava Nagila, Josh just busted out in song. He knew every word! What the heck?! He said something about learning it in 3rd grade, but seriously, you can't remember how to say 'book' in Spanish, but you can sing an entire song in Hebrew?
The Spreckles Organ Pavilion is a magnificent focal point of the park. Built in 1914, it is the world's largest outdoor organ with 4,530 pipes. It was even more beautiful for Christmas time.
There were some great nativity scenes set up to view. The angel in this one, however, only has one wing...
We stopped by the Timken art museum (it has a Rembrandt! as Josh always makes sure to tell everyone) because I read about a Christmas tree on display decorated entirely with ornaments that were handmade by one woman in the community. They were amazing!
We had time to visit one more museum, so we decided to visit the Museum of Natural History. Looked at some fossils, tried to name the animals without looking at the answer (with ALL our knowledge from the SD Zoo), and as usual, spent WAY longer looking at each exhibit than anyone else did. Josh was most concerned with finding out if sharks really get as big as the one on the ceiling.
On our way back to the car, we passed by the largest tree in the park. It was lit with lights all around that methodically changed colors, creating an eerie effect in the fog. A beautiful end to a wonderful night :-)