The Christmas House at San Rafael's West End Nursery

One of our first holiday outings is to the famous Christmas House at San Rafael's West End Nursery. We just checked out this season's edition yesterday, and it's a spectacular as ever. As a matter of fact, I think it might be their best effort to date!

The venerable West End Nursery has been operating in San Rafael's Sun Valley neighborhood since 1909. The Christmas House is located on the grounds of the nursery in a Victorian house that's over a century old. It's filled to the brim with Christmas trees and decorations, and it's pretty amazing.

There are 50 lavishly decorated and lighted trees throughout several rooms, as well as candles, Santas, nutcrackers, angels, snowmen, and just about every seasonal decorative item imaginable. Each room has a different theme, including kitchen (located in the house's kitchen, naturally), baby's room, outdoors, music, sports, pets, food, international, and more.

Best of all, entry is free, but of course all the ornaments and decorative items are for sale. We always let the kids pick out a couple of special ornaments to hang on the tree this year. They really have nearly every kind of ornament imaginable. West End Nursery also stocks holiday wreaths and numerous other seasonal items, as well as a nice selection of cute children's gardening tools, gloves, watering cans, and games, all of which would make for great Christmas gifts.

The house itself is surrounded by and built in to the main West End Nursery building. To get to the Christmas House, walk in the main entrance, then turn left and go through the themed Christmas trees on display and up the stairs into the old house. Make sure you visit the Christmas displays in the main part of the nursery building, too. There are a number of additional decorated trees, stuffed toys, , some giant nutcrackers, and an electric train setup.

Santa Claus himself will make an appearance at West End Nursery on Saturday, December 8 at 1 pm. He'll be available for visiting until about 3 pm or so. A professional photographer will be on hand for photos, too.

West End Nursey's Christmas House is always one of the nicest displays of its kind, so you owe it to yourself to go check it out. The West End Nursery and Christmas House is open daily from 8 am to 5 pm, and Sundays from 9 am to 4 pm, and will be on view until Christmas. They're located on the west side of San Rafael at 1938 Fifth Avenue between Eye and J Streets (see Google map below for directions). For more information, call (415) 454-4175 or visit www.westendnursery.com.