Holiday

Even though it's an activity that you can do year-round, ice skating seems to be something that's especially appealing around the holidays, and, with the addition of several temporary outdoor ice rinks, more prevalent this time of year. Unfortunately, you're not going to be able to go ice skating in Marin (although those of us who grew up in the county surely remember Raydine's in Corte Madera, at the site of what is now Gold's Gym on Lucky Drive), but there are several locations close by in the Bay Area where you can hit the ice this holiday season.

Fairfax Parks & Recreation Holiday Ice Skating

The Fairfax Parks & Recreation Commission will sponsor their third annual ice skating event on a synthetic rink in the Pavilion on Saturday and Sunday, January 2 and 3 from noon–5 pm. There will be lots of family fun, so make sure you purchase your tickets early! Prices: $5 for adults and $3 for kids for a half hour of skating. Rental skates are included in the price of admission. Hot cocoa and baked goodies will be available for sale as well. Tickets will be sold at the door, beginning at 11:30 am on both days. For more info, call Maria Baird, Community Resources Coordinator, at (415) 456-5652 or at www.townoffairfax.org.

Snoopy's Home Ice

In Santa Rosa you can find Snoopy's Home Ice at the Redwood Empire Ice Arena. Opened by the late Santa Rosa resident and Peanuts cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in 1969, the Redwood Empire Ice Arena offers daily public skating hours (check their schedule for details), skating lessons, birthday parties, and special events. The entire place is decorated with a Swiss theme and offers an alpine ambience. The Redwood Empire Ice Arena is also home to Snoopy's Warm Puppy Cafe, where you can sit by the fire and eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner, or just have a hot chocolate and watch the action on the Snoopy's Home Ice.

Come mark the beginning of Kwanzaa, the African-American celebration of family and community, at Sausalito's Bay Area Discovery Museum on Saturday, December 26 from 10 am–5 pm, with art projects inspired by the African continent and a Kwanzaa altar in the Museum’s Entry Pavilion.

Also, enjoy a performance by renowned jazz drummer E. W. Wainwright and his ensemble, The African Roots of Jazz, takes you on a musical journey that traces African-American musical forms, such as jazz, gospel, and spirituals, from their earliest beginnings in African cultures to today at 11 am and 1 pm in the Discovery Theatre. The program features instrumental music, songs, theater, and audience participation (seating is limited; pick up free tickets at the front desk prior to entering the theater).

Our children's favorite decorated and lighted Christmas house is the Mize family's Mickey Mouse House (AKA "Mickey's Christmas House") in Marinwood. Visit it, and you'll see why it's so popular! The Mickey Mouse House, located at 417 Blackstone Drive (at Las Gallinas), looks to be just a regular lighted Christmas house at first glance. But get out of your car and walk up the short driveway and you'll see why it's worth a visit for kids of all ages. Every evening from 6 pm to 10 pm, the two-car garage is opened to reveal two galleries of what has to be every Disney toy, decoration, and gimgrack ever produced, all artfully arranged in two spectacular holiday displays.

We thought we'd bump this post up again, since Christmas is on its way and all Tiny Prints holiday cards have been reduced in price by up to 20%! Tiny Prints is also offering a free upgrade to next-day shipping, via coupon code NEXTDAY, to guarantee delivery by December 18. which still gives you plenty of opportunity to address and mail them out. Offer good through Friday, December 11, at 11:59 pm.

November is here, which of course means the holidays will be upon us before we know it. Now is a good time to start thinking about ordering those custom photo holiday cards. Our favorite source for personalized Christmas cards is Tiny Prints. Tiny Prints holiday cards feature stylish professional design and high quality, as well as really fast production and shipping time. We've been really happy with the cards we've ordered from them, and they're definitely on our list for this year.

Tiny Prints offers a wide variety of holiday cards, from general winter and holiday themes to Christmas and Hanukkah designs, as well as personalized gift tags, holiday party invitations, and address labels. They're also well known for their cool birth announcements and birthday party invitations, which we've written about on this site previously.

You can check out the entire line of Tiny Prints holiday cards here.

Every December, Marin's power grid is yet again put to the test by the annual unveiling of the Rombeiros' Christmas House on Devonshire Drive in Novato. Sure, every neighborhood has its decorated houses, but this is a different thing altogether. Edmundo Rombeiro and his family have been putting together this Mother of All Christmas Houses for the last 24 years, and every year it gets bigger and more outrageous. This place is something that truly has to be seen to be believed, and photos don't really do it justice. There are something like 80,000 lights and countless figurines, dioramas, and decorations adorning the front and side yards, walls, and roof of the Rombeiros' house.

With Thanksgiving now a pleasant memory, it's time to start thinking of getting that must-have of the holiday season, the Christmas tree. There are those practical people who merely unpack the artificial tree from its storage boxes, and assemble it in the living room, pre-wired, perfectly shaped and sized, and flame-resistant. Then there are those of us who have to have the real deal, despite the inconvenience. There are a number of good Christmas tree lots in Marin including Pronzini's (we've gone to their lot near the Marin Civic Center in years past, and had a great experience there) and McGovern's on McClay Road in Novato, as well as Home Depot, Target, Safeway, and other places to get trees at good prices. But to the hopeless romantics among us, nothing quite beats the experience of going to a honest-to-goodness genuine Christmas tree farm, getting your hands dirty, and cutting the thing down ourselves. Of course it's a great family photo op and usually a lot of fun, too, and those annual trip to the Christmas tree farm remain some of my fondest childhood memories.

The day after Thanksgiving is the time when many families think about getting their Christmas tree. To many, there's no better way to get one than to take the trip to one of the many North Bay Christmas tree farms and cut one down themselves! If playing lumberjack isn't your thing, there are plenty of local lots in Marin that offer quality trees for your holiday.

We visited quite a few Christmas tree farms last year, and we've linked to the reviews where appropriate. Please keep in mind that, unless otherwise indicated, Christmas tree farm reviews were written last year and some information may be out of date. We'll be hitting the road to check out more Christmas tree farms and share them with our readers this season, so check back for updates soon.

Although we make every effort to make sure our information is up to date, please keep in mind that Christmas tree farms do go out of business (there used to be many more in Petaluma and Sebastopol, and even one in Olema), and may be closed due to weather or other conditions. Make sure you call or email them before you go.

There are so many family-oriented holiday events taking place in Marin and other parts of the Bay Area this winter that it's often hard to decide which ones to attend. Here's a list of the seasonal favorites from us and our readers. We'll keep updating this list, so check back often. If you have a favorite local holiday event that you don't see here, leave a comment or let us know about it and we'll consider adding it to the roster.

For additional holiday events, check out our articles on performances at Marin Center and holiday tree lighting events in Marin and San Francisco.

(All event information is correct to our knowledge at the time of publishing. Things sometimes change, so make sure you check with the event organizer to confirm.)