Okay tomatoes…the holidays are in full swing so take a moment to B-R-E-A-T-H!  And then go out and enjoy some of the holiday fun in our beautiful city.  The LA County Arts Holiday Celebration and the Skirball Hanukkah Family Festival are special ways to enjoy the season. Travel Town at Griffith Park is an extra special treat for your little ones. Even without the boat parade the Venice Canals Holiday lights are superb. Wishing you all you tomatoes a very Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah.  I will see you right back here in January 2017!

Dec. 24. A County Holiday Celebration 

It’s time again for the LA County Holiday Concert Extravaganza, which is one of LA’s longest running traditions, tomatoes. It’s Free and so is the parking.  Woo-hoo!

A very impressive list of amazing music ensembles, choirs and dance companies from all corners of the LA region are performing at the awesome and award winning Annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration.  For 56 years, the board of LA County supervisors have hosted this multi-cultural and multi-generational 3-hour concert, produced by The Los Angeles County Arts Commission and PBS SoCal, with a plethora of varied multi=talented performances. It’s first come-first serve so get there early tomatoes. Can’t make it downtown?  Well then, you can watch the program live from the comfort of your sofa on PBS SoCaL. Way to roll LA County!

Dec. 18. Skirball Hanukkah Festival

The Hanukkah Family Holiday Festival at the Skirball Center is celebrating with this year’s theme “Light for People”. The light of hope and creativity rule this year and we could certainly use a lot of that right now tomatoes.

The Skirball Family Hanukkah Festival will remind us all that the light and power of creativity and hope helps the whole community achieve great things together no matter what your background, culture, race or religion. You can celebrate with a day full of music, dance, printmaking, storytelling, and a host of other family-friendly activities. Something for everyone and everyone is welcome…including you fab tomatoes!

‘till Dec. 30. Travel Town Holiday Lights

Choo Choo and Chug Chug! There is no better time to visit than the Travel Town Railroad Museum and Griffith Park Southern Railroad than right now tomatoes. The trains are festooned with holiday lights and all ready to give your family a wondrous ride.

You will travel on the historic trains with magical scenes and thousands of lights along the way.  The GPS Railroad occupies a location where miniature trains have operated since the late 1940’s and that railroad is built around the perimeter of the Travel Town Museum built in the 1950’s. It’s quite a place tomatoes, especially for the kiddos. You can jump on the miniature train for an exciting music filled journey around the beautifully decorated museum property. This event is operated by Travel Town Railroad in cooperation with the City of Los Angeles, Department of Recreation and Parks.

Venice Canals through the holidays

Boy oh boy, ladies, do the residents of the Venice Canals go all out embracing the holiday spirit. The bridges and many of the homes in the surrounding canal walkways have a plethora of dandy lights that make for a magical and shimmering evening stroll.

The Venice Canals, built in 1905 by Abbott Kinney, are an idyllic slice of LA living made even more charming by the amazing Christmas lights that line all its bridges and many of the many elaborately decorated, each having a different theme. There doesn’t seem to be a site for info on the lights ladies but YELP has directions to the Venice Canals. Basically, the canals start on Venice Blvd. and extend to Washington Blvd. with street parking and/or a parking lot on the corner of Venice and Pacific. But double check online gals. You might want to get there before 4pm and it does get chilly in Venice this time of year so it’s a great excuse to get your winter coat out of the moth balls.  Enjoy tomatoes!