Christmas in Calabasas: Holiday Road
Hello friend! Welcome back! I’m happy you’re here! I hope you enjoyed last week’s high tea Christmas adventure! This week we are going to Calabasas, specifically in the Santa Monica mountains to see what “Holiday Road” is all about! But first an announcement. This week’s post will be the last post of the year. I am taking the holiday off to get some solid rest. Posts will resume in late January. This is because my birthday is a week after New Year’s and celebrations are being postponed about a week as well. So rather than try and do everything all at once I am taking my own advice to pace myself and allow some room for rest so that I can come back as my best self.
With that being said, Onward to “Holiday Road!”
I’ve been interested in going to Holiday Road since last year, but our schedules became too jam packed to buy tickets in time to go. Even with us being on top of our game this year, all of the Saturday and Sunday tickets for the entire event had sold out by the time we were looking just after Thanksgiving. This even seems to be pretty popular, so I would suggest being very aggressive with your ticket purchasing if you want to attend on a weekend next year. We went on a Friday and it seemed like there was lots of room to spare when we arrived.
The initial impression we got was that it was a Christmas lights event held on Renaissance Faire grounds. (No ren faires are held at this location though.) Because you park in a large field and it’s a bunch of non-permanent decorations on a large grass field. Immediately when you enter there is a booth to buy your own blinking wands, toys, and headbands to participate in the event. To the left, you could take photos with Santa and just beside it what a photo location with a beautiful frame and lights. There were additional photo locations across the way but had fewer lights so there were fewer people taking photos there.
The further in we got we saw a “Candy Cane Lane” movie installation to promote the new Christmas film and then a large selection of food trucks and picnic tables with heat lamps in the center. Daniel and I were both surprised to see all of the food and shopping right at the entrance. We got ourselves some hot chocolate and headed toward the entrance of the trail. Further in we passed by the adult section that was offering alcoholic drinks and a separate walled off relaxation space. Alcoholic drinks were limited to that space only.
The entrance to the walking trail was marked by life size painted wooden signs. The entrance and exit were next to one another but it was a one way walking trail to keep traffic flowing in a single direction. Right away you could see lights wrapped around very large trees and assorted displays. Each display had a theme and paired music with it.
One of our favorite parts was being able to get close to some of the very large light wrapped trees. It really added to the immersive experience for us. One of my favorite things about Christmas is the feeling of magic and that the whole world comes together for this particular time of year to celebrate how magic manifests in their own lives, whether it be spiritually in their religions or a more romanticized expression of it with Santa and elves and pretty lights. The feeling of magic at this time of year is wonderful and being able to feel it in an immersive experience such as this one was really lovely.
Speaking of spirituality, there were displays for some of the major religious holidays at this time of year as well and I really loved that they made solid efforts to include as many holidays as possible into their holiday road.
After the religious displays we got into the secular displays with reindeer, Santa’s workshop covered in so many elves, Santa himself, displays dedicated to Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” ballet, and a whole gingerbread village. Holiday Road really tried to embrace all of the elements of the holidays and is a perfect way to get yourself into the holiday spirit! But please make sure to dress warmly. Even as a former Michigan resident, I can attest that it got cold. Hats and gloves are needed and probably a scarf too. We saw some folks walking around in just a sweater vest shivering with their arms wrapped around themselves. It gets warm during the day but at night it can get into the high 30s (For Celsius friends that is about 3.89 or lower.) So dress warmly and buy a hot chocolate to keep your fingers warm.
I sincerely want to wish you the happiest of holiday seasons this year. Please know that no matter what, you are cherished and valued and deeply appreciated. Even if we have not met face to face, I want you to know how much I truly appreciate your presence in this little travel empathy community. Have a wonderful and loving holiday and I will see you right here next year.
Sincerely,
Kristen
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