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The ten commandments
Well, more like suggestions – but they are good ones and we guarantee you'll love our alternative Holiday Top 10
November 15, 2007
The holidays already? Where did the time go? You know, some folks actually hate the holidays. Dickens wrote an entire book on the subject. You recall? Ebenezer and his “Bah, humbug!” Well, posh on Scrooge, for there's plenty of reason to celebrate the holidays in this part of the world, even if Southern California lacks winter.
But, let's admit it, all those “Nutcrackers” and Grinch shows can seem pretty old after the 100th annual viewing. So we thought, “There has got to be more to the holidays than men dressed in Santa outfits.” And, in fact, there is – plenty more.
Welcome to Night&Day's Holiday Top 10, 10 – count 'em – things to do this winter that won't make you want to pull the covers over your head and stay in bed. No “Nutcracker” among them, but plenty of cool, cozy ideas to warm your heart.
Not everything is about Christmas, or Hanukkah. Sure, there's a couple of those. But heck, why not fly down to Cabo on a cheap flight from Tijuana? Or guzzle a shot of Fernet Branca at a local watering hole? Or, yep, snow's great too, so why not travel into the Lagunas for a romp in the white stuff?
And here's the good news: There are more than 10 ideas. Log onto UTStreet.com for more reasons not to stay home this holiday season, or check out the entire package of ideas at winterchecklist.signonsandiego.com.
Bundle up!
FLEE TO CABO FOR CHEAP – FLY FROM TIJUANA
DERRIK CHINN / UTStreet.com
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The concept of air travel costing less than your car payment has sent us over the fence and into Mexico, which means resort hideaways like Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta or Los Cabos needn't be reserved for leather-skinned snowbirds and their Bermuda shorts anymore.
The catch? Fly from Tijuana's General Abelardo L. Rodríguez International Airport aboard one of Mexico's new economy carriers, Avolar (avolar.com.mx) or Volaris (volaris.com.mx). The latter prides itself on operating the newest Airbuses in Mexico, and both offer service to more than a dozen cities around Mexico. For a $15 fee, Volaris also collects its San Diego passengers at Santa Fe Depot and buses them directly to the airport's door. It's a straight shot from Tijuana to Cabos, and if you happen to buy on a day when Volaris slashes its Web fares in half (which is known to happen without rhyme or reason), the cost of a one-way run drops to as low as 230 pesos, or about $20, plus tax.
– DERRIK CHINN
IRISH COFFEE
VERONICA HILL / KRT
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You're no longer one of the kids; leave the hot cocoa to them. Real men (OK, and women ... with mustaches ... just kidding ... really) drink whiskey to warm the the blood. The only problem: People still see coffee, not whiskey, as the more acceptable morning beverage. Try slugging a flask in the cubicle and you'll find out quick; beer and cereal is only funny in the movies.
The solution: Hide the flask in the mug. Slip a few drops of Jameson into your daily brew before you leave home, and watch the burden of your car's broken heater fade as the strength to face the day wells inside you. Just don't make a habit out of it.
Or you could always just wait till after work and find the bar or restaurant that serves a good frothy Caife Gaelech. Maybe The Field, Ould Sod, Living Room?
– KYLE PROEHL
GREEN DREAMS
DON KOHLBAUER / Union-Tribune
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Why settle for just one lighted tree? Quail Botanical Gardens boasts a (heavenly) host of them during its Garden of Lights, one of the nicest ways to while away some time at the holidays. This happily low-key happening features horse-drawn carriage rides, marshmallow toasting and gorgeous greenery adorned with 100,000 sparkly lights.
The fest starts Dec. 7 at the Encinitas oasis, 230 Quail Gardens Drive. Information: (760) 436-3036 or qbgardens.org.
– JAMES HEBERT
ALTOGETHER NOW: UNSILENT NIGHT! UNSILENT NIGHT!
PHIL KLINE
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Nothing quite says “Merry Postmodern Retro Christmas” like boom boxes blasting ambient electronic music on downtown streets. For the sixth year in a row here, Accretions Records is sponsoring “Unsilent Night,” a free, 40-minute audience participation event – sans singing.
Each participant is given a CD or cassette tape with a separate segment of a four-part piece by New York composer Phil Kline (though if you don't have a boom box, you're still welcome).
Gather Dec. 15 at 6:40 p.m. at the San Diego Trolley Station at Fifth Avenue and Harbor Drive. Information: (619) 299-5371 or rubble@trummerflora.com.
– GEORGE VARGA
GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR INNER CANYONEER
DON KOHLBAUER / Union-Tribune
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Remember sitting on the curb as the last kid to be shoveled up from school while all your friends were already safe and warm on the couch eating Cheez-Its and Gummi Worms? Remember how this was one of your early brushes with the despair and loneliness of being human and all you could do to console yourself was to pick at weeds and examine the intricate way such an inconspicuous piece of foliage was composed? Remember suddenly being so immersed in this little piece of infinity growing in the pavement's cracks that you didn't hear the horn honk seven times by your stew-is-still-on-the-burner mother? Remember how looking at something long enough made the world that much bigger and after-school lounging that less important?
That is the unexpected power of nature and you're probably overdue for another session. The San Diego Natural History Museum would be happy to introduce you again in its numerous “interpretive nature walks.” Catch some green perspective in our city's parks, canyons, lagoons, mountains and lakes. You can even sign up to be a canyoneer yourself.
– ERIN GLASS
FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS
Hanukkah comes early this year – the first night is Dec. 5. The Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center gets into the spirit on Sunday, Dec. 2, with its 24th annual Hanukkah Happening, “San Diego's largest Hanukkah event for familes and fun for people of all faiths.” Among the activities are games including the traditional dreidel, craft booths and live entertainment. There'll be a variety of foods, including latkes (potato pancakes). That's Amy Glick and sons Aaron and Adam at last year's Happening.
The Center is located at 4126 Executive Drive, La Jolla. Admission is $2 for JCC members, $3 for nonmembers. Information: (858) 457-3030; lfjcc.org.
Meanwhile, first-night menorah lightings are scheduled at Jewish temples throughout the county and Tijuana. For information on those, call the United Jewish Federation, (858) 571-3444, or individual temples listed online at jewishinsandiego.org.
– LEE GRANT
TAKE A LOOK AT EDEN
Courtesy of the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography
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Think for a moment about that supreme holiday season cliche: winter wonderland. Now, come up an image to go along with it. Isn't that picture in your head just a touch paradisiacal? Which is why the big current exhibition at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park, “Picturing Eden,” suits the season without even trying to. The exhibition includes contemporary photographers (37 of them) who look at the idea of paradise.
John Pfahl and Lyle Gomes find subtle traces of Eden in lush gardens with topiary, while Greta Anderson finds a slice of paradise in a bat garden. Others see glimmers of it in the small details of nature: branches set against a night sky (Han Nguyen) or leaves in a lagoon (Jiri Sigut).
These are thoughtful and peaceful pictures – worth meditating on in the season that perennially expresses a yearning for “Peace on Earth.”
– ROBERT L. PINCUS
IT'S FERNET BRANCA SEASON
Winter presents all sorts of psychological reason to chase a bottle of booze, but looking for Fernet Branca in San Diego is hunting a legend. Fernet Branca is a 19th-century Italian liqueur derived from a secret family recipe of herbs. It's a brackish, almost black liquid that's historically thought of as a digestive and miracle cure-all that produces euphoric highs, never hangovers. It tastes like a licorice-flavored Listerine potion you'd swig while riding a Clydesdale trudging through the snow, but cult followings have cropped up in the U.S. through our Italian enclaves.
Princess Pub, Morton's, Starlite and Nicky Rotten's are among those proudly serving it here, but look for the emerald bottle covered with dust before asking most San Diego bartenders. Order a shot with a ginger back and feel the warmth in your belly spread through your body.
Whether you buy another round five minutes later or swear it off for life, you'll have a story to tell from the evening.
– CLAIRE MADIGAN
ADVENTURES IN JULIAN
DAVID BROOKS / Union-Tribune
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Our lack of seasons makes it difficult to truly get into the holiday spirit. So, since the snow won't come to us, it's up to us to go to the snow.
Once December hits, head to Julian. The picturesque drive leads you through snowy mountains (well, mostly it's just patches of ice on the ground, but still). Some people even pull the car over for snowball fights. Once you get to Julian's main drag, get a mug of cider, which is just as good as the town's famed apple pie.
And if you really want to get in the spirit, buy tickets to the local Christmas play held at the town hall. You'll feel like you walked into a Dickens story, only it will be much less depressing.
– NINA GARIN
UPLIFT WITH 'THE RED BALLOON'
No need to sag the holiday spirit after the Big Day. Wait a few days, digest the intake of food, etc., then catch the charmed updraft of “The Red Balloon.” Albert Lamorisse's great fantasy of a boy (the director's son, Pascal) chasing his bright, impishly willful balloon through lovely 1956 Paris is remarkably light in traffic and “spoken” by a fine score.
Its 34 superb minutes arrive Dec. 28 at the Ken Cinema, 4061 Adams Ave., in Kensington. As does Lamorisse's almost equally poetic 40 minutes of a boy with the glorious wild horses of the Camargue, “White Mane.”
It's a double blessing for kids, or the kid inside yourself.
– DAVID ELLIOTT
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