Christmas on the Prado

Every year, Balboa park has a Christmas festival. There is lots of live music, international food for sale, and all the museums are open for free admitance. A few years back, they changed the name to "December Nights", but most people still call it by its old name "Christmas on the Prado."

Right before Gunnar deployed in 2000, a big group of us went to Christmas on the Prado. Gunnar and I were "frating" (you know, in between friends and dating) at the time. Little did we know it was the beginning of a tradition. Gunnar, Maria and I have gone every year since. Other people have come and gone , but the three of us have always gone. Including the year it poured rain the entire time! This was our 8th time, and now we have it practically down to a science. First food. I get paella, Gunnar gets shwarmas or polish dogs, and Maria mixes it up but usually get crepes from house of Hungry. Then a little music in the organ pavilion. It is a toss up between the men's choir or old ladies in sequin dresses (I think they are from Del Cero Baptist). Then we hit the art and photography museums and the decorated Christmas trees. Oh yeah, and we always wear Santa/elf hats and listen to Elvis Christmas carols in the car on the way there while sipping on Starbucks.

Friday was that time of year again. We were afraid we might get rained out, but it ended up being a pretty nice night.
Here are some pictures from Friday.

For the sake of nostalgia, here are a couple pictures from years gone by.


Two years ago:

This was the year it rained, maybe 4 or 5 years ago?

The very first year:That was actually dinner right before we went, and yes, Bret is sitting on Gunnar's lap.

Janean and I

Aprill and Maria