Downtown for the Holidays
Today I dragged the kids out of bed at 9:30 am so that we could go downtown for the holidays. I love seeing all the hustle & bustle at this time of year, and last year I decided to start a family tradition of going up to the City (San Francisco) to meet Paul for lunch, to do some shopping, and to look at the windows. I captured a variety of City moments, like a wonderful Salvation Army bellringer with a beautiful voice singing Christmas carols, a flock of pigeons, a Solstice-inspired picture of the statue in Union Square:
I also captured a few more traditional images of Christmas trees and a Gingerbread castle:
I even snapped a couple of the kids and they captured me:
For my JYC today, I'll use one of these two hipstamatic pictures of our favorite holiday windows - the ones at Macy's. We love them becauce they always have a Christmas Story (this year, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause") and animals up for adoption from the SPCA:
Do you get a chance to visit a real city during the holidays?
Going into San Fran during the holiday season (and my bday) was my favorite thing to do growing up and I miss it dearly, say hi to the city by the bay for me! Lovely pics, TFS :)
ReplyDeleteThis makes me think of a zillion American Christmas films, all the sights and the atmosphere. How lucky you are to live there!
ReplyDeleteI think going to Cologne a few weeks ago was the thing that made me most Christmassy, the atmosphere of the Christmas markets was great. My husband works in London and so takes all the hustle and bustle up there for granted and I must be honest, I haven't made the effort to go there myself this year. When he's there Mon-Fri he's not keen to drive back in a the weekend!
It's so lovely to share what you see on your Christmas shopping - your decorations across the pond always seem on a larger scale than ours here!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful day to share with family and us! Maybe next year, we will do a visit to a large city! Have a wonderful Christmas!
ReplyDeleteStunning photos, they really capture the atmosphere :-)
ReplyDeleteI intended to visit our nearest city this Christmas, it always looks beautiful lit up and decorated, and this year there's a German market, too; it somehow never quite happened (probably because of the weather!) I may try to squeeze it in yet, we still have 2 more days...
Some great photos there... wonderful to see San Francisco at christmas time. We haven't managed any 'real' cities this year...just a shopping visit to our nearest large town.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos! The big city is over 2 hours away so we've never managed it. Not sure what DC does for the holidays. I'd love to go to NYC some year though.
ReplyDeleteRinda, we tend to avoid the city at this time of the year - when the kids are a little older I think they will thoroughly enjoy looking at all the sights.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, that Gingerbread house is spectacular!
the pidgeon shot reminds me of Mary Poppins...feed the birds...
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to talk my family (parents are here and sisters family) into riding the light rail to downtown San Jose to skate under the palms sometime between now and New Years. It's not a really big city like SF, but we do have Christmas in the Park ;-)
Looks to me like you had a grand day!
When my father was alive, I almost always made it to NYC sometimes during the holidays, and loved it! Your photos brought back memories of it all. Nothing like that here. Toronto is our closest big city and I don't think we've ever been there at Christmas time.
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