I knew December Nights at Balboa Park was going to be magical.  There’s not a better way to kick-start the holidays than going to Balboa Park, and experiencing December Nights.  What is/are December Nights?  I wrote about it in my previous post, just click here to see More Info on December Nights (that post contains some external links with more information too).

Now that December Nights (which occurred on December 7 & 8, 2012) are over, there’s still plenty of reasons to visit the Park.  The magical tree is still there, and so are the lights and the great atmosphere, and at least you won’t have the crowds to deal with.  Here’s some pictures:

First the magical tree:

It gets even more magical – it opens up!

It changes color!

It changed color again!

This one is more fuzzier, because my camera’s battery died and I had to use my I-phone.

This one’s fuzzy too, but I’m including it because I want you to see the spectacle of color that was so beautiful during the December Nights concert.

Here’s the same color for background, but the tree has closed up

Now for a lighter shade of blue

And the last two of the tree at least!

Now for some pictures of the Park in the dark.  Me and my family went to December Nights on both December 7 and December 8.  Why miss out on the magic?

I believe this church now houses the Museum of Man

Today, I suddenly stumbled on a second picture that I took of the Church at Balboa Park, I thought I only had one like the one above.

Are you ready for more Christmas trees?  Here’s another one at the Park, closer to the church shown above

Oh, my gosh!  The Grinch was here, but Chandi didn’t want to have her picture taken with him, so I had to take it of someone else instead!

Even dogs like December Nights, this picture was taken with no flash, but it wasn’t very good, however, it will give you an idea of what the lights were like and how it really looked in the dark

The dog also has glasses, more clearly seen in the picture below.

It’s just so nice strolling through the Park, even in the dark!

Balboa Park was nicely lit up for the holidays

There were so many people there, you wouldn’t believe it.  I think I read somewhere that there were at least 300,000 people.

Here’s the Botanical Gardens Building at night time bathed in a beautiful blue light

You can’t tell from these pictures just how many people there were in Balboa Park during these two very busy nights.

Of course, there were a lot of delicious choices for food, but I didn’t get to take too many pictures of the different vendors.  Here’s one at least.

This fountain is near one of the many museums at the park, and is closest to the path to the San Diego Zoo.

The words “Happy Holidays” lit up one of the museums

Here’s a clearer picture of some people at December Nights

For some reason, I like this picture

I couldn’t stop taking pictures of Balboa Park at night, it is beautiful both at night and day

I didn’t quite get the picture above centralized, see how it looks below, still not right.  It would have been perfect if I could have got both “Season’s Greetings” and the lighting on the wall on the right in just one picture balanced out better.  Oh, well.  I’ll have to make do with two pictures.

Now for where the reindeers are with presents laden on the sleigh

A different angle of the reindeers

Now, there’s the presents at the back (I guess on the sleigh).

Some more lights

Now, some more pictures of the amazing tree from a different angle.

And lastly, some pictures of the performers who entertained us at the site of the magical tree.

Just incase you don’t get the full flavor of what it’s like at Balboa Park during December Nights, I made this video especially for you.

I still haven’t had the chance to take more daytime pictures of Balboa Park, so in the meantime, you can look at these pictures taken by someone who linked to my post previously, so now I will link to his – so you can see his amazing pictures of Balboa Park: http://onecoolthingeveryweekend.com/2012/11/21/picture-tour-of-the-san-diego-balboa-park/

Oh, by the way, I went to the International Houses on the 8th of December and saw various cultural dances there, including Indian dances, but only managed to get a few pictures.  Perhaps, I will put those in another post.  Anyway, I hope you can see that Balboa Park is so magical when it’s the holidays.  If you celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas to you, and if you don’t – Happy Holidays!