Christmas in the Park - Downtown San Jose

Most people don't know that San Jose is California's third largest city, and the largest Northern California city (bigger than San Francisco and Oakland). In fact most Californian's don't know.  We don't know this because San Jose's downtown is sorely lacking character, restaurants and reasons to visit.

San Jose is trying to change this and attract visitors to downtown. One vehicle to attract visitors is Christmas in the Park, where Plaza De Cesar Chavez is "transformed into a holiday fantasy with over 60 musical and animated exhibits." Of course this has been going on for 32 years now ... but I would venture to guess that San Jose has been struggling with its identity for about that long or longer.

Don't get me wrong, we love San Jose. It is a great place to raise children. The housing is much more affordable than in neighboring Bay Area cities, and you can afford to have a reasonable sized yard. While many of our schools aren't tops, they are getting better every year. We have wonderful weather, access to professional sports teams and facilities, and you can do your grocery shopping without experiencing the gridlock frustration that we did in San Francisco.

This year we went to the tree lighting in San Jose. Before the lighting San Jose made the amusement park rides at Christmas in the Park free. This was really cool. The boys road their first ferris wheel, experienced a spinny ride that didn't require parents to join in, and went on the carousel.

We enjoyed walking through the exhibits. Lot's of decorated trees sponsored by local groups. We actually missed the lighting. The speeches started at 5:30 pm and at 6:30 pm the tree wasn't lit yet. We opted to head for dinner (out of downtown in our Willow Glen neighborhood). And next visit we'll be sure to let the boys ice skate in downtown.