Temecula shines all year long, but especially during the holiday season. Here are 31 days of spectacular activities and events for all ages.

Visit Temecula Valley | Contributed

That crisp chill in the air can mean only one thing: the holidays are right around the corner! It is almost time for Temecula Chilled, a magical winter festival that captures the warmth, beauty, and festive spirit of the Temecula Valley during the holiday season. Guests are invited to celebrate Temecula Style with a fantastic line-up of activities and events for all ages: wine tasting, dining, horseback riding, hot air ballooning, hiking, shopping, golfing, or just plain chilling!

Beginning in Old Town with Santa’s Electric Light Parade and ending at City Hall with a New Year’s Eve Grape Drop, visitors will discover delightful and festive carolers, twinkling holiday lights, horse-drawn carriages, outdoor ice rinks, festive food and drinks, and brilliant holiday decorations.

An easy drive from most major Southern California cities, there is something to do every day in December. To find the best options for lodging and accommodations, visit http://www.visittemeculavalley.com.

Thursday, Dec. 1 – Holiday Market, Europa Village. Discover an enchanting holiday wonderland at this European-inspired market, for beautiful seasonal gifts and decorations highlighting European craftsmanship.

Friday, Dec. 2 – Santa’s Electric Light Parade, Old Town Temecula. Join Santa on his first big night of the season! The parade will begin at 7:00 PM sharp at the intersection of Jefferson Ave & Del Rio Rd. and will travel south into Old Town. Guests should bring blankets and chairs.

Saturday, Dec. 3 – Europa Village, The Nutcracker. The Ballet Studio & Norris Performing Arts Center brings its version of the most-performed ballet in the world to the outdoor Piazza at Europa Village for the third year in the heart of the Temecula Wine Country. If you prefer an outdoor holiday adventure, visit the Temecula Chilled Holiday Market at Vail Headquarters. Snap a photo with Mr. & Mrs. Claus! Vail Headquarters has been the heart of Temecula since 1867. Thanks to decades of preservation and restoration efforts, it is now a living historic park that brings the community together and introduces visitors to Temecula’s local heritage. It is also a fun destination for specialty restaurants, boutique shopping, and special events.

Sunday, Dec. 4 – Santa at Lorimar Winery. Join us for Dinner with Santa! Event ticket includes… Cookie decorating & Santa goodie bags for the kids, Santa reading “Twas the Night before Christmas,” an opportunity for a photo with Santa, and more! If you enjoy holiday music, don’t miss the Christmas in the Air concert at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater. The Southwest Women’s Chorus is thrilled to return to the stage after a two-year hiatus. This concert features holiday carols, seasonal classics, and sing-alongs for the whole family to enjoy.

Monday, Dec. 5 – Take pictures with Santa, indulge in seasonal favorites, and enjoy beautiful holiday trees and decorations while finding the perfect gifts at the Temecula Promenade

Tuesday, Dec. 6 – Evening out at Big Horse Feed from 5-7 p.m. Guests are welcome to register in-store for their Holiday Wish Lists. In addition to feed for a variety of animals, Big Horse houses up to 8,000 square feet of fun and unique items including Western style clothing and accessories, home décor and furnishings, bath and bedding, kitchen and dining, as well as horse-related necessities.

Wednesday, Dec. 7 – Holiday Taste of Old Town will feature restaurant samples, wine tasting discounts, and goodie bags. Visit https://oldtowntemecula.org/ for updated information.

Thursday, Dec. 8 – Marvel at Pechanga Resort & Casino’s dazzling display of holiday decorations including a not-to-be-missed assortment of holiday gingerbread houses. Eat, drink and be merry at one of Pechanga’s many on-site restaurants and indulge in specialty holiday cocktails and bite-sized Christmas desserts.

Friday, Dec. 9 – A Christmas Carol at Old Town Temecula Community Theater. It is Christmas Eve in 1850 London. See Ebenezer Scrooge’s transformation from a miserly, greedy, and lonely man into an empathetic and kind individual.

Saturday, Dec. 10 – Christmas Speakeasy at the Merc The Second Hand Jazz Band will be performing a Christmas concert at the Merc, featuring Kristina Rasband. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Sunday, Dec. 11 – Visit Santa in his comfy, cozy cottage in the Pennypickle’s Workshop’s outside area from 1-4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday afternoons through Dec. 18

Monday, Dec. 12 – GrapeSeed Spa, South Coast Winery Resort & Spa. After all the holiday hustle & bustle, take time to relax and renew at this beautiful luxury spa overlooking wine country. Spa day passes are available Monday – Thursday.

Tuesday, Dec. 13 – Holiday Shopping, Old Town. Visit Temecula Olive Oil Company for beautiful gift sets featuring hand-blended, artisanal Temecula olive oils and balsamic vinegars. Walk over to Old Town Spice & Tea Merchants for an amazing selection of herbs, spices, salts, blends, and loose teas. Try hot or iced holiday iced teas like Figgie Pudding, Snow Berry, Cinnamon Spice, and Winter Wonderland.

Wednesday, Dec. 14 – Old Town Blues Club, Motown Christmas Party It’s a Holiday Motown Celebration! A superb 8-piece, horn blowin’ tribute to Motown with holiday flair.

Thursday, Dec. 15 – Wine & Cookie Pairing, Grazing Theory. Life is short. Eat the cookies. Drink the wine. Join us for an exclusive Wine + Cookie Pairing with our guests The Cookie Crew. Includes five cookies and five 2-ounce perfectly paired wine pours.

Friday, Dec. 16 – Santa’s Workshop, Temecula Carriage Company. Enjoy a lovely, holiday-themed horse-drawn carriage ride and a visit with Santa at his wine country workshop

Saturday, Dec. 17 – Temecula On Ice returns to Old Town for another exciting holiday season with a state-of-the-art ice rink, rental skates, and its own radio station playing the best ice-skating music. Sunday, Dec. 18 – Celebrate Chanukah at Lorimar Winery with a Menorah Lighting, Latkes, and more. Visit the Craft Fair at Maurice Car’rie Winery and mingle with craft vendors offering handmade jewelry, paintings, and ceramics along with fun items like great handbags and accessories.

Monday, Dec. 19 – Bolero lobby, Europa Village. Experience a sweet and dazzling gingerbread village created by Executive Chef Hany Ali and his culinary team. This elaborately decorated village is covered with individual gingerbread bricks, colorful candy, sweet treats, baked goods, and other delectable confections.

Tuesday, Dec. 20 – Gather with friends for a festive holiday dinner at Small Barn, located in a historic building in Old Town that has been transformed into a modern bistro.

Wednesday, Dec. 21 – Last-minute shopping at Farmer’s Market, Promenade Temecula. Find local, fresh, artisan foods and goods, fresh flowers, produce and hand-crafted pieces for everyone.

Thursday, Dec. 22 – Visit Temecula Lavender Company in Old Town for beautiful last-minute gifts for bath, body, and home. All products are hand crafted in small batches on a lavender farm located in Temecula Valley Wine Country.

Friday, Dec. 23 – Uncorked with Michael LeClerc at Wiens Family Cellars. Relax before the big weekend with live music by Michael LeClerc, a popular Canadian singer/songwriter with a style reminiscent of Van Morrison, Dave Matthews, or Jack Johnson.

Saturday, Dec. 24 – Have a rustic yet elegant Christmas Eve dinner at The Gambling Cowboy, Old Town. Enjoy a holiday meal with loved ones at this fabulous steakhouse featuring filet mignon, lobster mac ‘n cheese & Maine lobster tail, and other cowboy classics. Visit http://www.visittemeculavalley.com for additional restaurants serving holiday dinners.

Sunday, Dec. 25 – Europa, Christmas Dinner at Bolero Restaurante taking you on a culinary journey throughout Spain with a menu that celebrates the centuries-old tradition of dining and drinking together in Tapas style.

Monday, Dec. 26 – Give back by donating blood at the Promenade Temecula, in the Plaza in front of the theater

Tuesday, Dec. 27 – Visit Peltzer Winery’s Ice Rink which features 8,400 square feet of skating space, complimentary gliders, picnic benches, hot cocoa, snacks, local food truck eats, and a bar serving Peltzer Wine.

Wednesday, Dec. 28 – Stock up on champagne for New Year’s by visiting Thornton Winery and dine in its award-winning Café Champagne Restaurant

Thursday, Dec. 29 – Visit Vail Lake Village and have an unforgettable camping adventure during the Winter Wonderland Weekend

Friday, Dec. 30 – Wine tour, Southern California Wine Country. Take a nice holiday break, let someone else do the driving, and enjoy a lovely wine tour! Grapeline Wine Tours offers an all-inclusive Classic Wine Tour with four hours of wine tasting, a select cheese and fruit board, and deluxe transportation hosted by a 5-star wine country insider. Temecula Cable Car Wine Tours transport guests through wine country in a historic, 1914 fully restored, open air cable car originally from San Francisco, for unobstructed views of the beautiful landscape.

Saturday, Dec. 31 – This year visitors have many choices in Temecula when it comes to celebrating New Year’s Eve: Ring in the new year Temecula style with the infamous Grape Drop at Civic Center in Old Town where you can celebrate 2023 twice with an East Coast (9pm) and West Coast (midnight) countdown. Other options include Wilson Creek Winery’s black tie event or dinner and live music at Fazeli Cellars New Year’s Eve party. Visit http://www.visittemeculavalley.com for continuous updates.

For a full list of continuously updated events and activities as well as lodging and hotel accommodation options, go to http://www.visittemeculavalley.com.

Media Contact

Norma Marlowe, Visit Temecula Valley, 9512522139, norma@visittemeculavalley.com

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An 88-year-old woman in Ohio broke down in tears as her son hugged her for the first time in a year. Nursing home residents and staff in California sang “Over the Rainbow” as they resumed group activities and allowed visitors back in. A 5-year-old dove into the lap of her 94-year-old great-great-aunt for a long embrace in Rhode Island.

Nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other kinds of elderly residences battered by COVID-19 are easing restrictions and opening their doors for the first time since the start of the pandemic, leading to joyous reunions around the country after a painful year of isolation, Zoom calls and greetings through windows.

The vaccination drive, improved conditions inside nursing homes, and relaxed federal guidelines have paved the way for the reunions.

There have been welcome-back parties, birthday celebrations, coffee hours on the patio and more in recent days, giving older Americans and their families a glimpse into what life may look like in a post-vaccine world.

“This is the beginning of the very best to come, hopefully, for all of us,” said Gloria Winston, a 94-year-old retirement community resident in Providence, Rhode Island. “The world is going in the right direction. We need the nourishment of each other.”

Long-suffering families say the reopenings are well overdue. Most elderly care residents and many staffers have been fully inoculated for weeks, since they were among the first vaccinated in the nationwide rollout.

Roughly 1.4 million residents and 1 million staffers at long-term care facilities are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

COVID-19 cases and deaths in the facilities have also plummeted, from a peak of more than 30,000 cases and 7,000 deaths among residents in one week in December to fewer than 1,300 cases and 500 deaths in all of last week, according to the CDC.

(Overall in the U.S., the death toll has topped 540,000. Deaths per day have plummeted to an average of 1,000, down from an all-time high of over 3,400 in mid-January and the lowest level since early November. New cases are running at a still-troubling average of about 54,000 per day, plunging from a quarter-million per day in early January.)

Federal regulators, in recognition of the improving situation, recommended earlier this month that long-term care facilities allow indoor visits at all times.

COVID-19 took a frightening toll in nursing homes and other such institutions. Long-term care residents accounted for more than 130,000 deaths and more than 640,000 cases during the pandemic, according to government data. Staff members accounted for an additional 1,600 deaths and more than 550,000 cases.

In Rhode Island, the first visitors Winston welcomed into the Laurelmead Cooperative since the outbreak started were her great-niece and her 5-year-old great-great-niece.

The three shared a flurry of hugs last week before Cordelia Cappelano, Winston’s great-great-niece, retreated, shyly burying her head in her mother’s body.

“I think I’ve had better hugs in my day,” Winston teased. “It’s as if we’re not family anymore.”

But after nearly two hours playing and catching up, Cordelia warmed up. She dove into Winston’s lap for one last hug before it was time to go.

“To be able to be this close and have Cordelia melt around her has just been wonderful,” said Wensday Greenbaum, Winston’s great-niece. “It’s just a release of all that anxiety and sadness that comes with being isolated. It’s been a difficult year, and this is one step closer to normalcy.”

In California last week, Celia Olson sat on the patio with her 92-year-old mother, Connie, at the Chaparral House in Berkeley. It was their second time meeting since visits recently resumed at the nursing home.

“This is really nice,” Connie Olson said as her daughter placed a blanket over her.

Over the past year, Celia Olson, a 65-year-old veterinarian, was able to see her mother only through a window or via Skype. Now both are vaccinated.

“It’s been a year of everybody just being traumatized and trying to understand how to navigate through the coronavirus situation,” Celia Olson said.

In Cincinnati last week, Bernie Brungs donned goggles and an N-95 mask to hug his 88-year-old mother, Rose, during a special “compassionate care” visit.

Brungs recalled how his mother — who is paralyzed from the waist down and spends most of her time alone — cried and told him how much she missed him during their 15 minutes together.

He promised her he would stay longer and play her favorite game — Yahtzee — when indoor visits at Ohio nursing homes officially begin on Tuesday.

“It was wonderful,” Brungs said. “The hug I got from her, it was just unimaginable how much it made me feel.”

In Tennessee, Brandon Johnson was able to wrap his arms around his great-grandmother, Phyllis, on her 89th birthday earlier this month. Johnson said it was a joyful moment he had been praying for after a year of waving to his great-grandmother through windows.

“COVID robbed a year from us — a year where we couldn’t hug her, kiss on her and love her. That was tough, but now we’re making the most of it,” said the 27-year-old from LaFollette, Tennessee. “COVID is a nasty thing, but the one good thing about it is that it was a wake-up call to be really grateful for what you have.”

Other states are still reviewing and updating their policies to reflect the new federal guidance.

Many elderly residences say they will be taking a measured approach to reopening their doors, meaning stricter restrictions will probably persist in the short term in many places, to the frustration of families.

In Massachusetts last week, visits at the Hellenic Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Canton, some 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Boston, were still limited to sit-downs in the dining room, with guests and residents separated by a clear plastic barrier.

A staffer was on hand to limit encounters to 30 minutes and make sure hugs and other physical contact happened only at the beginning and end of the session.

Anne Darling, who was visiting her 86-year-old mother, Mary Claire Lane, on Thursday, said she hoped the home would loosen its restrictions soon to allow her to bring the family’s beloved dog and younger family members.

“We miss her and she misses us,” Darling said. “If we could just bring in the little ones, it would just bring a joy to her heart. I know she’s well cared for, but it just gets lonely.”

In Bristol, Rhode Island, Charlie Galligan said visits have been gradually improving at his mother’s nursing home, but not fast enough. Most visits at Saint Elizabeth Manor are still limited to 30 minutes in the common dining room with social distancing and other precautions, he said.

Galligan’s 88-year-old father, Jack, who has Alzheimer’s, and his 84-year-old mother, Audrey, who has a traumatic brain injury, were recently granted a compassionate care visit.

The couple, who can barely communicate with each other but spent nearly every day together before the outbreak, were allowed to hug twice and spend up to an hour together.

“It’s heart-wrenching,” Galligan said. “My dad has declined so much more in the past year. He’s lost without her.”

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Not only has it brought an influx of visitors and other issues, it has also brought more people into town coming into contact with residents who haven’t had any type of outbreaks or exposures. There have been a few exposures but for the most part, the town stays on lockdown. Businesses are reporting that visitors haven’t made an impact on their revenue which is weird.

The County has taken down trash cans and there are no public restrooms open so if you can imagine the type of stuff left behind.

I myself don’t have any issues with the visitors, but I also don’t live in the heart of Idyllwild where all of this happens. I do see the people pulled off the side of Highway 74 for miles though, and I know they are just seeking some well-justified outside time but totally at the expense of the people who own that private property. The trash is terrible that they are leaving behind. I am wholeheartedly hoping the visitors can be educated as to how to pack it up and leave no trace behind. The locals have formulated a community trash pickup where they walk along the road and collect litter, but it does such a disservice to them and the animals as well as this mountain environment.

We were hoping to get some light shed on this issue, ask people to educate themselves, possibly consider staying home during a stay at home order, find a way to increase law enforcement presence as there is only 1 CHP and 1 Sheriff to cover from Anza to Idyllwild and also to teach people the etiquette when visiting as the community will never be able to keep people from coming up even being in a pandemic.

I hope I am not chatting your ear/eyes off but really wanting some sort of news outlet to cover this and hoping you can help!

-Amber Jordan

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