Christmas

Bouncer Takes in California Christmastime at Straits

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Vegan Nutballs, Meat Sales Down, and Timeless Coffee Brings Vegan Goodness to Oakland

​ Happy day after Christmas! As is the tradition, once again my mom made my favorite Christmas cookies veganized. You too can make my favorite vegan cookies veganized with this recipe! They are called "nut balls." Shut up, that's what they're called. See Also: - Vegan Sofganiyot, Eggnog Cupcak ... More >>

Happy Holidays! Here Are the Least Awful Christmas Songs of 2012!

It's a well-known fact that the worst time of year for music is Christmas. Christmas songs, by and large, stink to high heaven. They reek of sleigh bells and Santa references and tree dressing and mistletoe. They are overly sentimental and frequently border on sickly. Occasionally, however, there co ... More >>

Pie Time: Three Babes Bakeshop Pops Up This Weekend

Pick up some holiday pies this weekend from the gals at Three Babes Bakeshop, who are holding a pop-up on Saturday and Sunday at the Stable Cafe (10 a.m.-4 p.m. both days). The fire will be lit, there will be hot apple cider, pies by the slice, whole pies to take home, and what we're assuming will b ... More >>

Where to Get Your Chinese Food Fix This Christmas

It might be a stereotype of sorts, but you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy some tasty Chinese food on Christmas Day. Maybe you love re-enacting scenes from A Christmas Story, or maybe your relatives are terrible cooks, or maybe December 25th is just another day and you just so happen to really like ... More >>

Watch This Sextet of San Francisco Penguins Go Christmas Caroling

Penguins might not be able to fly, but they sure as hell can sing -- or at least this sextet of aquatic birds can. Call it a Christmas miracle, but somehow while bored at the San Francisco Zoo, these musically inclined penguins managed to harmonize the ubiquitous Christmas tune "Jingle Bells." S ... More >>

San Francisco Gingerbread Architecture 101

Are you looking for something festive to do with relatives this holiday season? Or do you simply need a distraction or excuse to remove yourself from the company of your weird and annoying family? We suggest taking an afternoon to peruse the impressive edible masterpieces created by the talented pas ... More >>

Where to Eat on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

This Christmas, instead of slaving away in your kitchen for hours making a delicious meal to feed relatives you might not like that much anyway, consider eating out and letting some of the best chefs in the city cook for you instead. On Christmas Eve, Hubert Keller's Fleur de Lys will be serving a f ... More >>

Yes, Santa Will Let Your Pet Snake Sit on His Lap

For all you crazy cat ladies out there, here's your chance to get even crazier with your feline. Santa Claus is coming to the Peninsula Humane Society specifically to let your pets sit on his lap and bark, meow, or hiss what it is they would like for Christmas this year. If that sounds weird, it's ... More >>

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" Composer Vince Guaraldi's Heirs Sue Berkeley Record Company

​Charlie Brown -- that soft-spoken, perpetually trod-upon, and mysteriously bald child at the heart of the beloved Peanuts comic strips and cartoons -- does not conjure thoughts of bitter lawsuits. (The mischievous and urbane Snoopy is another matter.) Particularly not during the Christmas season, ... More >>

Top Six Christmas Songs That Don't Actually Suck

That's right, folks. It's the rarest of things -- a Christmas song that doesn't make you want to vomit, or jam sharp pencils into your ear-holes. Finding one of these gems is like stumbling across a white tiger in your backyard -- you can't believe it's there, you know it's not supposed to be there, ... More >>

Foxtails Brigade Beautifully Expresses Being 'Not Really in the Christmas Mood'

​ Does Christmas make you feel like sighing? Us too. So we're sort of enamored with the holiday melancholy of "I'm Not Really in the Christmas Mood This Year," a beautiful new video and song from the Bay Area's Foxtails Brigade. The song itself -- plaintive and precious and old-timey as it is ... More >>

Are You Rich with No Christmas Eve Plans? Flour Water Has Plans For You!

Flour Water​What: Fancy Christmas Eve dinner of fanciness Where: Flour Water When: Sat., December 24, 6-9:30 p.m. Cost: $265 The rundown: From SF Weekly's 7-Day Dish (subscribe!), we get word of a Christmas eve dinner for big spenders. Wiz kid chef Thomas McNaughton is planning a cha ... More >>

Top 5 Places to Escape Christmas

Whether you're Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Shinto, Shaman, anti-consumerist, or Mr. Grinch, you could be one of the millions who don't leave cookies out for an old fat man who illegally enters your home via fireplace-shimmying. And that's okay! Because here in America, we're known for ... More >>

Take That Fork in the Road

Whether you're Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Shinto, Shaman, anti-consumerist, or Mr. Grinch, you could be one of the millions who don't leave cookies out for an old fat man who illegally enters your home via fireplace-shimmying. And that's okay! Because here in America, we're known for ... More >>

Top 5 Gifts for the High-End Coffee Lover

​It's holiday time and with the world sparkling with Christmas lights and menorah candles, it's time to start thinking about what to get for the coffee lover wedged in to the darker nooks of your family tree. Be it certified coffee geek or simple espresso fan, there's a gift out there for each of ... More >>

Arthouse Movie Listings Nov. 30-Dec. 6

​It's holiday time and with the world sparkling with Christmas lights and menorah candles, it's time to start thinking about what to get for the coffee lover wedged in to the darker nooks of your family tree. Be it certified coffee geek or simple espresso fan, there's a gift out there for each of ... More >>

All in the (Royal) Family

​It's holiday time and with the world sparkling with Christmas lights and menorah candles, it's time to start thinking about what to get for the coffee lover wedged in to the darker nooks of your family tree. Be it certified coffee geek or simple espresso fan, there's a gift out there for each of ... More >>

Christmas Tree Arson Evacuates Building -- 'Tis the Season

Fa la la la la...​An arson fire using a Christmas tree as kindling led to a frantic evacuation of an apartment building in Potrero Hill. Nobody was injured, but it was an unpleasant 4:30 a.m. wakeup call for the residents at Connecticut and Wisconsin streets. News reports stated that the Christmas ... More >>

Christmas Forecast: Wind, Rain -- Thunder?

Merry Christmas, indeed...​As San Francisco empties out and its residents head "home" to places that possibly feature traditional Christmas weather, the hangers-on will cope with a different sort of holiday climate. The weather prediction for Dec. 25: breezy, rainy, cold -- but not cold enough to ... More >>

Lonely holiday: Grillade finds soul in a Christmas song

Merry Christmas, indeed...​As San Francisco empties out and its residents head "home" to places that possibly feature traditional Christmas weather, the hangers-on will cope with a different sort of holiday climate. The weather prediction for Dec. 25: breezy, rainy, cold -- but not cold enough to ... More >>

Balls Cost Money: Donate To Local Comedians Killing My Lobster

This just in: a (kind of) impassioned plea from a burrito, a snowwoman, a BLT, and more to reach out this holiday season by donating money to support local sketch comedy troupe Killing My Lobster, which is hurtling hilariously toward its fourteenth season as a relief organization: "relief in the fo ... More >>

SFoodie Advent Calendar, Day 15: Sweet Tamales from La Espiga de Oro

John BirdsallCorn tamales from La Spiga de Oro, $14 per dozen.​The SFoodie Advent Calendar counts down the days before Christmas/Nondenominationalwinterholiday, one treat at a time. When I was a chef in Chicago I worked with a prep cook we called Juancito, a sweet guy from Michoacan who'd sli ... More >>

The Top 6 Most. Irritating. Christmas. Songs. Ever?

Oh dear God, is there a worse time of year for music than Christmas? We certainly don't think so. Walking into anywhere public right about now is like having our ears pelted from on high by sleigh bells (no, not that duo from Brooklyn -- we quite like them) and snowballs filled with glass. But! Bein ... More >>

Let the Weirdos Make Holiday Music: Download a Free Xmas Album from Banjo or Freakout

Nothing puts us in the holiday spirit like whispery vocals and rattling electronics.​And now, an argument in favor of Christmas music -- that is, if it's made by non-pop-stars. After this definitive indication of what usually happens when you let mainstreamers make Christmas songs (that is, irrita ... More >>

SFoodie Advent Calendar, Day 13: Cookies and More Cookies!

Jonathan KauffmanDestination Bakery's gingerbread girl.​ The SFoodie Advent Calendar counts down the days before Christmas/Nondenominationalwinterholiday, one treat at a time.​SFoodie has learned over the past three weeks that sugar cookies decorated to OCD standards aren't as common in this cit ... More >>

Yule Log Burns On

That's the basic idea...​Is it a sign of the decline and fall of western civilization or, rather, a wonderful thing that one of the Bay Area's highest-rated Christmas TV programs is simply footage of a log burning -- for hours? By now you know: The answer is "yes."  The "holiday log" once aga ... More >>

SFoodie Advent Calendar, Day 12: Wassail from Drinkwell Soda

Drinkwell's Wassail​The SFoodie Advent Calendar counts down the days before Christmas /Nondenominationalwinterholiday, one treat at a time.Here's a bit of etymology we bet you don't know: The infamous "wazzzaaaaaaah" in this Budweiser commercial isn't, in fact, a corruption of "what's up" but "was ... More >>

Sean Smith: Show Preview

Drinkwell's Wassail​The SFoodie Advent Calendar counts down the days before Christmas /Nondenominationalwinterholiday, one treat at a time.Here's a bit of etymology we bet you don't know: The infamous "wazzzaaaaaaah" in this Budweiser commercial isn't, in fact, a corruption of "what's up" but "was ... More >>

Fresh Eats: Our weekly roundup of SFoodie news

Drinkwell's Wassail​The SFoodie Advent Calendar counts down the days before Christmas /Nondenominationalwinterholiday, one treat at a time.Here's a bit of etymology we bet you don't know: The infamous "wazzzaaaaaaah" in this Budweiser commercial isn't, in fact, a corruption of "what's up" but "was ... More >>

That's Forked Up

Drinkwell's Wassail​The SFoodie Advent Calendar counts down the days before Christmas /Nondenominationalwinterholiday, one treat at a time.Here's a bit of etymology we bet you don't know: The infamous "wazzzaaaaaaah" in this Budweiser commercial isn't, in fact, a corruption of "what's up" but "was ... More >>

Top 5 Songs To Help You Survive Christmas Shopping

We feel your pain. We know what's going on. Christmas is bearing down on all of us, and gift-purchasing season is kicking our asses this week. It's the same every year: It creeps up like a post-Thanksgiving death knell, and if we don't submit, our entire family and most of our social circle will de ... More >>

Download a Free Low Live EP Before Tuesday's S.F. Show

Low​Low's ninth album doesn't come out until next year, but here's something to hold you fans over -- and get you stoked for the somber Midwestern rock band's S.F. show next week. It's a free live EP, recorded last year in the St. Catherina Church in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

How to 'Ruin Xmas': Shannon & the Clams issue a punky take on the holiday classics

Low​Low's ninth album doesn't come out until next year, but here's something to hold you fans over -- and get you stoked for the somber Midwestern rock band's S.F. show next week. It's a free live EP, recorded last year in the St. Catherina Church in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

A B & The Sea Recorded A 'Christmas' Song with The She's

A B & The Sea​We've apparently reached the point where it's cool for indie-pop bands to record their own irony-free Christmas songs. The latest addition: a collaboration between local beach-poppers A B & the Sea and garage-boppers The She's, entitled "Christmas (Baby Come Home)." Hear and ... More >>

SFoodie Advent Calendar, Day 4: Cranberry Verrine from Citizen Cake

Jonathan KauffmanCitizen Cake's cranberry verrine, $5.​The SFoodie Advent Calendar counts down the days before Christmas/Nondenominationalwinterholiday, one treat at a time.Citizen Cake: The Pac Heights Sequel has a few sugar cookies in its case right now, decorated with OCD flair, but SFoodie's e ... More >>

Target Christmas Album: Best Coast/Wavves, Blackalicious, Jason Schwartzman et al. Hock Holiday Cheer

Don't they know it's Christmas? Seriously. Are they aware?​Now that it's December, the merchants of the world have declared open season on premature holiday festivities, turning life into the cultural equivalent of that house on your block that puts up Halloween decorations in August. Target (pron ... More >>

The SFoodie Advent Calendar, Day 1: Fruitcake!

Jonathan KauffmanFruitcake from Schubert's Bakery.​SFoodie isn't one to cover our cubicle in tinsel and pine boughs. We opted out of Black Friday, preferring to huddle up in our apartment, using meditation and whiskey to quash the mounting stress over gift-giving day. We're already sick of Christm ... More >>

Watch: This Year, Soundtrack Your Christmas Lights with Slayer

​Sure, you could be like everyone else on the block this holiday season and set the automatic music-synch on your tacky Christmas light display to "Jinglebell Rock." But why do that when you could also set it to a face-melter like Slayer's "Raining Blood"? Watch the Christmas carnage that ensues w ... More >>

Tragic Shortage of Ugly Holiday Sweaters Threaten to Ruin Several Ironic Parties

The phenomenon of Ugly Sweater Parties is fast becoming a holiday staple, but the demand for hideous sweaters may have exceeded supply in one San Francisco neighborhood. Mission District shoppers looking for an acrylic sweater decorated with a giant glitter reindeer head and whimsical antler sleeves ... More >>

A Grave Situation

The phenomenon of Ugly Sweater Parties is fast becoming a holiday staple, but the demand for hideous sweaters may have exceeded supply in one San Francisco neighborhood. Mission District shoppers looking for an acrylic sweater decorated with a giant glitter reindeer head and whimsical antler sleeves ... More >>

December's best holiday music events

The phenomenon of Ugly Sweater Parties is fast becoming a holiday staple, but the demand for hideous sweaters may have exceeded supply in one San Francisco neighborhood. Mission District shoppers looking for an acrylic sweater decorated with a giant glitter reindeer head and whimsical antler sleeves ... More >>

What To Do? Wednesday's Pick:

​Madonna's Christmas Celebration @ Finn's Funhouse It wouldn't be Christmas 2009 in the deeply immoral Bay Area without some unholy drag spectacle rolling into town to satirize the Holy Trinity and the birth of Jesus et al. in a high flight of pop cultural and religious juxtapositions. The fourt ... More >>

Eight Christmas Songs Worth Saving From the Fire (by The White Stripes, The Fall, Kurtis Blow, & more)

Like clockwork, the waning of each year brings another slew of Christmas songs. Even Dylan has gotten in on the act. The vast majority of the seasonal crop is either nostalgic rehashings or sentimental cash-ins, but there are always a choice few that far outshine the rest. Below are eight season-app ... More >>

Gliding Through the Holiday

Like clockwork, the waning of each year brings another slew of Christmas songs. Even Dylan has gotten in on the act. The vast majority of the seasonal crop is either nostalgic rehashings or sentimental cash-ins, but there are always a choice few that far outshine the rest. Below are eight season-app ... More >>

The Art of Eating

A little culture, a little shopping, a little lunch -- grazing San Francisco's museums

Holiday Gift Guide

A little culture, a little shopping, a little lunch -- grazing San Francisco's museums

The Ladies' Delight

Neiman Marcus' refurbished Rotunda prices its fancy fare like the Manolos downstairs

Home for the Holidays

Schroeder's