This time of year, landmarks and destinations alike are dressed in their most festive attire, such as the Christmas trees you'll find at both Union Square and Ghirardelli. But the best displays are never commercially sponsored, right? So send us photos of your light display and we'll feature the best ones here on SFist. And the photo doesn't have to be of your house. If you have some neighbor that puts the Griswolds to shame, snap a photo and send it in. We'd love to see it! more ›

We've got an audio cleanser for you today: "Whiskey Christmas," a song off the 2007 album Christmas Songs for Drunken Atheists by Irish folk-punk band Darby O'Gill and the Little People. San Francisco ought to like this one, right? more ›

This contributor is admittedly gift-buying challenged, but local gift purveyors, Misha SF (1428 Polk), make it super easy for us to make discerning purchases. Their Polk Street storefront is chock-full of quirkily fun yet functional items that won't break our wallet. more ›

Speaking of sanity-estranged, plummeting GOP candidate Rick Perry released an anti-gay television ad today, one that lambastes our country's military while claiming that our children cannot celebrate Christmas in school (which is a lie, a balls out fib) or pray in the classroom (which is true, thank god). Perry spews: more ›

Instead of cutting and hauling a typical Christmas tree to your living room (you murderer), why not get a living tree to decorate with care for the holidays? San Francisco's Department of the Environment and Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) will offer just that with their "Dreaming of a Green Christmas" program. And after the holidays end, your tree will be planted as a neighborhood street tree. more ›

Set to ruin your Thanksgiving cheer (is that a thing? it should really be thing), the Denny's on Mission Street erected a Christmas tree... on November 8th. Premature, yes? yes. Esteemed Inside Scoop editor Paolo Lucchesi found the early bird XMas tree and asked if "it’s supposed to go with the Christmas Cookie Pancakes for Kids, now on the Denny’s menu." more ›

On Christmas Eve, Lefty O'Doul's collected 15,000 toys for the annual Firefighters Toy Program, and many more toys were dropped off at local fire stations or picked up and delivered for free by Luxor Cab throughout December. more ›

The quiet enclave of Foster City is shocked to find that some ne'er-do-wells are going around stealing packages from doorsteps. Foster City police have identified one possible suspect in at least two cases of alleged theft of holiday gifts, which were left by UPS or FedEx outside homes. more ›

Not just reserved for drunken cyclists at Zeitgeist, tamales are a savory and sweet holiday treat during the holiday season for many South and Central American countries. So, in lieu of making the traditional crown roast or figgy pudding come Christ's birthday, order some tasty tamales from Mijita instead. more ›

If you want to get your holiday gifts or cards to relatives and loved ones by Christmas, today would be the day to head to your nearest post office, where it's certain to be the busiest day of the snail mail year. If you can't make it today, it'll cost you: "Priority mail can be sent Tuesday and express mail on Wednesday and still make it in time for the holiday." List of post offices in San Francisco. [Appeal] more ›

"Beginning Saturday, John Toomey will appear on a specially constructed North Pole Winter Wonderland stage at the restaurant from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. until Christmas Eve," Lefty's spokesman Lee Houskeeper explained to BCN (via SF Appeal). "His four-point contract stipulates that he is allowed to tell jokes." more ›

Ignoring for a moment that contractions of multiple holidays for the purpose of creating a singular, tongue-twisting bonanza has been nearly done to death, the seasonally-relevant original production of The Oddman Family Christwanzaakuh Spectacular is some enjoyable independent musical theater. (Not indie-music theater, mind you.) more ›

Sad news, kids. Christmas is canceled. The Union Square Macy's store has, sadly, fired John Toomey, known for 20 years at the store's "Santa John." Why? Well, according to the Chronicle, it all started with a humorous "adult" joke, one that's been told for years. more ›

For the second year in a row, the brilliant BrodyQat stunned SantaCon revelers and spectators with her Desaturated Santa Costume. more ›

December only just began yesterday, and so has the whirlwind of events. SantaCon: If you can't get enough of drunk Santas, then Saturday's your lucky day. Lots of bars will be full of them. more ›

Here are a few holiday events happening this week, if you're into that sort of thing. Sugar Castle: This Wednesday morning (November 24) a twelve-foot rotating holiday Sugar Castle created by the Westin St. Francis' Executive Pastry Chef Jean-François Houdré will be unveiled. The castle, which was originally created in 2005 and continually grows larger and "more spectacular" each year, resembles a French Chateau. more ›

Attention Animal Lovers: This Friday at 5 p.m., Macy's will unveil their annual holiday window displays filled with scampering adoptable kittens and puppies from the San Francisco SPCA. more ›

Shot of City Hall during the holidays by camarografo. more ›

Have you ever been to XMas Eve's Midnight Mass before? We haven't. Well, we've been to this kind of Midnight Mass; however, sources indicate that that wasn't the real kind of Mass. Anyway, it sounds like some sort of party that starts at midnight at Grace Cathedral (i.e., where Monica from Friends got married), but you probably have to bring your own flask. more ›

Listen up, chosen ones: After finishing your orders of beef & broccoli and won tons at your favorite Chinese restaurant, why not celebrate the "birth" of "Jesus Christ" in the Mission with other like-minded souls? HEEB magazine, purveyors of all things hip and Jewish, is throwing a party for SF Jews, as well as the ones who love them, on Christmas Eve. The party is called Heebonism and it all goes down at the Make Out Room. more ›

Tis the season, folks. Here are a few of SFist's favorite holiday moments. Whether they be food, TV shows, movies or songs, each of these things get us in the holiday mood. And how.
more ›

Check out these SEIU protesters caroling/protesting SF Mayor Gavin Newsom's budget cuts, which resulted in the loss of city workers' jobs. Their wacky attempt to get on the news proved fruitful as NBC Bay Area recording the entire thing and posted it for your entertainment. more ›

Nothing says Christmas like a drag performance, right? New York-based drag performer Mimi Imfurst is doing the second of two shows tonight in San Francisco at Finn's Funhouse (814 Grove St) of her show "Madonna's Christmas Celebration" -- and that's The Madonna, as opposed to "Like a Virgin" Madonna. Tickets are still available, and judging from the preview vid above, it looks like a straight-up, good old fashioned comedy drag medley show, heavy on pop song parodies and Sarah Palin jokes. more ›

"Christmas Ornament on Steroids" by Travis Jensen. more ›

Looking more like a family-friendly event than a gloriously lascivious Castro Street bash, the annual tree lighting ceremony took place last night. Supervisor Bevan Dufty was on hand to illuminate the 20-foot tree, which was drenched in ornaments and lights smack dab in front of the Bank of America on Castro and 18th streets. more ›

SF Weekly brings us some merry/horny news: the fine folks over at Market Street Cinema (a strip joint as seen via their NSFW site) are now accepting new unwrapped gifts for Toys for Tots in exchange for admission. Aw. more ›

For those of you who celebrate Christmas (not the "birth" of Jesus Christ and/or but the wildly festive gift-giving holiday), we have some disheartening news. The U.S. Postal Service planas to stop its popular Santa letter service, which began in 1954 in the Alaska town of North Pole, where residents volunteer to open and respond to "thousands of letters to Santa each year." more ›

Well, this looked like festive fun. , a 15 minute play that happened at Dolores Park on Saturday night, was a holiday success. Put on by Matt Cornell, who plays Jesus, he describes Nativity as "an act of irreverent defiance against religious and political institutions that would seek to marginalize entire groups and classes of people, effectively leaving them out in the cold." more ›

Santacon, or Santarchy, happened over the weekend. People dressed up as St. Nick got drunk and roamed the streets of San Francisco. more ›