Christmas in the Park, Holiday festival in Plaza de Cesar Chavez, San Jose, US

Christmas in the Park fills Plaza de César Chávez with more than five hundred decorated Christmas trees, a 55-foot Community Giving Tree, and over fifty musical and animated exhibits. The photograph shows a paved walkway of hexagonal gray pavers lined with small evergreens trimmed with ornaments, white garlands, and lights, separated from the path by white plastic picket fencing. Tall dark lamp posts with white globe lights stand along the route.

The event grew from a Nativity display built by Don Lima in the 1950s outside his Lima Family Mortuary in Willow Glen. In the 1970s he donated the exhibits to the City of San Jose, which first set them up on the lawn at First and Mission Streets. The city and the nonprofit Christmas in the Park, Inc. moved the celebration to Plaza de César Chávez in the early 1980s; in 2011 the nonprofit took over when the city could no longer fund it.

The event's name comes from its setting: more than five hundred trees decorated by local schools and other groups fill Plaza de César Chávez. A 55-foot Community Giving Tree stands as the centerpiece, and souvenir and treat shops line the paths. The festival is free, with donations suggested to offset costs.

The event runs from roughly the last week of November through January 1 in Plaza de César Chávez, with an ice rink and about ten children's rides such as a Ferris wheel, carousel and train operating beside the park. Admission is free, with donations suggested to offset costs. In 2020 it moved to History Park as a drive-through, open 16:00–22:00 by advance ticket.

The Lima Train exhibit displays handcrafted scenes featuring a melting snowman, singing mice, and elves working on woodcraft. These detailed miniature dioramas contain figures and objects created through meticulous handwork.