Yorba Linda’s distinctive holiday event — patriotic Americana decor, a ceremonial tree lighting on the Nixon Library grounds, photos with Santa, his reindeer, and a candlelit stroll through the museum’s gardens.
Each December, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum in Yorba Linda hosts Stars, Stripes & Christmas Lights — the city’s most distinctive holiday tradition and one of the few presidential-library holiday events in the country. The setting itself is the appeal: nine acres of gardens around Nixon’s birthplace, lit for the season in red, white, and blue.
The evening centers on a ceremonial tree lighting, when the holiday tree bursts into brilliant color in true Americana style. Festive performances, sparkling red-white-and-blue decor, and dazzling Christmas lights fill the grounds. Visitors take photos with Santa, visit his reindeer (a rare feature at any OC holiday event), and enjoy hot cocoa and Back-Burner Soup from Polly’s Pies — a local Yorba Linda institution — while strolling the Library’s gardens by candlelight.
For families in Yorba Linda, Anaheim Hills, and across north OC, this is the season’s most place-specific holiday outing — a Nixon-Library Americana experience nobody else offers.
18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard in Yorba Linda. The grounds run nine acres around Nixon’s birthplace and burial site.
At 5:00 PM each year. Food trucks open at 4:00 PM and the program runs to 8:00 PM, leaving plenty of evening to stroll the lit gardens by candlelight.
Yes — Santa is on hand for photos and the reindeer are on-site, an unusually rare feature for any OC holiday event. Plan to visit both as a centerpiece of the evening.
The event operates on the Library’s grounds rather than as a full museum opening. Museum hours run on a separate schedule; plan a daytime museum visit on a different day if you want the full Library tour.
Polly’s Pies, a local Yorba Linda institution, serves Back-Burner Soup and hot cocoa during the event. Strolling the lit gardens with a warm cup of either is a Yorba Linda holiday classic.
The Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum sits on a nine-acre campus in Yorba Linda — Nixon’s birthplace and burial site. The grounds surround the modest 1912 farmhouse where Nixon was born, along with reflecting pools, formal gardens, and the 1990 Library museum building itself. One of fifteen presidential libraries administered by the National Archives, it’s a year-round destination for OC visitors and the city’s most distinctive civic landmark.
Southern California’s holiday lights and festive outings are pure magic — but nothing compares to Santa Claus himself stepping through your own front door. House of Kringle brings a real-bearded, professionally trained Santa to homes and gatherings across SoCal for an intimate live visit your family will treasure for years.
