Rancho Santa Fe's Holiday Calendar Runs on Daylight This Year
November 12, 2026
November 12, 2026
The Rancho Santa Fe village holiday calendar for late November and December 2026 runs mostly in the daytime. The Library's workshops start at 10:30 in the morning or 3 in the afternoon. The Village Church's market runs 10 a.m. to noon. The Holiday Stroll runs 1 to 5 p.m., and the carol sing on The Inn's lawn ends at 5 p.m. Every event on this calendar with a published end time is over by 5 p.m.
The events also sit close together. Almost all of them are held on Avenida de Acacias, Paseo Delicias or Linea del Cielo, and the organizers are local groups: the Rancho Santa Fe Library and its Guild, the Village Church and the Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club. The new piece in 2026 is in the same blocks. Several restaurants opened or were redone on and around Paseo Delicias this year, and their hours fit around the community events, from breakfast before a morning workshop to dinner after the 5 p.m. finish.
Two addresses on Avenida de Acacias host much of the season. The Rancho Santa Fe Library and its Book Cellar are at 17040 Avenida de Acacias. The Garden Club holds its events at The Secret Garden, 17025 Avenida de Acacias. The Village Church is at 6225 Paseo Delicias. Its biggest public event of the season moves a short distance to the lawn at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe, 5951 Linea Del Cielo.
Here is the calendar in date order:
Four of the eight events are at the Library, and three of them are hands-on workshops. George Speer's floral session on Nov. 21 comes first, with supplies included and registration required before you go.
The Dec. 3 Holiday Tree & Wreath Workshop works differently. Participants bring their own decorating supplies, and decorated donations can be dropped off from Dec. 3 through Dec. 9. The workshop starts at 3 p.m. on a Thursday, so it runs into the after-school hours.
Two days after the drop-off window closes, the Library Guild holds its Holiday Tea and Tree Raffle on Friday, Dec. 11. The afternoon has three parts: the adult tea starts at 1 p.m., family activities run from 2 to 4 p.m., and the raffle is drawn at 3:30 p.m. If you're bringing children, 2 p.m. is the time to arrive. If you want the quieter tea, come at 1.
The Library's last holiday event is the centerpiece workshop on Saturday, Dec. 12, from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Registration doesn't open until Dec. 1, so the sign-up date matters as much as the event date. Put both on the calendar now. The Union-Tribune's Library roundup has the full listing.
The Garden Club holds the last workshop of the season across the street at The Secret Garden. Its Dec. 14 wreath-making session is for members only, so the Library's two December sessions are the open-to-the-public way to make a wreath or centerpiece in the village this year.
The Village Church's Alternative Christmas Market is the longest-running event on the calendar. It opens on the church patio on Sunday, Nov. 22, from 10 a.m. to noon, with more than a dozen charity booths, then continues online and on Sundays through Dec. 24. It starts the weekend before Thanksgiving and runs until Christmas Eve, and you can visit any Sunday in that stretch.
The church's other public event shares the latest finish on the calendar with the stroll, 5 p.m. Carols in The Village is a free sing-along for all ages on Sunday, Dec. 6, from 4 to 5 p.m. on the lawn at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe, 5951 Linea Del Cielo. Bring your own chair or blanket. The Inn is a short walk from Paseo Delicias, and the sing-along ends right at dinnertime.
The Holiday Stroll in the Village at Rancho Santa Fe is on Saturday, Nov. 28, from 1 to 5 p.m., the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It falls between the market's opening Sunday and the first December workshop, and it's the one afternoon on the calendar meant for walking the whole village instead of attending one event.
Some village retailers are open with seasonal hours. Covenant Sport & Social Club has a presence at Isola Boutique in the village from now through December. The stroll ends at 5 p.m., the same time as the carols a week later.
The calendar fills the daytime hours, and the restaurants that are new or redone this year cover different parts of the day around it.
Paseo Pizza and Gelato opened in September at 6024 Paseo Delicias, unit D. When it opened, it was reported to be open seven days a week from noon to 9 p.m. Those hours cover the 4 to 5 p.m. end of the carols and the stroll, and continue for four hours after.
Rancho Sandwich and Creamery opened earlier in the year at 6110 El Tordo, the Union-Tribune reported. It serves sandwiches, wraps and salads, soft-serve ice cream, and breakfast items like avocado toast, breakfast burritos, muffins and bagels. Its own menu page also lists sides, drinks and kids' items. The Union-Tribune listed its hours as 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, which makes it a stop before a 10:30 a.m. Saturday workshop at the Library or a midday break during the stroll.
Nick & G's, at 6106 Paseo Delicias, has had the most work done. The restaurant is in the 1920s Lilian Rice building at the corner of Paseo Delicias and La Granada, originally the home of the Millar family. The space was Delicias restaurant for 24 years before Nick & G's opened there in 2017. Ahead of its 10th anniversary, the restaurant closed in October for a full redesign led by chef-partner Alex Carballo. The plan included a redesigned dining room and bar, new private-event and patio spaces, an olive tree at the center of the room, and a California-Italian menu built around handmade pasta, pizza, seafood and seasonal shared plates. Check nickandgs.com for current hours before planning a holiday dinner there.
Carballo told the San Diego Union-Tribune why the new openings in the village matter to him:
"I like the energy when there's more…it gives people a little more variety and a reason to go into Rancho Santa Fe, and we're in the heart of it."
The same article lists the long-running village restaurants alongside the new ones: Paseo, Mille Fleurs, Lilian's and the cafe at The Inn, Thyme in the Ranch, Caffe Positano and Rancho Roasters. With the 2026 additions, the village has more places to eat on both ends of an event day.
Pairing the daytime events with the restaurants nearby gives you a few complete days:
For one more date, mark Dec. 1, when registration opens for the Library's Dec. 12 centerpiece workshop.
Devon and Bunny Booth have spent their lives in North County, and the village's December weekends are part of what makes Rancho Santa Fe feel like home. If the holidays have you thinking about where your Rancho Santa Fe property stands heading into the new year, Booth Properties can give you a clear, local read. Request Your Home Valuation, and we'll talk it through over coffee in the village.
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