Looking for Christmas events in Santa Cruz this year? We found 12 for kids and families in 2026, including Downtown Santa Cruz Holiday Parade, Winter Wonderland at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and Movie With Santa at The Grove. 7 of them are free. We check every date on the host’s own website, and each listing links straight there. For the rest of the state, see our California Christmas events for kids guide.
Free for families
Always know what to do with your kids and make it a magical Christmas. We research new events every day. Get free email notifications from the Rally Takes the Train blog:
A children’s book and the perfect Christmas gift
Rally Takes the Train
Eight pages from the book
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That's 8 of 25 pages
See who’s waiting at the station
Grandmommy and Papa are at the last stop. Get the full hand-painted book.
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Paperback and ebook, on every major platform.
This guide is free for every family. Buying a copy of Rally Takes the Train is what keeps it that way.
Rally wakes up early, packs his suitcase, finds his seat by the window, makes a friend of the conductor, sheds a little “corgi glitter” down the aisle, and gets to the grand-paw-rents at the end of the line. It is a happy book, and many families reading it are remembering someone too.
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Kelsey Lizee Cecil, author
My mom, Debra Kay Lizee, passed away in 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, before she ever wrote a word of it. So I did. I wrote it so her idea would not end with her.
I wrote Rally Takes the Train, but it was my mom’s idea first. For as long as I can remember, she talked about a little corgi who packs his toys, rides the train along the coast with his family, and finds his grand-paw-rents waiting on the platform at the very last stop. Rally is our real corgi, and she adored him.
I wrote the story in rhyme, the way she always described it, short enough to read at bedtime in about five minutes. It is a happy book. Her idea was a happy one, and the book had to be too.
Leslie Dunn painted every page by hand in real watercolor on paper. Nothing was generated or retouched with AI, because it had to be made by people who cared about it.
Mom, thank you for the perfect idea that let me channel my grief into something bigger. Dad, thank you for supporting my goal of making this book a reality in her honor. I’m sorry you never got to see it completed, but this book is now for you too.
You’re all set. We’ll email you when new Christmas events are announced, and every event link in the guide is unlocked on this device.
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