The days are getting colder, and winter coats are being pulled out of the closet. It can only mean one thing: the holiday season is upon us. While it’s not likely we will have a white Christmas in San Diego, there are plenty of ways to feel festive for the holidays.

Below we have some holiday pop-up bars and restaurants offering festive bites:

🎅Dine like Santa

Christmas Brunch at Provisional Kitchen
Dec. 25 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Pendry Hotel
Join Provisional Kitchen for a festive pre-fixe brunch menu featuring sweet and savory corners, carving and dessert stations, a chocolate fountain, choice of entrée and live music. Brunch cocktails and bottomless bubbles are also available.

Christmas Dinner at Provisional Kitchen
Dec. 25 from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. | Pendry Hotel
Celebrate the holiday with friends and family over a special three-course menu curated by Executive Chef Brandon Sloan. Menu highlights include Scallop Crudo, Honeynut Squash Arancini, Roasted Duck Breast, Filet Mignon and a Chocolate Raspberry Tart.

Winter Lodge at the Cutwater Tasting Room
Nov. 20- Dec. 31| Cutwater, 9750 Distribution Ave
The Tasting Room & Kitchen is transformed into a cozy Winter Lodge, offering a lineup of cocktails for every taste—warm, frozen, spirit-free, and everything in between

🍹Festive sips

Lafayette Hotel
Nov. 28- Dec. 31, times vary| The Lafayette, 2223 El Cajon Blvd
The historic Lafayette Hotel & Club has transformed into the North Pole with handcrafted seasonal cocktails, festive bites and even photos with Santa Claus.

Winter Wonderland at Draft
Nov. 28 – Jan. 4, times vary| Belmont Park
Christmas-themed cocktail pop-up bar filled with over-the-top holiday décor and handcrafted seasonal cocktails that bring the holidays to life.

Brisa Holiday Pop-Up Christmas Bar
Nov. 20 – Dec. 31, times vary | Brisa, 2101 Kettner Blvd
Brisa has launched its festive Christmas pop-up, now open through the holiday season. The seasonal transformation features an imaginative lineup of holiday cocktails, immersive festive décor and a cozy, celebratory ambiance perfect for holiday gatherings.

Yo Ho Ho-liday Tavern
Nov. 22 – Jan. 2, times vary | Margaritaville Hotel
Escape the ordinary and step into a world where pirate lore meets holiday magic. Twinkling lights, treasure chests and coastal touches transform LandShark into a merry maritime oasis featuring festive holiday nautical-inspired décor, seasonal cocktails and a festive pirate pop-up. Click here to RSVP.

Deck the Halls at Nason’s Beer Hall
Nov. 27 – Jan. 5, times vary | Pendry Hotel
Add a dose of serious spirit to your holidays with a night out at Nason with the jolliest over-the-top holiday décor, including 700 ornaments, 75 jumbo ornaments, 200 feet of tinsel and more. Visit Nason’s for frosty beers, jolly cocktails, seasonal bites and festive merriment.

Lala-Land
Dec. 1 – Dec. 31, times vary | 1919 India St
The holidays are about to get a whole lot brighter. This December, Lala is bringing back its signature holiday pop-up, Lala-Land, transforming the Little Italy hotspot into a whimsical, over-the-top Christmas wonderland. This year, the team is turning up the sparkle with different pop-ups featuring festive décor and photo opportunities that make every visit unique. Expect surprises that will keep guests coming back all month long.

Sippin’ Santa at the Grass Skirt
Until Dec. 31| Grass Skirt, 910 Grand Ave
A tropical, playful, and retro-kitsch Christmas pop-up offering tropical holiday sips and tasty bites.

Great Dicken’s Holiday Pop-Up
Nov. 28- Dec. 30, 4 p.m. to close| Duck Dive, 4650 Mission Blvd.
Guests can indulge in an exceptional selection of holiday cocktails that truly embody the spirit of the season like Berry Christmas, Everyone, The Great Dickens and more.

A pup that was swept out to sea by a rip current must be feeling doggone lucky after her unlikely rescue off the San Diego coast.

Sadie, a black Labrador retriever-mix, stole away from the home where her owners were staying during a football game last month, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said in a social media post.

While her owners tracked Sadie down the coast using an Airtag on her collar, surfers in Ocean Beach alerted lifeguards that a dog had been swept into the rip current near the jetty, officials said.

A US Coast Guard boat and lifeguards searched the area after the dog disappeared into the channel, officials said.

Lifeguards Garrett Smerdon and Jack Alldredge joined the search on personal watercraft and spent more than an hour looking.

Then, they were told they’d only look for another 10 minutes.

“At that point, I kind of just said, ‘Please let us find this dog,’” Alldredge said.

Knowing that Labs are water dogs and fighters, there was a good chance Sadie was still alive, Smerdon said.

They were called off, but while they were still far out, Alldredge thought he saw something.

“We got closer and closer, and then we realized it was her and we were pretty excited,” he said.

They raced over to Sadie.

“She was super happy to see us, for sure,” Smerdon said.

“She was tired.”

Sadie, who was about a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) offshore near South Mission Beach when she was found, was transferred to a surf boat that brought her to shore, where she was reunited with her owners, officials said.

In a video message, Sadie’s owners, Alexis Barcellos and Brandon Valdez, said they would be forever grateful.

Barcellos recalled in the video that just as the search was being called off, she heard a call on the radio that they had found the dog.

“And we kind of just held our breath, and they were like, and the dog is alive,” she said.

“And we kind of just started crying right away.”

Sadie’s paws and nails were badly damaged from trying to climb onto the jetty, so Barcellos and Valdez had to carry her around for about a week, Barcellos said Thursday.

But she has been in great spirits and this week Sadie made her first trip to the pet store since the rescue to pick out a treat and took her first 1.5 mile (2.4 kilometers) walk.

“We are just beyond grateful she is home safe with us,” she said.

A man accused of driving a pickup while intoxicated, crashing head-on into a car in rural East County and killing an 8-year-old girl over the weekend, was in the country illegally and had been previously convicted of being the driver in a DUI crash that left a person paralyzed, according to authorities.

Brayan Josue Alva Rodriguez, 25, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and gross vehicular manslaughter in connection with Sunday’s crash on county Highway S-2, also known as San Felipe Road, near Ranchita, according to the District Attorney’s Office. He was among several injured in the crash and was arraigned in the hospital this week.

Alva, a Guatemalan national, was arrested by Border Patrol in Calexico in 2018 and released after being served with a notice to appear before an immigration judge, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

While in immigration proceedings, he was charged in connection with a DUI crash in 2020 and later convicted.

An immigration judge ordered him removed from the country in 2023, but he did not leave, ICE said.

“Now an innocent life has been lost in a tragedy that could have been prevented,” ICE’s San Diego office said on social media.

The girl who was killed Sunday was identified in court documents as Aria T. Her full name has not been released.

The crash occurred around 3 p.m. Sunday, when a 2025 Toyota Tacoma, allegedly driven by Alva, crossed over the solid double-yellow line on San Felipe and struck a southbound Toyota Camry head-on, according to the California Highway Patrol. The truck then crashed into the right side of a Ford F-350 pulling a utility trailer ahead of him that was also driving north, officials said.

The Tacoma then rolled over and caught fire. Alva and a 24-year-old passenger were able to get out of the burning truck on their own, according to Cal Fire.

All occupants of the Camry were taken to hospitals: the driver, a 26-year-old man from Yuma; his front passenger, a 28-year-old woman; and three children in the back, a 5-year-old boy, a 4-year-old boy and the girl who died.

A 13-year-old rear passenger in the Ford truck also sustained minor injuries, the CHP said.

Besides murder and gross vehicular manslaughter counts, Alva, an Oceanside resident, also faces two additional charges of driving while intoxicated within 10 years of a DUI conviction.

In the 2020 crash, at least four people, including a child under the age of 5, were injured, according to the complaint. One victim “suffered paralysis of a permanent nature,” the complaint says. Further details about that case, including Alva’s sentence following conviction, were not immediately available.

At this week’s arraignment, a district attorney’s spokesperson said bail was set at $2 million. Alva was expected to be booked into jail upon being released from the hospital. The extent of his injuries was not released. The next court hearing has been set for Jan. 7.

ICE officials said they would be requesting an immigration detainer — which would allow federal agents to take a person into custody before their release from a local jail.

The California Values Act, or Senate Bill 54, limits cooperation between local law enforcement and immigration agencies, although there are exceptions for those who have been convicted of certain serious or violent felonies.

Staff writer Karen Kucher contributed to this report.