Between Friday, December 4 and Tuesday, December 8, Yorba Linda has three Christmas tree lightings. A church hosts one, Main Street hosts another, and the third is at a presidential library. Two are free and one costs $60 for an adult. The paid one is also the only one with a single, settled time for the lighting itself. Friends Church gives two different times on two of its pages, and Main Street hasn't posted a time yet.
So picking a night comes down to two things: what you'll pay, and how much of the evening you're willing to spend waiting. Here are the three in calendar order.
Friday, December 4: Free, with snow, and two different lighting times
Friends Church Yorba Linda and Friends Christian School hold their annual Christmas Tree Lighting at 5091 Mountain View Ave. from 6 to 8:30 p.m. It's free. The church's Christmas page lists real snow play, inflatables, cookie decorating and face painting, and food from TK Burger and Chick-fil-A will be for sale. The church's separate event page adds a light walk-through, a hot chocolate bar and two snow play areas. A 5 p.m. service with the Friends Christian School choir comes before the outdoor event.
Check the date carefully. The dedicated tree-lighting page has a heading that reads:
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2026
December 4, 2026 is a Friday. The church's main Christmas page and its Yorba Linda events calendar both say Friday, so plan for Friday night.
The pages also give different times for the lighting. The Christmas page says the tree goes on at 7 p.m. The tree-lighting page says the ceremony starts at 6:30 p.m. Both times fall inside the 6-to-8:30 window, so if you're there by 6:30 and stay past 7, you won't miss it either way.
Parking has its own rules. Both church pages say parking is available on the church campus and at the Packing House, and both say Nixon Library parking will not be available. If you usually park at the library for events on that stretch of Yorba Linda Boulevard, you'll need another plan that night.
Saturday, December 5: The biggest crowd, with no lighting time posted yet
The next night, Holiday on Main fills Main Street from 4 to 9 p.m. The Eventbrite listing lists Santa, a tree lighting, face painting, kids' crafts and holiday shopping, and admission is free.
This is the oldest of the three events. The craft vendor organizer Modern Makers Mart says 2026 is the event's 32nd year, that it's city-sponsored, and that about 5,000 people attend. The street is closed to traffic, there are 80 outdoor vendor spaces, and parking in the parking structure is free. All 5,000 people arrive within a five-hour window. On the other two nights, the crowds go to a church campus or a ticketed museum.
The organizer has changed. Eventbrite lists Uptown Village Market as this year's organizer. The event's own website still shows the 2025 version, which says the Old Town Yorba Linda Merchants hosted it.
The website's 2025 details don't carry over automatically:
- Posted for December 5, 2026: 4 to 9 p.m., Main Street closed to traffic, Santa, tree lighting, face painting, kids' crafts, shopping, and free parking in the parking structure.
- Posted only for December 6, 2025: a 6 p.m. Town Center tree lighting, an unwrapped-toy drive with the Moms Club of Yorba Linda, a drink lounge with craft beer and wine, a petting zoo, and more than 70 vendors.
Last year's lighting was at 6 p.m. This year's listing shows a tree lighting but no time for it. Until a time is posted, plan to be on Main Street for most of the evening if seeing the tree lit matters to you.
Tuesday, December 8: A set schedule, with tickets
The Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum at 18001 Yorba Linda Blvd. holds A Revolutionary Christmas from 5 to 9 p.m. This is the only one of the three with a fully published schedule. Food trucks and Chick-fil-A open at the entrance at 4:30 p.m., and the tree lighting starts at 5 p.m.
The program is also the longest of the three:
- Photos with Santa in the Oval Office
- Santa's reindeer
- The Huntington Beach Concert Band
- The Dickens Carolers from Foothill High School
- An Elvis Presley tribute
- Hot cocoa, light bites, Polly's Pies' Backburner Soup and a no-host bar
- After-dark access to the museum galleries and a candlelight walk through the gardens
General admission is $60 per adult and $25 per child ages 5 to 11. Richard Nixon Foundation members pay $50 and $20, and children 4 and under get in free. For two adults and two children in that age range, that's $170 at general prices or $140 with a membership. The same family pays nothing on Friday or Saturday.
The evening also gives you another chance to see America 250: A More Perfect Union. The event page tells guests to see it "before it closes," and the library's exhibitions page lists it through January 31, 2027. The library's earlier free event this season is its Veterans Day Commemoration on November 11, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Registration is required, and gallery admission isn't included.
Picking one night, or two
Side by side, the free nights leave more open, and the paid night has every time locked in:
| Friends Church | Holiday on Main | Nixon Library | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Fri., Dec. 4 | Sat., Dec. 5 | Tue., Dec. 8 |
| Hours | 6 to 8:30 p.m. | 4 to 9 p.m. | 5 to 9 p.m. |
| Lighting time | 6:30 or 7 p.m., depending on the page | Not yet posted | 5 p.m. |
| Cost | Free | Free | $60 adult, $25 child 5 to 11 |
| Parking | Church campus or Packing House | Free in the parking structure | Not posted on the event page |
| Food | TK Burger, Chick-fil-A | Not yet posted for 2026 | Food trucks, Chick-fil-A, Polly's Pies soup |
The two free events are on back-to-back nights. If you want both:
- Friday: Arrive at Friends Church before 6:30 p.m. and park on campus or at the Packing House. Do the snow play first, then stay for the lighting.
- Saturday: Use the parking structure for Main Street, shop the vendors early, and watch the Eventbrite listing for a posted lighting time.
- Tuesday: Buy Nixon Library tickets ahead of time if you want a third night. With an exact 5 p.m. lighting, it's the one that fits around a workday.
One city tradition isn't on the calendar yet. The City of Yorba Linda's December 2026 calendar currently lists meetings and facility closures but no holiday event. Last year's Breakfast with Santa ran Saturday, December 6, 2025, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Yorba Linda Community Center. A 2026 date would most likely be posted on that calendar.
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