by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 7:00 PM ET, Fri November 10, 2017
It's easy to lose track of the passing seasons living in a sunny Southern California city like Los Angeles or San Diego.
Without a picturesque blanket of snow or dropping temperatures that require pulling out the winter coats and gloves, winter can pass by without much notice. (Not to rub it in or anything).
So it is with much excitement that the two cities are welcoming winter-themed snow parks this year, to help residents usher in the holiday spirit.
Los Angeles will be home to a nine-acre winter wonderland to be called Snow Day LA, according to Lonely Planet.
San Diego will get its own version of the park, albeit somewhat smaller and later in the season.
The LA park will offer visitors the chance to go tubing down hills of various heights, take pictures in a giant snow globe, go ice skating and more.
Inside a giant gingerbread house at Snow Day LA visitors will be invited to write letters or holiday cards for overseas military troops. The letters will later be delivered to Operation Gratitude, an organization that helps lift the spirits of military and first responder.
And to complete the winter scene, there will be plenty of hot chocolate and mulled wine available, another tradition from colder climates. Though in San Diego and Los Angeles the hot beverages may not be necessary, given that winter temps rarely get below 50.
Still, what's a mountain of snow and tubing without a warm chocolate beverage to put a bow on the whole experience?
"My business partner and I both grew up in the snow, he's from Denver, Colorado and I'm from Buffalo, New York," Snow Park co-creator J Martin told Lonely Planet. "We're both transplants to Los Angeles and we both have a nostalgic feeling toward winter."
The park's creators are keeping the region's drought problems in mind as they construct their winter wonderlands, using synthetic Powder Pack to create the illusion of snow, rather than trying to create the real thing.
"Just like everything else in LA, it's predominantly fake," Martin said. "It's a synthetic base carpet material ski hills use when there's no snow."
Snow Park LA will be held in Elysian Park from November 10 through late December, after which it will be moved further south, to Rohr Park in San Diego's Chula Vista area. The San Diego park will open on December 23 and run for one week.
"My favorite part about the park is seeing the kid's reactions," Martin said. "We want to bring a new winter tradition to Southern California's families and friends."
Bring it on, we're waiting.
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