Zoo Lights 2009 is going on now at the Stone Zoo in Stoneham.
“Stroll along tree-lined paths lit by thousands of twinkling lights. Upon entering the Zoo, guests will visit Yukon Creek, which not only features dazzling holiday lights but is also home to bald eagles, porcupine, lynx, a gray fox and reindeer. Children will want to make sure they visit with Santa, who awaits their arrival in Santa’s Castle.”
Santa will be available for pictures ($11) through December 23rd. Carousel rides area also available for an additional fee. Guests will also be able to meet the new reindeer and have their photo taken with them.
Zoo Lights will be open nightly through December 30th (except December 25th) from 5pm to 9pm. See Stone Zoo website for ticket prices.
While roaming around the web the other day, I came upon this idea for an M&M Taste Test from a blog called Make and Takes. It’s really a cute idea; fill a bowl with different flavors of holiday m&m’s, and have the kids 
(and you) take turns picking one out with your eyes closed. Then chart your results by flavor and color for a little added educational fun! We used regular, mint and peanut versions for our taste test. The boys thought it was awesome to be allowed to dig into a big bowl of candy, and had fun coloring in their charts and adding up what color and kind of m&m’s came up most. They want to do it again tomorrow!
In case you’re wondering, mint won on everyone’s score sheets. I have a sneaking suspicion the boys were groping around for specific shapes in the bowl…
Make and Takes has a lot of great ideas for kids. Check out their Kids Page for some fun and easy kid craft ideas, decorations, and recipes!
Many people can benefit from the use of a weighted blanket, including children, teens and adults affected by Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, ADHD, ADD, Sensory Integration or Processing Disorder , Rett’s Syndrome, Bi-Polar or other sensory issues. Even people who just have trouble sleeping at night may find a weighted to be a helpful sleep aid.
The weighted blanket provides sensory input for children who have difficulties with either vestibular or proprioceptive systems due to sensory integration dysfunction. Essentially, the weighted blanket helps the child feel grounded without the threat of restraint. The blanket can be used both at home and at school. Therapists often use them in therapy sessions and parents often use them as an alternative to time out.
A friend of mine, who will simply be known here as Joyce, is an accomplished seamstress who makes and sells her own weighted blankets. She makes them to order and will accommodate your fabric and pattern preference. The blanket is approximately 40” by 40”. It is made of polar fleece on one side and a variety of materials on the other. These can be silk, cotton, corduroy, denim or flannel. There are thirty six hidden pockets. Each pocket is filled with a small bean bag filled with popcorn kernels. (Of course, these need to be removed when laundering the blanket!!) The beanbags can be evenly or randomly distributed within the pockets depending upon the sensory needs of the child.
The cost of the blanket is $75.00. This is far below the cost to purchase the blanket online. Additional shipping charges would apply. Some people like to have a theme to the blanket such as a character from a child’s movie, dogs, cats, rockets and the like. In most cases, fleece with the appropriate theme can be found in the local stores.
Please contact Joyce by email at lv2so1@aol.com if you would like further information, or if you would like to place an order.
We’re a bit snowed in right now, so I thought might be appropriate to share some favorite Christmas links to keep you and the kids busy during ‘indoor time’!
- NorthPole.com – Such a cute site. You can read stories online, send Santa a letter, play online games, print stories and color the pages, and get ideas for crafts and recipes.
- Elf Yourself - If you haven’t seen this or done it yourself, please check it out. You upload pictures of your family and the website creates a little video of yourselves as elves. It’s hysterical! My kids are obsessed with viewing our friends’ videos.
- Ten Little Snowmen (Starfall.com) – Cute, short activity where kids can build a virtual snowman. Then do it again, and again, and again…
- Design Your Own Gingerbread House(HighlightsKids.com) – Another online activity, kids can design and accessorize their own gingerbread house!
- Santa Dress Up - Kids can play dress up with Santa or a snow man.
The Pembroke Cookie Company, founded by Lisa Robinson in 2008, is doing something very ’sweet’ this holiday. From now until December 17th, for every holiday cookie order placed, a dozen cookies will also be sent to a soldier. You can name a specific soldier if you like, otherwise Pembroke Cookie will choose who will receive this yummy care package! Visit their website and take a look at their delicious selection of holiday and winter cookies. Lisa also has some adorable baby and wedding cookie options too, perfect for shower favors!
Pembroke Cookie is now offering South Shore Mamas readers a 15% discount on all orders placed! Just enter the code ‘SSM‘ at checkout. Sweet!
Kelly Shaw, originally a Boston girl, now residing in Australia, is the funny and observant author behind the blog Three Under 3. She blogs about her personal parenting experiences as a mother of three children under three years of age, and more often than not she makes me laugh out loud with her posts, (at the very least I’m giggling to myself). Like this post about her journey with just her and her three kids, from Australia to L.A., The Epic Journey Part II, The Journey Commences. Check her out, add her to your favorites, she’s fun!
Last year the boys and I followed Santa’s journey on Christmas Eve at the NORAD Santa Tracker website. Have you seen this? Because it’s so so so SO great! Up until Christmas Eve, you’ll see a countdown to Christmas, then on the big night you can log on and actually track Santa’s journey across the world! You’ll hear verbal updates, see pictures and even short video clips for some cities. The kids LOVED it. They got a kick out of seeing Santa buzz by the Pyramids and the Eiffel Tower. They even watched him deliver presents to the space station!
When the boys saw that Santa and the reindeer were starting to cross the Atlantic, they panicked and hustled up to bed so they’d be sleeping by the time he made it to our house. Perfect! I must confess, I kept the site open well after the children were tucked in so that I could track Santa a little more…
The site also has some kids activities, a little video of Santa reading ‘The Night Before Christmas’, plus some other cute stuff. Definitely worth checking out!
The holiday cards are starting to roll in. I love love LOVE getting photo cards in the mail! I’m actually disappointed if a day goes by without a card or two in the mix. Usually the cards get a piece of scotch tape slapped to the back then they’re attached to the molding on one of our doorways, but I’m getting tired of them always falling off, (plus, hubby has this weird thing against using tape on the walls and wood in the house), so I started Googling other fun ideas for displaying cards…
A friend of mine does something like this with pretty ribbons hanging off of the french doors in her house. It looks beautiful, but for me not as practical since my 18-month-old likes to pull pretty displays like this down for fun…
I actually own this Holiday Card Holder from Pottery Barn, but can never seem to find a good place to hang it. It’s really pretty, although a bit heavy, holds a good amount of cards, and is on sale at PB now for $39!
Another idea I found in my search was to attach (tape) festive ribbons to the kitchen cabinets and hang the cards with either tape or pretty little clothespins. Jackpot! It’s high enough to be out of reach of my daughter’s curious and grabbing little hands, plus it adds a little something to my otherwise not-so-decorated kitchen. I love it!
What do you do with your cards? Something fancy and Martha Stewart-ish? Please comment here and share!
Possible Christmas problem…. our Elf-on-the-Shelf is starting to affect my sleep. Ever since the holiday arrival of our friend ‘Elfie’ (creative name, I know) on December 1st, I’ve been getting less and less sleep. My formerly sleepy-head children, who usually have to be dragged from their beds at 7:30 each morning to hurry up and get ready for school, have been bounding out of their rooms at the not-so-convenient hour of 6:15 each morning. Why? Because the mystery of where Elfie has landed after his trip back to the North Pole each night is more than they can bear apparently. First, they demand that we come down and turn on all the lights on the first floor, (because it’s still dark for Pete’s sake!), then go running through the house shouting “He’s not here!”, “Nope, not here either!” until they finally spot the sneaky little guy. Finally, they plop down on the couch and realize they really weren’t ready to get up that early after all.
For those of you who don’t know the early morning joys of the Elf-on-the-Shelf, let me enlighten you! The Elf-on-the-Shelf is one of Santa’s helper elves who comes to your home at Christmastime to watch over the children and make sure they’re being good. Each night he flies back to the North Pole and reports to Santa what he’s seen. When he returns from this trip, he picks a new place to sit in the house, a bookshelf, windowsill, mantle, etc. It’s fun for the kids to search for him and it’s yet another way to help ‘encourage’ them to be good at the holidays. 
Elf-on-the-Shelf comes as a gift set and includes your elf (which the kids can give any name they want, hopefully more original than ours), and a book that explains the tradition to them. The whole thing will cost you about $30, maybe a bit pricey, but it’s a cute tradition to start when their young. You can pick up the set at Learning Express, Barnes & Noble, plus other stores. Visit the Elf-on-the-Shelf website to find other retailers.
At this time of year, I’m sure your days are as packed and planned as they are at our house, but just in case they aren’t, or maybe you have a few spare hours you want to fill, here are a few more local holiday happenings!
The Children’s Museum in Easton has quite a few things going on this month. On December 5th and 6th, the museum will hold their annual Kids Holiday Shop, where kids can purchase a gift for mom or dad for $2 or less! Volunteers are on hand to help select and wrap the gifts, kids ages 3 to 12 are welcome, and must be able to enter without an parent to keep these gifts a surprise! While you’re there, have the kids decorate a cookie, make a craft, and listen to a reading of ‘The Gingerbread Man’. See the Children’s Museum website for details on event times. Also check out their website for details on other fun workshops at the museum, including Graham Cracker Candy Houses (Dec 8th), It’s Snow Fun Without You (Dec 15th), and Cooking with Kids (Dec 16th)!
Stop by The Christmas Place in Abington, the self proclaimed ‘Largest Christmas Store in New England’! The Christmas Place is not just a place to shop, it’s a whole Christmas experience in itself. Stop by the Kringle Cafe for a snack, sample some freshly made fudge in Santa’s Fudge Kitchen, visit with Santa and have your picture taken (see website for specific days/times), marvel a the beautiful displays that are everywhere in this store, and by all means, shop for some decorations and toys while you’re there! The Christmas Place is located at 1500 Bedford Street in Abington, hours are M-W 10am – 6pm, Th-Sat 10am – 9pm and Sun 12pm – 6pm.
Zoo Lights 2009 is going on now at the Stone Zoo in Stoneham. 
