It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, or at least Christmas '08.  Yes, the lights are out and the music is playing but is it just me or does it feel like its all about money this year?  On one end of the spectrum we have Madoff stealing 50 billion dollars and Madonna set to give her ex somewhere around 76 million dollars and on the other is the never ending news stories about how no one has money for restaurants or cars or Christmas presents. 

So, I am making a plea right now to God, Allah, Yahweh, Santa, Ganesh, Buddah, the Chinese government, whoever - please let there be snow.  And I'm not talking about the little dusting we just got, I mean a full on dumping of powder white snow.  I can't remember the last time we had snow for Christmas here in NYC and with all the depressing news we are dealing with this year wouldn't it be an amazing (and free) present to wake up to a snowy Christmas morning?  Hell, even us Jews will have something to celebrate as we head off to the obligatory movie and  Chinese restaurant.  And yeah, I know its supposed to be 47 degrees and sunny on Christmas but miracles can happen. Right? 

And now, from the week in news....

Tis the weekend to get ready...last minute Holiday shopping and wrapping must be done, plus cooking and cleaning or packing and panicking, depending on your plans. You may not have time to be running around the city this weekend, or maybe a little division of labor is in order and one parent will take the tots to some of these free events while the other takes a nap...uh, I mean works really hard on all that stuff.

The winter weather is finally catching up to us. As I write this we are currently anticipating 3-5 inches of snow on Friday and I'm scrambling to make alternative arrangements for the ice skating birthday party my daughter has planned.

But the good news is we just posted our Indoor Activity Guide with over 45 articles listing free places to play, story times all over the city, drop-in play spaces, mommy and me classes, off-the-beaten track museums and free museum programs, and even some crafts and activity ideas to help fill those days when you do stay home. This guide will be a permanent feature on the site and be updated with new activities throughout the year, so you can check back any time, whether it's too cold, too hot, or too wet to play outside.  

So, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Earlier in the week we wrote about some of the outrageous Christmas light displays on houses around NYC. But, here are some places to see more traditional Holiday Light Shows:

Santa and technology are not two things that immediately seem to go together. Santa has been the ultimate luddite; 1500 years old and he never even upgraded to a motorized vehicle, for pete's sake. But this year Santa is getting his geek on with some fun hi-tech tools and social media solutions that bring the jolly old elf to life for kids.

Check out how technology has upgraded Santa Claus this year:

It's still not too late to get Holiday photo cards printed and the city is the perfect backdrop for your holiday photos—bright lights, shiny blues, silver, red and greens galore. For studio-style photos with even better scenery, grab your camera and take the family out to these holiday hotspots for fun-filled days of photo ops.

Department Store Windows
This year, Bloomingdale’s windows display is designer Vicki Khumazi’s interpretation of classic Christmas tunes like, “Silver Bells,” “Winter Wonderland,” and “O Christmas Tree.” Lord & Taylor’s windows show us their favorite things like “My Favorite Foods,” a window scene decked out with gingerbread. Macy’s windows all relate to St. Nick, in honor of their “Believe” campaign. Try to snap a shot of your tyke writing his letter to Santa and mailing it at their “Believe” stations. Or head to Barney's to pose in front of their Hippie Holiday windows. See our photo and walking tour of department store Holiday windows here.

When I was a kid, I would get overwhelmingly tired at night and be completely unable to finish my homework.  So, my Dad who is a teacher would wind up finishing it for me.  This led to me handing in papers in the 6th grade with references to Karl Marx and Woody Allen and a paralyzing inability to write anything by myself which lasted until freshman year in college when I realized it had gone too far.  These days I'm more or less cured of the writing issues though the narcolepsy is very much still with me.  It particularly comes into play with this column which for some reason I can't seem to write at a normal time.  And, tonight I'm feeling so tired that I actually just asked my Dad (who has been visiting for a really long time) to finish it for me which he seemed really happy to do.  Which in turn made me realize it was a bad idea.  Note to self - remember to be helpful without quoting Marx.

Now, onto the week in news - keep reading to find out why Scorpios get more asthma, what Blagojevich calls his hairbrush, why holding your kid back from kindergarten (aka redshirting) may not be a good idea and more.

I've been quoted in a couple of cool articles recently that I think you might find interesting. Two of them are about saving money during the Holidays or when traveling, and the third is about Holiday charities. Check out what other people are writing about on some topics near and dear to me: