During our month-long series of posts focusing on the Upper West Side, we've shared many of our favorite neighborhood haunts, including toy stores, play spots and family-friendly restaurants. Now we've got something really sweet for you: our top dessert spots on the UWS.

There are of course a slew of UWS places where you can pop in for a quick treat. We've picked the nine that we always have trouble resisting, jam-packed with all kinds of goodies from cupcakes to ice cream, cake to cookies.

By Katie Owsley

This is it.  This is the year.  The year that we will get those holiday photos in the mail before, well...Valentine’s Day.  This is our year!!!!  But how to make the photo unique, adorable, and creative?  A few ideas to help get your wheels turning:

Bring It On: The Musical has kicked off its national tour at the Ahmanson Theatre, and one lucky family in the Mommy Poppins community gets to see the show for free! Read on to find out how to score four free tickets to the December 8th performance!

This week was all about Thanksgiving. Now that the parade is done and the turkey's been eaten, we're turning our attention to the holiday season. Black Friday sales are here, and the first big tree lighting of the season at South Street Seaport is on Friday night. There are also a bunch of spectacular illuminations and celebrations next week, including Winter's Eve at Lincoln Square, the Holiday Lighting Extravaganza at the Winter Garden and the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

While holiday fetes are fun, one of the best things to do at this time of year is give back to your community. In addition to launching a MommyPoppins food drive to help 10,000 NYC children this holiday season, we updated our post on volunteering with kids in NYC and we even have suggestions for ways you can help without leaving home. We'll continue to update our Holiday Fun and Holiday Gift Guides over the next few weeks, so be sure to check back throughout the season.

And that's just a bit of what's going on. Here's what we covered this week on Mommy Poppins in NYC, New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut, as well as selected stories from our sites in Boston and Los Angeles.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The holiday season officially kicks off this weekend, and while we hope you enjoy time with friends and family, there are plenty of things to do to get your family into the spirit (besides hitting a Black Friday sale).

There's the annual F.A.T. Chain Reaction at the MIT Museum (that’s “Friday After Thanksgiving”), the opening of the Boston Ballet’s Nutcracker on Friday, and ZooLights at the Stone Zoo on Thursday. Other family fun includes a sing-along version of Mary Poppins at the Regent Theatre in Arlington.

And that's just a few of the great things going on this Thanksgiving weekend. Read on for our picks, and remember, you can find additional options in our Events Calendar.

And while the weather didn't cooperate for the grand opening of the Frog Pond skating season, the rink is now open, and other outdoor rinks are gearing up to open in the next few weeks. Interested in skating lessons for the family? Check out some skating schools in the area to get started. And if you're planning to cut your own Christmas tree, we've rounded up some local cut-your-own tree farms to get started.

Enjoy!

This is the season for being grateful for what we have and helping others. I want to start this post by thanking you for being part of our Mommy Poppins community. Over the years we have had several opportunities to come together and make a difference for NYC families, and I am continually amazed by what we can accomplish when we do so.

The holidays are a time when many of us worry about overeating since we're faced with treats and feasts at every turn. But for some people this is not a problem. One in five children live in homes without enough food. Not in some distant place, but right here in NYC. It's a hard number to grasp, but true.

That's why I am inviting all of you to join me in an online food drive with a goal of feeding 10,000 children in NYC this holiday season. Please read on to find out more about this drive, and my personal reasons for believing this is such an important cause.

Paralyzed from turkey and stuffing? Well, drag yourself off that couch, because we have more holidays on the horizon and a weekend full of pre-Christmas-and-Hanukkah-and-Kwanzaa fun. Usher in the season with light shows, an enchanted forest hike, a sandbox scavenger hunt, a snack with Santa and a brand-new family health and fitness exhibit. And if you're still in a thankful mood, don't forget to Like us on our new Facebook page!

We're going to school you in this edition of our biweekly news roundup. We've got info about a public school district rezoning (ugh), a possible school bus strike (double ugh) and a big new name in the online high school game (and to think, back in our day we actually had to go to school).

And since Thanksgiving is almost here, we've also got suggestions for ways you can give back to your community, as well as a possible big change to next year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.