It's the last weekend before Christmas and NYC is overflowing with holiday cheer, so there are lots of ways for families to get into the season spirit. Learn all about The Science of Santa; go Christmas caroling in Greenwich Village and Jackson Heights; enjoy multicultural celebrations like Mano a Mano's Posadas y Pastorelas and El Museo del Barrio's Parranda; or catch a stage version of the holiday TV classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

It's also a great weekend to hit all the seasonal sights before the tourists take over. So in between last-minute gift shopping, make sure you carve out time to see Santa, and gawk at awesome department store windows and over-the-top holiday homes.

All of our best bets for the weekend are below. You can find additional options in our Event Calendar and our Holiday Fun Guide.

Our series of posts about Gowanus, Brooklyn ends with a roundup of kid-friendly restaurants in the area. Although Gowanus may not be the family foodie haven that is Park Slope, as more parents move into the neighborhood, new eateries are popping up to meet the demand. These mostly locally owned restaurants and cafes make the most of their transformed industrial spaces. Meanwhile, longtime old-school Italian staple Two Tom Restaurant offers the same hearty Italian eats it's been been serving up for decades.

Here are our top 8 places to eat with kids in Gowanus.

Most Long Island kids have two full weeks off for the holiday break, so parents will be looking for different ways to keep the little ones occupied. Why not take a little trip? A great escape doesn't have to be far away. With plenty of staycation destinations on LI, they're closer than you think. Nestled on the north shore of eastern Long Island, Port Jefferson boasts shoreline views, family fun, good eats and sweet treats.

And for more ideas this season, visit our Long Island Holiday Fun Guide.

Here it comes- the first weekend of Hanukkah and the last one before Christmas. While you finish your shopping list, checking it twice, make sure spend time doing something nice! If you haven’t visited Santa yet, there’s plenty of opportunity at Imagine That’s Breakfast with Santa, Red Lobster’s Breakfast with Santa and Cherry Hill Mall’s Adventure to Santa. Take part in great museum programs for the family at New Jersey State Museum’s Story Time and Montclair Art Museum’s Family Art Adventure. And get in the spirit of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa at The South Jersey Annual Car Menorah Parade and Sweet Honey in the Rock: Celebrating the Holydays. For even more weekend fun, check out the full list of weekend activities in our Event Calendar.

The trees are lit; now it’s time for the menorahs. The eight crazy nights of Hanukkah commence Tuesday, and there are festive lighting ceremonies all over town. Meanwhile, on Olvera Street, the story of Joseph and Mary’s search for an inn is recreated nightly through Christmas Eve. This is the week to celebrate all beliefs and cultures. The kids love it because no matter which direction they turn, a present is involved. It may also be time to check out some giving opportunities. There are many holiday gift drives. While our kids may need a little prompting when it comes to giving, children usually enjoy an opportunity to be benevolent, particularly if it involves choosing a cool toy.

We continue our series of posts on Gowanus with a roundup of places to play in the area, both indoors and outside. While this historically industrial neighborhood has only one major green space, Thomas Greene Playground, there are many drop-in indoor play spots, from traditional kiddie gyms to more offbeat rock climbing and robot havens. Here are our top 9 places to play with kids in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

Hanukkah is almost here! This year, it begins the evening of Tuesday, December 16th and ends the evening of Wednesday, December 24th. Here in New Jersey there are many Menorah Lightings and musical events that are fun for the whole family these next few days, so check one out and enjoy the Festival of Lights. Also, click here for more wonderful events in the Garden State as 2014 gradually comes to a close and we usher in a new year.

Because of a personal loss as well as some of the disturbing things going on in our city and country these days, I've been putting a lot of energy into making my family's holiday season feel even more special than usual (in between some tough conversations about grief and justice with my daughter). In addition to our annual traditions such as going to Macy's Santaland and seeing all the department store windows, we've been crossing things off our holiday bucket list, like enjoying tea with Santa at the Plaza and splurging on holiday spectacles like Cirque Ziva and the family opera Puss in Boots/El Gato con Botas.

Of course, you don't need to spend lots of money to make the season magical. This week, we wrote about no-cost ways to connect with Santa online and over the phone, shared a pair of inexpensive and easy-to-make holiday crafts, and posted slide shows of gloriously over-the-top holiday homes on Long Island, in Philly and Connecticut, all FREE to see.

In the market for a winter getaway? Our Travel site has a roundup of enticing vacation deals near and far, and a few are even valid during the upcoming school break.

Here's what else we covered on the NYC site this week: