All of us here at Mommy Poppins CT wish you and your families joy and happiness during this holiday season, and heading into 2014. We want to thank all of our readers and subscribers who helped us grow the site by 45% and gain over 30,000 social media followers. We appreciate you trusting us as your top resource to find out about local, fun and mostly free events around the state.

Kwanzaa begins Thursday, December 26, and Charter Oak Cultural Center is holding Hartford's largest Kwanzaa Celebration. Learn the seven values of the holiday through story, song and dance. All ages are welcome to this free, community event.

If you need to purge the playroom of old toys after Santa arrives, consult our post on Where to Donate Toys in CT. Many children in need will be grateful! 

Do you have plans for New Year's Eve? Check out our list of Family Friendly New Year's Events in Fairfield County.  If you are in the Hartford area, you might want to try First Night Hartford. It is an alcohol-free, family celebration with several open venues, performers and fireworks.

Here are suggestions for events this weekend. 

The year may be coming to a close but we have lots to look forward to in 2014 including auditions for scholarships at a prestigious dance program, a brand-new show from the Radio City Rockettes and the opening of a huge new YMCA in Rockaway, Queens. Of course, not all the news is good: We've got closures to report and a school bus shakeup that, thankfully, looks like it won't be anywhere near as traumatic as the strike earlier this year.

The weekend in between Christmas and New Year’s can be tricky. Most of us either have holiday guests still lingering in town, kids home from school looking to be entertained, cold weather limiting our outdoor activities, or all three! Luckily, New Jersey doesn’t disappoint and there are plenty of laid back events going on all over our state. Sit back and relax as you take in a performance of the State Theatre’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat or the last weekend of A Wind in the Willow Christmas at Two River Theater. If you want to keep the family busy with some educational outings, check out the 12 Days of Science at Liberty Science Center or embark on a Holiday Scavenger Hunt at Frelinghuysen Arboretum. And remember, you can find a full list of weekend activities in our Event Calendar.

Finding places to bring both a toddler and an infant in the city (in this weather!) is never easy. So, we put our baby in the Bjorn, bundled up our toddler, and headed to Disney On Ice: Passport to Adventure this weekend at Agganis Arena.  Boston University has certainly changed since my graduation day in 2001.  The Arena is now a state-of-the-art venue, perfect for hosting extravaganzas like Disney on Ice.  I found the added stage built over the rink a particularly wonderful surprise that made for a more robust show.  Together (along with Mickey, Minnie and the gang), we traveled from the jungle to the sea, and along the way met The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Lilo & Stitch, and Peter Pan & Tinkerbell.  Overall, Disney On Ice is well worth the time, with a couple areas that could use some polishing.

It's the thing every expectant parent dreads and every new parent comes to accept within hours of their child's birth: the copious amounts of poo that little bodies are capable of producing. For families interested in "going green," cloth diapers may be an appealing alternative to sending endless bags of disposables to the landfill. But where to start? Fortunately, while cloth diapering can seem overwhelming, Boston has several local resources to help figure out if cloth diapering is right for your family.

My kids are what you might call foodies. They love trying new dishes, and they are enthusiastic about experimenting in the kitchen, too. We’ve spent many a school vacation learning about different cultures through cooking. (The most memorable? The summer my son and I became self-taught experts on Indian food.) Foodies or not, kids can have fun in the kitchen at just about any age.

Workshops and classes are one place kids can learn about cooking, but there’s no time like school vacation for them to test their culinary skills at home - plenty of time to experiment, and clean up, too. To help get you started, teachers from four local cooking programs have provided us with some easy recipes you can try at home (scroll down to find the recipes):

• Breakfast: Crepes and Fruit Compote
• Appetizer: Roasted Chickpeas
• Side Dish: Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes
• A Sweet Treat: Peppermint Mocha Bark

When you try one of these recipes, we'd love to see the results - send us a pic, and we'll post it to our Pinterest Good Food Stuff board. And for more kid-friendly recipes, please see our Food Fun Guide.

There's only a few more days until Christmas and the shopping frenzy is in full swing. Nevertheless, shopping just before Christmas doesn't have to be a painful experience. We've filled you in on several fantastic local shops for toys and books, now we're focusing on clothing boutiques in Westchester that truly make shopping a pleasure, even if it is last minute! So, if you find yourself searching for a special gift for a tiny person on your list, consider some of the lovely boutiques we've rounded up. Not only will you discover incredible finds, but you'll be supporting neighborhood businesses. How's that for style?! All of the boutiques below feature children's clothing, though each shop has its own eclectic flavor and style, so you're sure to find something to suit any taste. Read on for more details on seven neighborhood gems to help you find that perfect last minute gift for the holidays and year round.

The first STOMP stage show was in 1991—yes, it's been more than 20 years! Twenty years of entertaining audiences, young and old, around the globe. And right now, the North American tour of STOMP is at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills through December 29, 2013 - offering families an option beyond Nutcrackers and Christmas panto for holiday entertainment this season.