Christmas is just around the corner and if you’re sticking around town or have guests to entertain, you can find last-minute holiday fun with Adventure Aquarium’s Christmas Celebration, Christmas in the Country Trail or brunch with the big red man himself at Liberty Hall Museum.  Read on for our top picks and remember you can find a listing of all NJ activities in our Event Calendar.

I know I am not alone as I hug my children a little tighter this holiday season.  As parents our hearts may be heavy but our children are counting down the days until Christmas arrives.  One of the most important things we can do right now is to be fully present with our children and maintain a sense of routine and normalcy in their lives.  This week, that includes moving forward with our holiday plans, traditions and fun family outings.

With the events of the past week, the prospect of a day trip with the kids takes on a whole new level of gratitude and enjoyment. So once the gifts are all open, played with and grown tired of, it may be time to head out and spend some time together. Enjoy a few of the very special holiday and post-holiday events and venues in New Jersey. And just enjoy each other.

So many of us are left to try to make sense of a tragedy that can never be made sense of. We are left to console, support and love our families, friends and neighbors through this unthinkable pain. So many want to help, to do something that will make a difference. Within just one week three million dollars was raised for the Newtown Community.  A 5K race is being organized, fundraisers by local businesses and support forums are all listed here as well as two long standing non-profit Newtown organizations that are ready to receive your help.

Every parent I've spoken to in recent days has been struggling with the pros and cons of talking - or not talking - to our kids about the tragic events at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Doing so requires imagining the unimaginable; we at Mommy Poppins especially have in our thoughts our colleagues at Mommy Poppins Connecticut, some of whom have personal connections to the tragedy. For many parents, dropping our kids off at school this morning was an emotional moment. Picking them up might be, too, depending on what conversations are taking place on the playground. That's why we've collected some resources that might help you face whatever questions arise today, and as the week's news stories unfold.

As parents, Friday’s events at Sandy Hook Elementary have affected us deeply. We are grieving both for the lives lost and the survivors. We grapple with whether, when and how to tell our children about it, and wonder why and how a thing like this could happen. Many of us want to help – even in some small way – and wish that we could ease the anguish of the families in the Newtown community. We are looking for a way forward.

For resources addressing the question of telling our children, the desire to do something – anything – to help, and ways to move forward, please read on. 

And they'll shriek squeaks and squeals, racing 'round on their wheels.
They'll dance with jingtinglers tied onto their heels.
They'll blow their floofloovers. They'll bang their tartookas.
They'll blow their whohoopers. They'll bang their gardookas.
And then they'll make ear-splitting noises galooks
On their great big electro whocarnio flooks!
-How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Unless, you get them books for the holidays. In which case they will lay on their bellies in bed, feet swinging behind them, the only sound the soft rustle of pages turning as their imaginations soar. Right? RIGHT!