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Hanukkah

...best decorated neighborhoods

by Cynthia

December 23, 2008

If you're not up for the grueling wait for your car to roll slowly through the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's Festival of the Lights in Griffith Park, you can cruise through the following Pasadena neighborhoods and admire the whizbang lights, moving reindeer, snowmen, Santa on the rooftop, and all the rest. It's cool that someone else does it--can you imagine the electricity bill?  Read more...

...happy hanukkah

by Cynthia

December 22, 2008

I shouldn't have been surprised, but as I looked for stories of how Hanukkah came to be celebrated, I found so many conflicting versions, I was starting to get confused. In looking for some rabbinical words of wisdom about the meaning of Hanukkah, I came across Rabbi Jill Jacobs' words in "The Ghosts of Hanukkah's Future," Tikkun , the magazine of progressive Jewish thought: It has sometimes  Read more...

...holiday performances we love

by Cynthia

December 18, 2008

Oh, the magic of a Christmas tree that grows, a nutcracker come to life, and all kinds of exotic and delightful dancing characters from around the world! Face it, even as a grownup, you too are still a tiny bit entranced by Clara's magical Christmas Eve and the strange rat king who must be defeated, and mysterious Uncle Drosselmeyer who begins the adventure. As a girl, our family marked the  Read more...

...local "consumable" gifts--membership in the Kidspace Museum, Pasadena

by Cynthia

December 16, 2008

If you plan to give "experiential" gifts--memberships to clubs, museums, or other activities kids would enjoy, then number one on the list for Pasadenans has to be Kidspace . This children's museum is a gem that draws kids and their families from miles away. It's truly designed to stimulate children's curiosity about the natural world with activities that crawling infants all the way to  Read more...

...teaching kids about charity and giving to others

by Cynthia

December 15, 2008

It occurs to me that in general, fall is a good time to take stock. For eons, it was harvest time and you had to know how much you had on hand so you could make it through the winter. So just as you're blessed with abundance (hopefully), you also prepare for scarcity; fall is when we hold those two contradictory notions in our minds at the same time. At our house, we don't wait for  Read more...

...science and nature toy picks for the holidays

by Cynthia

December 09, 2008

Toy picks that encourage science exploration: Giant Horseshoe Magnetic Kit : a big, PINK magnet to test on everything except mama's laptop. It comes with small beads and other swallowable parts, so DO NOT give to small children under the ages of 3/those still putting things into their mouths. But it's a great gift for an older child who'll want to experiment with it right away. Butterfly  Read more...

...best Hanukkah toys, books and activities

by Cynthia

December 08, 2008

I credit my kid's crunchy-hippie preschool with teaching him to belt out, "Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay/ Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, then dreidel I shall play." They're very non-denominational and all-inclusive, which is partly why I chose the school. So if a Chinese American kid can lustily sing a basic Hanukkah song adapted from a game involving an ancient gambling device, I  Read more...

...five toys that make great gifts

by Cynthia

December 02, 2008

Five toy reviews for holiday gift-giving: My First Quatro Set , Lego: Colorful, chunky, rounded-corner blocks just right for little hands to mash together and pry apart. Great for 1-2 year olds! Note, the Quatros and Duplos (for slightly older toddlers, 2-4) dont really stick together well, so they aren't really reuseable when your child grows into the other sets. Little Tikes Ride 'n'  Read more...

...rituals for the season

by Cynthia

December 01, 2008

I guess it's time to put away the Halloween tea towels, huh? Once Thanksgiving ends, it's time to buy a wreath at Trader Joe's. Get the LED-lit "tree" (a metal structure in the shape of a tree) out from the garage, and put it on the porch. These are things we do every year. We put up our "icicle" lights, and--done! We're ready for the holidays. Except, we're not. We play Secret Santa to a  Read more...

...book picks for the holidays

by Cynthia

November 24, 2008

Here at Savvy Source, we'll be offering some picks for beloved and road-tested books and toys for the holidays. Watch for these throughout the month and into December. Some of my favorite books: Blueberries for Sal , by Robert McCloskey: A little girl on a berry-picking trip with her family has a gentle encounter with a mama bear and her cub, also foraging for berries. Delicious to read with  Read more...

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