Holiday Guide

This time, this season, these holidays are different.

Every holiday season, we say that this is the year that we will make the holidays all about family, not about presents. All about time together and not about spending money. All about giving things that are special and not just big and shiny. Usually, we're not even close.

This year, though, we've got it all wrapped up (so to speak)! Savvy Source hand-crafted a holiday guide that is about the change we wish to see--making the holidays about spending time with our families, cooking, creating, living and loving together.

Enjoy – we say with confidence that the wish will come true: Happy, happy holidays!

Baby it's cold outside: Clever, wintery activities

When the weather turns frightful (or for those in California or Florida or other warm climates, just a smidge less sunny), some parents act like bears - gather up the kids, all of their toys and books, and hunker down for the season, spending as much time huddled by the fire or under the covers as possible. Other parents are more like the United States Postal Service ... Read more

Holiday Preschooler Parties and Events Around Town

Have you been reckless enough to invite a bunch of preschoolers over to your house for a holiday get-together? Or did you impulsively volunteer to organize your preschool's December party? In case the prospect is sending you into a slight panic, Being Savvy has a few tried and true ideas for a happy, easy holiday party for small kids... Read more

Merry Everything, Happy Always: Books and Toys for the Winter Holidays

Hanukkah Fun

With Hanukkah starting relatively late this month, that gives all of us a little bit of extra time to get organized, get ready, get the story straight, get the dreidel-spinning skills in shape ... and get excited! Here are some of our favorite Hanukkah books and Read more

Putting the Meaning in Your Holiday Greening

by Corey Colwell-Lipson for Being Savvy

Close your eyes (okay, just enough to read this sentence), and envision your fondest holiday memories. Chances are they're about the experiences you've had with the people you love.

Now, holding those same memories in mind, can you remember what gifts you received that Read more

Holiday fun around every corner

A lot of the joy of the holidays is anticipating all of the special things we do at this time of year. So let's savor all of these rituals we enjoy with our children before, during, and after they happen!

Here are the ones we and our kids have been looking Read more

Giving Experiences

by Ginger Carlson for Being Savvy

Steam escapes from the open mouth of the engine's stack as we pull away from the station. Chugga-chugga-puff-puff is all we can hear as my son's nose is pressed against the glass with the force of gale wind. With every ounce of Read more

Thriving traditions: "Green" holiday treats

Stocking stuffers, advent calendars, Christmas crackers. We want to fill them with creative and interesting things, but it's hard to find lots of meaningful little items. And what we end up with are little plastic trinkets, candy, and maybe an orange. But this year, we thought we Read more

Home is where the holidays live: How to keep your family central to the holidays

Sometimes in all the rushing around, we forget to slow down and enjoy the moments. Shopping together takes the place of sitting around the fire roasting marshmallows. Hopping from party to party supplants taking the time to walk around and sing carols to your neighbors. It's hard Read more

Holidays are delicious: The creative family kitchen during the holiday season

by Ginger Carlson for Being Savvy

Holiday magic often begins in the kitchen. Creating traditions is yet another way to build creativity, and the holiday season is a particularly wondrous time to begin a new tradition or rediscover an old one. So as you step into your Read more

'Tis the season: Keeping the Fa La La during the holidays

by Betsy Brown Braun for Being Savvy

There is such a build up to the holidays.  As December approaches, we imagine how much fun the season will be ...sugar plum fairies and all.  Our heads are flooded with warm memories of the winter holidays from our own childhoods.  Then, the Read more

How to teach your kids about giving instead of getting at the holidays

We all know the wisdom of the old adage "it is better to give than to receive," but it rings true during the holidays more so than at any other time of year. As a parent, you know that there is nothing better than seeing your child's face light Read more

Sending love: Crafty holiday cards to make and enjoy with your children

Making holiday cards is easier than ever. Choose a snap of the adorable ones from the year, zip it off to one of many online photo services to be made into cards, print out address labels from your computer and...you're pretty much done. Add stamps, and there you have it. One more holiday task completed... Read more

Best Books of 2008

Can it be? Is it really time to round up our SavvyPicks for the best books of 2008? It's alarming to think that a year can speed by so quickly, but luckily our Savvy tradition of surveying the year's books is always a pleasure. And this year is no different! Our children's book authors and illustrators have brought us a wonderful batch of new titles full of adventure, humor, beauty and bits of wisdom too. ... Read more

Handmade Holiday Gifts

There are so many good reasons to give homemade gifts this holiday season. Here are just a few:
* We're all looking for ways to save a bit where we can.
* Preschoolers enjoy making things to give to friends and family, and working on gifts is a great way to occupy winter afternoons and spend time together... Read more

Favorite Christmastime Crafts

Though we may not believe in Santa Claus anymore, Christmas remains a special time of year for many of us. It brings many childhood memories to the fore and allows us to honor and pass on traditions -- trimming the tree, decorating cookies, and singing Christmas carols to our children. But for children, Christmas is all that and more. It is downright magical. ... Read more

Favorite Hanukkah Activities

The Festival of Lights is a time rich with meaning, celebrating the miracle of one night's worth of oil lasting for eight nights. Even more, Hanukkah celebrates victory of the Maccabees and the rededication of a temple that had been desecrated. Those are big stories. Sometimes, though, the ideas in the stories might be a little too big for the youngest ones, ... Read more

Best Classic Books & Toys

Classics: What are the classics? The classics, for us, are the books and toys we cannot do without. The books and toys that last our children year after year, making them worth every penny spent on them. These are the books that teach our kids that reading can be an unending source of joy and the toys that unleash our child's amazing creative forces. These are the presents that bring will big smiles when opened and that you'll never regret purchasing, not even for a minute. ... Read more