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Stoneworks Climbing Gym

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Holiday Giving Wrap-Up

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Chuc Mung Nam Moi! The Year of the Dragon is nearly upon us, and the Chinese and Vietnamese New Year’s festivities happening around town offer an especially entertaining and engaging way to introduce your kids to different cultures. Lan Su Chinese Garden hosts two full weeks of celebrations, beginning Jan. 23 this year, including lion and dragon dances, performances, crafts, story telling and much more! Check their website for a schedule of events. You’ll also find celebratory events at local libraries, and at A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village in Salem. Here’s the scoop: Jan. 14, 19 & 28 Red Fans for Lunar New Year at Multnomah County Libraries. Decorate a fan for free. . FREE. Jan 14 from 1 to 3 pm at St. Johns Library, 7510 N Charleston Ave., 503-988-5397; Jan. 19 from 3:30 to 4:30 pm at Belmont Library, 1038 SE 39th Ave., 503-988-5382; or Jan. 28 from 4:30 to 5:30 pm at Woodstock Library, 6008 SE 49th Ave., 503-988-5234. Registration required. events.multcolib.org . Jan 21 Chinese New Year at the Beaverton Library. Make a craft, hear a story and celebrate the Year of the Dragon. Grades 1 to 5, with grown-up. 1:30 to 2:30 pm. FREE. Beaverton City Library, 12375 SW 5th St. 503-350-3600. beavertonlibrary.org . New Year Party at Tigard Library. Celebrate Chinese and Vietnamese new year with crafts, coloring and snacks. Ages 5 and older. 1:30 to 3 pm. FREE. Tigard Public Library, 13500 SW Hall Blvd.503-684-6537. wccls.org . Lunar New Year Celebration at AC Gilbert’s Discovery Village. Crafts, activities, food and more. 1 to 4 pm. FREE with museum admission. (Also free with your OMSI membership card and photo ID) AC Gilbert’s Discovery Village, 116 Marion St. NE, Salem. 503-371-3631. acgilbert.org . Jan 24 More Lunar New Year Fun at Multnomah County Libraries. Celebrate with entertainment, crafts and more. FREE. Jan. 24 from 5:30 to 7 pm at Midland Library, 805 SE 122d Ave., 503-988-5392; Jan. 25 from 6 to 7:30 pm at Holgate LIbrary, 7905 SE Holgate Blvd., 503-988-5389; and Jan. 28 from 1 to 3 pm at Gregory Heights Library, 7921 NE Sandy Blvd., 503-988-5386. events.multcolib.org . … and don’t forget Mochitsuki! For more New Year’s fun, check out Motchitsuki on Jan. 29 ! This annual celebration of Japanese New Year features entertainment, kids’ games and activities, mochi pounding and more. 11 am to 4 pm. $12 adult, $9 student, $5 ages 2 to 12, free ages 2 and under. Scottish Rite Center, 1512 SW Morrison St. mochipdx.org .

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Enter the Year of the Dragon

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Hollywood Theatre gets a facelift

Our 2012 Family Resource Guide is on the stands now, with over 50 pages of new and updated listings! It’s the ONLY regional directory of family-friendly activities, destinations, businesses and resources available for FREE! Inside you’ll find everything from Educational Attractions to Visual and Performing Arts to Playgrounds, Public Fountains and Hiking Opportunities to Sports, Gymnastics and Horseback Riding to Family-friendly Restaurants and Cafes to area Farmers Markets and more. You’ll even find a comprehensive list of Resources for Parents and Families . You really should pick up your copy today! (You can read it online , too, but we think you’ll want to keep a copy handy for those “What should do today?” and “Where can we find …?” kind of days.)

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Our 2012 Family Resource Guide

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Heavy snow ends, leaving 16 inches behind on Mt. Hood

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SE Portland’s Peacock Lane lights up

Every week we post our What’s On this Weekend! (WOW!) blog, with listings of family-friendly events and activities around the area. That gets especially challenging during the winter holidays, when every day is packed with enticing opportunities for family fun, so we compiled a list of our favorite holiday happenings for the entire month and listed them all in one place: Holiday Highlights ! From Trains, Boats and Planes (think Cinnamon Bear Cruise, ORHF Holiday Express, Christmas at Pearson Air Museum and the Mt. Hood Polar Express Train) to Santa’s in the House (Santa on the Bricks, Macy’s Santaland, Breakfasts with Santa and more) to Twinkle, Twinkle! (Zoolights, Christmas Ships, Winter Wonderland and all the other spectacular holiday light shows around the area), there’s something for everyone in your family to enjoy every single day of the season! For a truly special family holiday experience, check the Drama, Dancing, Music and Merriment section, with plays, concerts, ballets ( Nutcracker anyone?) and more. What’s your family’s favorite holiday activity or event around town? Which ones haven’t you been to before that you’re hoping to catch this year?

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Holiday Highlights

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Holiday Ale Festival returns to Pioneer Square

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Download the FREE Oregon Ski Report app!

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Toy Trains’ Benefit Concert!

For many families, the day after Thanksgiving — Black Friday — signifies the beginning of the consumerist frenzy that often overtakes the holiday season. Recently, many shoppers have added Cyber Monday to the mix, going online to purchase scads of holiday gifts on the Monday after Thanksgiving. This year, we’d like to offer two alternatives: Little Boxes & Small Business Saturday: We’re not saying you shouldn’t buy gifts for the holidays or that you shouldn’t get a jump start on your shopping this weekend. But why not support our local community and our local economy by doing your shopping at locally owned businesses? That’s what Little Boxes – a Portland-area alternative to Black Friday – and Small Business Saturday – the Saturday after Thanksgiving – are all about. Last year, Tony Fuentes of Milagros Boutique wrote a wonderful online article explaining the importance of keeping our dollars as close to home as possible. We hope you’ll take a moment to read Tony’s article again this year , before you start your holiday shopping. And as added incentive to shop locally this weekend, Supportland , Portland’s own local business rewards program, is offering triple points this Friday and Saturday (Black Friday and Small Business Saturday)! For more information about Little Boxes, including a list of participating local retailers, incentives and prizes, visit littleboxespdx.com . For more info on Small Business Saturday, visit smallbusinesssaturday.com. National Day of Listening: Of course, there’s more to life than shopping. How about spending some time on the day after Thanksgiving to thank a teacher who had a positive impact on your life? That’s the theme for this year’s StoryCorps National Day of Listening, which began in 2008 as an alternative to “Black Friday.” In previous years, StoryCorps has encouraged people to interview loved ones and record their personal histories on National Day of Listening. This year, they’re asking us to take some time to honor a favorite teacher. As explained on the National Day of Listening website: “Whether posting a memory to Facebook (StoryCorps), thanking them on Twitter (@storycorps, #thankateacher), taping a tribute on YouTube or sending a ‘thank you’ card, the 2011 National Day of Listening will send a powerful and necessary message to teachers across the nation: they matter, and we as a nation are grateful for the impact they have on our lives.” The organization has also provided tools on their site to “help you record a face-to-face interview with a teacher – or anyone else you’d like to honor for the National Day of Listening,” and they encourage you to spread the love further by recording interviews in veterans’ hospitals, senior centers, homeless shelters and other community gathering places. For more information, visit nationaldayoflistening.org . Happy Thanksgiving!

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Skipping Black Friday & Cyber Monday

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Local stores prep for Small Business Saturday

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Portland’s Christmas tree will be lit Friday

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The Oregon Garden

The Cinnamon Bear began in 1937 as a radio series running from Thanksgiving to Christmas. The story followed Judy and Jimmy Barton as they searched throughout Maybeland for a missing Silver Star that belonged on their Christmas tree. The Cinnamon Bear and other colorful characters helped them on their journey. The Cinnamon Bear still is a holiday tradition for families in the Portland metro area, with a special two-hour, family-friendly Portland Spirit “Cinnamon Bear” cruise inspired by the classic holiday story. Passengers enjoy holiday treats while the fanciful cast of characters entertain with storytelling, music and magic. Families can get their pictures taken with the Cinnamon Bear himself atop his festive throne. This year, we’re thrilled to be giving away a family four-pack of tickets to the Cinnamon Bear cruise, which runs Dec. 3 through Dec. 27. Here’s how to enter: 1. “Like” Metro Parent (Portland, OR) on Facebook, follow @Metro_Parent on Twitter, and/or subscribe to our e-newsletter . (You’ll be entered once for each of these actions, so do them all for three chances to win!) 2. Send an email to contest@metro-parent.com with your name, mailing address, phone number and email address. Tell us which of the actions in number one you did (if you were already a Facebook fan, Twitter follower, or newsletter subscriber, we’ll count it!) so we know how many entries to allot you. Contest ends at noon on Nov. 23. For more information about the Cinnamon Bear Cruise or to purchase tickets, visit cinnamonbearcruise.com . Tickets are $28 adults, $20 children ages 1 to 12, free for children under 1, and that includes one picture with the Cinnamon Bear for each child! Group rates are available for 15 or more.

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Win Tickets to the Cinnamon Bear Cruise!

This month’s online article , a Viewpoint column by Colleen Hermann-Franzen of the American Lung Association (ALA), covers an important topic for parents: smoking in cars. We were shocked to learn that secondhand smoke in a car can be up to 27 times stronger than in a smoker’s home! Cracking a window does little to reduce the effect. We hope you’ll take the time to read Ms. Hermann-Franzen’s informative article, then go a step further to take the ALA’s s smoke-free car and home pledge , and/or join their effort on Facebook . And while we’re on the subject of smoking, let’s talk about another important topic for parents: keeping our kids away from tobacco. We all want to do it, but many of us aren’t quite sure how -– or when –- to approach the issue with our kids. We found a few websites that can help: The Mayo Clinic’s 10 Ways to Help Teens Stay Smoke-free The US Dept of Health and Human Services Office of Women’s Health’s Resources for Parents Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids’ How Parents Can Protect Their Kids Foundation for a Smoke-free America’s Youth Site Have you broached the subject of smoking with your kids? What do you think is a good age to begin the conversation? What tips can you offer other parents to get their kids talking about – and thinking about – the harmful effects of smoking before they’re tempted to give it a try?

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Kids, Cars & Smoking

You’ve probably heard the expression, “Think globally. Act locally.” We think that’s a wonderful way of approaching life, but this holiday season, we’d like to take it to the next level by saying, “Think globally AND locally, then act on both fronts as well!” That’s why our 2011 Holiday Giving Campaign has two components -– one focused on local families in need, the other on starving families living on the Horn of Africa. Here’s the scoop: JOIN “Home for the Holidays”: Since 2008, Metro Parent and our readers have been partnering with JOIN , a local nonprofit that helps homeless people move into permanent housing, to help families down on their luck transition into stable environments – and keep them there. The cost to get a homeless family into permanent housing through JOIN is $2,500. During November and December, Metro Parent will match our readers’ donations up to a combined reader contribution of $1,250, bringing the total to $2,500. Mercy Corps/Metro Parent Match Campaign: The famine in the Horn of Africa has taken the lives of thousands -– but the suffering is far from over. The United Nations predicts that 750,000 people could starve to death over the next few months in Somalia alone. Metro Parent has been matching our readers’ donations to Mercy Corps since September. At press time, we had matched $1,410 in reader donations (for a total of $2,820). We will continue to match donations up to a total Metro Parent match of $2,500 (for a total reader/ Metro Parent donation of $5,000). To contribute to our “Home for the Holidays” effort, visit JOIN’s website and click on the Metro Parent logo on the home page , then choose “Metro Parent Magazine Home for the Holidays” from the donation category drop-down menu. To donate to Mercy Corps, visit our donation page . And be sure to pick up a copy of our sister publication, Portland Woman , to read a gripping report on The Women of Mogadishu by Mercy Corps aid worker Cassandra Nelson. Together we CAN make a difference!

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Our Holiday Giving Campaigns

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PVS – Craft Fair!

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Dabney State Park