Ellen of The Long Thread has so generously complied a list of her picks for the "Top 100 Tutorials of 2008" and boy has she hooked us up big time. Some of the tutorials mentioned, namely Oliver + S "Lazy Day Skirt" and "Take along fabric dollhouse", I've actually made and have fallen in love with myself.

Geffen Playhouse's popular family theater program Saturday Scene is back this Saturday, January 10th with their first family performance of the 2009 year. Join them as they present the classic Pinocchio.

Feeling bad about the ten rolls of gift wrap you blew through this past holiday? Well, make up for your global destructiveness by tossing those empty wrapping paper tubes to the kids for oodles of quick cheap thrills. Marie from awe-inspiring family site Make and Takes has put together a fun little list of clever ideas for upcycling those empty wrapping paper rolls.

Come celebrate the New Year, namely Oshogatsu, the Japanese new year, this Sunday, January 4th at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM). In honor of the new year the museum is offering free admission all day and a free Oshogatsu Family Festival from 11am to 4pm. The festival is going to be one nice size family bash including a crafts area where kids can make their own

You have this last weekend of winter/family vacation to escape the holiday rut you've been stuck in for two weeks and get out and do something fun and meaningful with the kids. The Getty Center in Los Angeles just might have that certain activity to help you break free for a few hours of quality family time before you're thrust right back into that humdrum day-to-day routine for good. This Saturday and Sunday the museum is holding their Family Art Stops program.

Amy from Let's Explore has a simple yet grand idea for repurposing all those holiday cards into a fun activity for young kids. She's provided a fast and easy tutorial on how to make a "Christmas Card Puzzle Game". I can't wait to make a set or two of these puzzle cards for my own 2 year old daughter. It's such a basic, clean matching/puzzle idea that I know my detail obsessed little girl is going to go crazy over.

Out with the old, in with the new includes that crispy evergreen, half a day away from being a serious fire hazard, sadly sitting in the corner of the living room among the holiday rubbish. Now that you're beginning to regain the strength that's been sucked dry from too many champagne toasts, sugar cookies and cabbage rolls on New Year's Eve you're more likely going to want to pack away the holiday cheer for another year this weekend. But what to do with the dead tree?

So your kid didn't get that pony she so desperately wanted from Santa to bring them year? Why not make up for the disappointment by taking your mini jockey to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank this Sunday, December 28th for their annual Equestfest? From 11am to 3pm your family can "Meet many of the Equestrians you will see January 1st in the 2009 Rose Parade.

Kaboose has quite a few nice little kid-friendly Kwanzaa crafts available on their site. Musical instruments, Mkeka mats, cards, gifts and games are a few of the ideas represented. Most of the crafts require easily accessible and recycled materials that you probably have laying around the house. My favorite ideas include the

"K is for Kwanzaa"by Jwanda Ford is an excellent introductory read for young kids learning about and celebrating Kwanzaa.

Bowers Museum in Santa Ana is holding a really great Kwanzaa Family Festival this Saturday, December 27th for families looking to learn more about the holiday or just looking for s a nice way to celebrate the holiday together. According to the site "Join us in a cultural tradition that celebrates the best of African thought, practice, and culture, the well-being of family and community, the integrity of the environment and our kinship with it.

Today marks the first day of Kwanzaa, a warm and beautiful holiday outlined in seven principles exploring special traditions, culture and family togetherness in the African American community. To honor this meaningful holiday Luckman Fine Arts Complex on the Cal State Los Angeles campus is having a Kwanaa Celebration Concert this Saturday, December 27th at 8pm.

Moogsmum has posted a few links to some pretty crafty recycled paper Christmas crafts. Among the ideas listed is this super-smart gift bag tutorial made from your breakfast routine basics. With a few well chosen newspaper pages, a cereal box, string or ribbon and some glue you can put together a sturdy, environmentally friendly, virtually free gift bag. Oh how it hurts plopping down four bucks for a gift bag.

Trying to "green" your holiday decorations? Wanting to switch out those energy wasting Christmas lights for some sweet new LEDs because you heard they give off 90% less energy thus preventing you from screaming "why, WHY..what was it all for?" when you receive your post-holiday electric bill come next month? Heck, even Disneyland decks their castle in over 80,000 LEDs at Christmas. Don't throw out those old lights just yet.

Since 1955 North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) the "bi-national U.S.-Canadian military organization responsible for the aerospace and maritime defense of the United States and Canada," has the important job of "tracking Santa" on Christmas Eve. The story goes "...after an errant phone call was made to the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The call was from a local youngster who dialed a misprinted telephone number in a local newspaper advertisement.