fa m i ly Take a stroll through the American Tobacco Campus to see the water tower strung up with lights and visit the Tree of Bikes, and then head to Diamond View Park to check out the Home for the Holidays playhouses, built by local businesses in partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Durham. The playhouses will be auctioned off to help fund one tiny, 500-square-foot Habitat for Humanity Home to be built in Durham in 2018.
As the holidays move along, consider joining the Levin JCC and the Jewish Federation of Durham-Chapel Hill for Mitzvah Day on December 25. It begins with a community breakfast and continues with a day of volunteerism. There are a variety of opportunities to choose from, all of which help you and the rest of the fam give back to our community. KwanzaaFest on New Year’s Day is another family-friendly event. Organized by the African American Dance Ensemble, its Children’s Village has arts, crafts and drum classes. Parents can enjoy the marketplace and specific events for adults. In that kind-of-a-bummer/kind-of-a-relief space between New Year’s Day and school starting, when younger kids still need some time each day to burn off energy but you don’t have a single bit left, go to Notasium. It’s the Goldilocks of play places – a not too big and not too small music-based play area and music school, with countertops and stools for parents who need to keep an eye on their kiddos but also an eye on, say, projects and deadlines that are waiting in 2018.
SN O W ED IN
PHOTO BY BRIAN MULLINS PHOTOGRAPHY
If you’ve lived here awhile, you know that our area doesn’t get true winter weather until about February, but it’s never too early to start prepping for school closures and kid fun when the ice and snow do roll in.
• Buy snow gear now. By February, stores are stocked for spring break, which means that by the time a blizzard rolls through, you’ll have nothing to choose from but beachwear. If you walk by a puffer jacket or snow pants any time of year, buy them, before it’s too late! (You can also find sleds, shovels and ice melt at some of our local garden supply stores like Stone Brothers & Byrd and Barnes Supply Co.)
• Freeze enough of your favorite quarts of soup or stew to feed the family something warm for two or three days. It’s an easily prepared, healthy option that will help you enjoy some of the day, too. • If you’re new here and from up north, know that there are pros and cons to snow days in the Triangle. An upside: It usually warms up so quickly that there’s
no real need to shovel snow from the average driveway. So save your back and let Mother Nature clean up her own mess. • One downside: Snow days are called with relatively little snow. In recent years, these cancellations have resulted in makeup days, which can include Saturdays and spring break days.
december/january 2018
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