Hello everyone! I'm soon to depart for a press trip to explore a (potentially) family friendly travel destination (hopefully I'll have excellent things to share with you in the next week or so!) so I wanted to leave you with this roundup of 13 fun weekend picks to consider:

1. Urban Nutcracker at the Wheelock Family Theatre. (Boston)

2. The opening of the Charles Hotel skating rink. (Cambridge)

3. A holiday concert by the Boston Choral Ensemble and the Choirs of Marlborough High School. (Boston)

4. The Cultural Survival Bazaar's final event of the season. (Boston)

5. Family friendly Chanukah lights celebrations. (Arlington, Newton)

6. A gingerbread castle competition at the Higgins Armory Museum. (Worcester)

7. Children's choruses and orchestras at the NEC Prep Winter Festival Concert. (Boston)

8. A Christmas Celtic Sojourn. (Boston)

9. The Christmas Revels. (Cambridge)

10. Trains galore at the National Heritage Museum. (Lexington)

11. A gingerbread house workshop at Smolak Farms. (North Andover)

12. Santa (on Saturday) and Chanukah celebrations (on Sunday) at Barefoot Books. (Concord)

13. The final showings of The Velveteen Rabbit (see Lindsey's review!). (Boston)

Image credit: Urban Nutcracker