Today, Lindsey recommends heading to The Velveteen Rabbit this upcoming weekend:

My 9-year-old daughter re-read the Velveteen Rabbit aloud to me and to her 6-year-old brother as we drove into Boston to attend the Boston Children's Theater (BCT) performance of the story. It was wonderful to revisit it, though it wasn't entirely necessary, because Burgess Clark's adaptation of The Velveteen Rabbit is faithful to the story, beautifully paced, and clear to understand for audiences of all ages. The Velveteen Rabbit kicks off the BCT's 60th season, which features four other shows. Two of those are world premieres, and taken together, the five shows represent a wide range of subject matter and style and appeal to children from pre-K through high school.
The BCT's production of The Velveteen Rabbit blends puppetry and live acting in a compelling, magical way. The puppets contribute to the general atmosphere of wonder that pervaded the theater. I've never been in a room with so many small children that was consistently quiet for two 30-minute segments (the play has one 10-minute intermission). My children were spellbound by the play, laughing out loud at certain moments and watching in silent awe at others. The play is just the right length for its young audience, and keeps moving while never losing the particular enchantment that makes the book so beloved.

After the show, the actors all came out on the stage and participated in an informal Q&A session. The questions focused on how the puppet toys (the Velveteen Rabbit, the Skin Horse, the boat, tin soldier, and toy lion) moved and on how the few special effects worked. The BCT's Executive Producer, Toby Schine, was an amiable and welcoming host who led the Q&A. My children, on the older side in the audience, were captivated by the fact that some of the actors were almost the same age as they are. The child actors were visibly confident and proud of their participation, and it was easy to see the ways in which the BCT contributes to self-esteem and feelings of mastery for children.

The Velveteen Rabbit is playing at the Boston Center for the Arts, at 539 Tremont Street, and there are three shows remaining (one on Saturday the 17th and two on Sunday the 18th). I highly recommend the show for children of all ages, but particularly those under 9 or 10. Tickets can be purchased on the BCT website or by calling the box office at 617-424-6634 x222.

Laurel and I have made a happy tradition of attending Disney on Ice together the last couple of winters, so I haven't yet had the heart to tell her that this month's DOI show, Treasure Trove (10 performances, December 26-29), includes characters from one of her favorite movies -- Tangled. However, while we will miss this run, you need not miss out! I'm a huge fan of experiential gifts (no organizing or clean up needed!) and DOI always proves fun and entertaining for all (especially the figure skating obsessed like myself!). And how cool is this? The kind folks at Feld Entertainment are offering a 4-pack of Disney on Ice tickets to share with one of you awesome readers. Here's how to enter to win:

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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Congrats to winner Kristen!
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Rules*:

Simply e-mail contests@bostonmamas.com with "Disney on Ice" in the subject by noon EST, Wednesday, December 14, 2011.

Local entrants welcome.

One entry per person (please do not enter off multiple e-mail accounts).

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*One lucky winner (drawn randomly via Random.org) will receive four (4) tickets to the Disney on Ice Treasure Trove show in Boston on Monday, December 26, 2011 at 7pm. The winner will be notified directly via e-mail, then listed back at this post using first name only.

This week I've been unsubscribing to almost everything that comes into my inbox. A few things I've felt horribly guilty about unscubscribing from -- causes I care about, political updates -- and some I've had to ask myself why the hell I've been deleting this for the past five years instead of just getting off the list. 

I remind myself I know where to find these things if I need them.

I keep waiting for the inbox to die down, if I'll be able to tell I eliminated things or if other things will just grow back to replace them, things from which I can't unsubscribe. People from whom I can't unsubscribe. (Now wouldn't THAT be great?)

I wonder if it will make me feel unimportant or lonely if the inbox isn't flooded. I try to remember the last time this happened. It's not that I am so important, you see, but more that I conduct so much of my life online and get automatically added to new product updates! and great deals! And I've since realized that I don't have any money for great deals, anyway, and my delete finger is sore from all that blah, blah, blah. All I want to do is go read a book, watch a movie, be entertained. I don't want to sort through catalogs or newspapers or coupons or email. I want to sit down and know I will be interested in that which presents itself before me. 

I'm having a day in which everything and nothing is interesting. My concentration lags and my eye keeps going to the window. It's Friday afternoon, and I have a lot to do, and I just don't want to.

I want to hear a story instead.

I think the faster I get through this mound of work, the faster I will get to my story.

Unsubscribe.

Unsubscribe.

Unsubscribe.

Hello everyone! I hope you have a fantastic weekend ahead of you. I'm excited to get the house in holiday mode (Laurel reminded me today I need to make Violet a stocking...) and, most notably, to celebrate my sister Jenn's wedding tomorrow. Yay for love! Meanwhile, here are 11 fun weekend picks for your consideration:

1. Hooray for the SoWa holiday market! (Boston)

2. The Boston Gay Men's Chorus kicks of the first performance of their holiday concert. (Boston)
3. Cambridge dwellers can get their crafty gifts at the Holly Fair. (Cambridge)

4. Fine crafts likely will abound at Craftboston. (Boston)

5. Celebrate the ICA's 75th birthday. (Boston)

6. If you love ceramics, head to this holiday show and sale. (Allston)

7. Charles Dickens fans should head here. (Waltham)

8. North shore peeps can shop in their own backyard. (Peabody)

9. Rock out with Ben Rudnick & Friends. (Arlington)

10. There's always something fun going on at Arts at the Armory -- this weekend it's Snow Mall. (Somerville)

11. Ah, the orchestra of my youth -- Boston Youth Symphony -- is performing a free family holiday concert! (Boston)

Image credit: SoWa Holiday Market

Yesterday I covered the Virginia Tech shootings for BlogHer. I am intensely relieved it didn't escalate the way it did in 2007, but it was tough to sit and watch and wait for updates via Twitter from student journalists locked inside buildings. I'm hoping today the news is a little less exciting. Maybe a politician will say something stupid. 

Twitter just told me rockets hit Israel. (sigh)

But it's Friday and I've been crabby about the holidays (the wrapping! and the buying things for a million people! and the decorating! and the cards sitting in a huge pile that I haven't dealt with yet! and the gifts that need to be hand-constructed for second grade gift exchanges! and the homework!). I don't want to be crabby, don't mean to be crabby, and today I am going to choose not to be crabby. And we'll see how that goes.

Does that work for you? Can you decide to be in a certain mood? I will check back in later and see if it worked.

Today, Evadne shares a great game from a Newton-based company (also, check out below for details on a sale today and tomorrow!):

I recently played Gamewright's Take the Cake with my kids and was reminded what good wholesome fun board games are. Take the Cake's tag line describes the game perfectly: a sweet game of shakes, shapes & cupcakes. The idea behind the game is to decorate cupcake cards with colorful wooden shapes that sprinkle out of a shaker. If you complete the toppings on your turn, you collect the cupcake card -- that is, you take the cake. The player with the most cards wins the game.
As I played Take the Cake with my children, I marveled at its ingenuity. It's a simple game based on a delicious concept! My kids especially enjoyed shaking out the different shapes (white "tofu" cubes, stars, triangles, circles), and matching them to the patterns on the frosting did require my 3-year-old to verbally recognize colors & shapes. My 5-year old (who's all about "winning" these days) surprised me by strategizing over which cupcake card he could complete fastest with the shape he had in hand. And at the end of the game, even my 1-year-old was able to join in the fun as he meticulously put the wooden shapes back into the shaker. I recommend Take the Cake if you're looking for some good, old-fashioned family fun!

Editor's Note: Aptly timed, I just learned that Gamewright is having a sale today and tomorrow (10am - 4pm) at their warehouse -- 70 Bridge Street, Newton. Puzzles and games are marked up to 70% off! Cash only.

Today, Kate shares a great local spot to learn to sew with kids:

My 6-year-old daughter likes to watch me knit and sew, and often asks when she will be old enough to join in. I have so far hesitated, being not quite confident that her little hands are ready to carefully handle sharp needles and scissors and small pieces of thread. A recent trip to La Esquina Studio in Cambridge, however, convinced me that she is nimbler and more capable than I would have expected, and more ready to sustain the attention needed to see a project through to completion.
La Esquina is a small shop/studio, owned by two friends and dedicated to selling unusual and independently produced items for children and women. In addition, tucked into the back of the store is a wonderful studio -- chock full of patterns and fabrics and buttons and bright, bursting color -- for teaching children how to sew. Christine, one of the owners of La Esquina, confidently sat my daughter right down in front of a full-sized sewing machine, sitting with her and coaching her through its operation. Working together for two hours, the three of us produced -- from scratch! -- a headband for my daughter to wear, complete with a handmade mesh flower on top. Christine doesn't use kits or simplified tools, instead calmly taking her young pupils through all of the steps and skills necessary to create with fabric. La Esquina offers both private and group classes for children and adults, as well as birthday parties and other activities.

Yesterday on BlogHer I wrote about my hair.

As a child, I had long braids that I refused to cut, much to my mother's chagrin. I fancied myself Laura Ingalls Wilder. As a teenager in the eighties, I was a spiral-permed, ratted, claw-banged glory. In college, I shoved my ponytail through the hole in the back of my ever-present ball cap or let it pour out from under my do-rag. (I looked more Axl than gangsta.)

After college, I embarked on a fifteen-year fight with my hair. It's very fine -- so fine I can fit my entire ponytail into the smallest hair bauble or elastic band. My hair, when long and uncurled, resembles the head elf in the movie version of Lord of the Rings. The boy elf. The hot one. It looked good on him, not so much on me. So I resigned myself for many, many years to one of the best styles for fine hair: the chin-length bob. And during the entire reign of my chin-length bob, people I met always thought they already knew me, because I looked exactly like half of the upper Midwest.

Frustrated, I tried to grow it out again. I did The Rachel in the late '90s. It looked terrible on me. You could see through the layered parts if the sun was strong. Why did I do it? Boys. Men, I guess they were, but I still thought of them as boys. Boys liked long hair, and I wanted to be liked by boys.

Credit Image: Wikipedia

But when I really thought about it, I wanted to be the girl with the short hair. I wanted to be Helen Slater in The Legend of Billie Jean. I wanted to be Winona Ryder in Reality Bites. I wanted to be Demi Moore in G.I.Jane.

I wanted to transcend my hair.

Read the rest at BlogHer!

"Don't forget I'm picking you up at school today."

"Why?" I could see it in her eyes, so hopeful I was going to take her somewhere really cool and awesome. Maybe even Disneyland.

"I have to get my hair cut."

"NO! NOT THAT PLACE!"

"It will take twenty minutes."

"I HATE THAT PLACE!"

"You know that's part of not having after-school care. I can't let you come home on the bus without me here. Your bus driver wouldn't even let you get off if I weren't here."

"I HATE THE SMEEEELLLLLLL!"

I sat down. It was only 7:50 a.m. and my head already hurt. This was one of those fights that you have with your kid that can't be won without a "because I said so."

But I know she hates the smell. It's a hair salon, chock-full of chemical odors that offend the sensibilities of the child who refuses to sit next to me when I use Tobasco sauce because of the smell.

I looked over at her. Tears streamed down her face as she looked at me -- not in anger, but with this expression pleading with me not to subject her to the terrible fate that is the lair of my stylist.

I weighed my desire to save her against the reality that she would have to go with me. I didn't want to win it. I just wanted to end it.

I walked to the freezer and took out a lavendar-scented eye mask. I warmed it in my hands and held it up to her nose.

"Breathe."

She breathed.

She smiled.

"Do you like the smell?"

"Yes."

"Would you like to take this with you to the salon?"

"Yes."

"Can we stop having this conversation now?"

"Yes."

She stuffed my eye mask into her backpack, and I knew -- yes, I knew -- that I was sacrificing my pretty silk lavendar-scented eye mask that I love but never, ever use in order to walk around the wall instead of beating my head against it.

Maybe I was right. Maybe I was wrong. But she's still going with me, right? We don't all have to suffer.