🎄Gearing Up for Winter Break

Happy start of winter break and Christmas week!

We know that breaks from school and holidays can be such a mixed bag of emotions. So many special and fun things but there also can be many feelings of grief, stress, challenges, and disappointment. Whatever you’re feeling, there’s space for it all. As you’re out and about the next couple weeks, remember that a smile to a stranger, a helping hand to a fellow parent, and any act of kindness can go a really, really long way.

Since we’ve had a lot of sickness this month, we’ve definitely been into watching holiday movies! Last year our toddler watched Frosty the Snowman and Ice Age:A Mammoth Christmas about fifty times each. This year he’s on a Grinch kick (the newest version). If you’re looking for some new holiday movies to watch, our family enjoyed the newly released movies That Christmas and Red One. That Christmas is a touching story (a kid’s movie created by the writer/director of Love Actually) and my toddler enjoyed watching it with me. Red One is like if you combined the Marvel Universe with a Christmas movie. Red One is better for older kids due to more mature themes and violence. We’d love to know which traditional holiday movies are your favorite.

Let us know in the poll!

If you still need to get a gift or are torn on what to get your picky kid, check out the options on our Summerville Parent Gift Guide. The “experiences” gift list has gifts you can order instantaneously. If you’ve ordered from one of the vendors on the list, let us know by replying to the email! We’d love to see what you got. We used some of the vendors for our gifts this year, but I’m keeping it quiet because some of the gift receivers read this newsletter. 😉 

TO DO

Make the Most of Winter Break with Winter Camps

Here’s some options around town to keep your kids occupied during winter break. This is great for kids who want to get out of the house or for parents who need some help with childcare during the school break.

• Have your child use their creativity with one of the holiday art camps at PepperJack Pottery. They have mini camps (age 3-8), kid camps (age 8-12) and teen camps (age 12-16). See their site for available dates and times. Camps range from 1 ½ to 3 hours.

• The local Summerville YMCAs offer winter break day camps. Available dates include December 23rd, 26th, 27th, and 30th, and January 2nd and 3rd. Register for the camps here by selecting “camps” then searching for the winter break camps at your chosen location. Camps run from 7am-6pm and include games, sports, arts & crafts, STEM activities and more.

• Adrenaline Monkey in North Charleston offers extended hours through winter break and day camp drop off on December 23rd, 26th, 27th, and 30th, and January 2nd and 3rd. Adrenaline Monkey camps are great for kids ages 5-12 and offer ninja-warrior style obstacle courses, climbing walls, and interactive science and nutrition demonstrations. They offer 9am-1pm half days or 9am-5pm full days. You can see a sample schedule here.

Want to set up some creative bonding time with your child in January? Check out Abstract Adventures parent & me art classes for kids ages 1-5. These thoughtfully curated classes help your child explore different types of art and movement and keep the kids engaged with a variety of activities. And most importantly, they are a blast! My son and I have loved these classes and he is always so proud of what he creates. Take a look at the upcoming themes for January and consider purchasing a one time pass for $25 or purchasing a class pass for the month for $80. Classes are hosted at 9am at Bold Academy in Nexton.

A whopping NINE months ago we launched Palmetto Parents as a passion project. We love Summerville, and we love living here.

In the 36 weekly sends and 100+ articles we’ve written, we’ve discovered that parents in Summerville really, truly, eagerly want to know how to spend quality time with their families locally.

Palmetto Parents Summerville has been so successful that we’re excited to finally announce a brand new weekly send — Palmetto Parents Charleston!

We are so excited (and a little scared, who are kidding?) to take this new step as a media company.

Palmetto Parents Summerville will continue being exactly what you’ve come to know and love, but now parents and families in Charleston will get to share in the Palmetto Parents fun.

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LOCAL EVENT

The Nutcracker

Enjoy a special and festive performance of The Nutcracker at the Summers Corner Performing Arts Center with your family this Saturday. This hour and a half performance has showtimes starting at 2pm and 6:30pm. Tickets are $17/pp and you can purchase them here. The Classical Ballet Center is a prestigious Summerville based academy that follows the American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum. You can support local youth in their pursuit of excellence with dance as an audience member for this performance.

And if you’re in Summers Corner, be sure to drive by some of the intricately decorated house in the neighborhood. See last week’s article for the addresses of houses to check out!

RESTAURANT

Dine with Santa

Santa is going to be busy dining around town this week! If your little ones would love a chance to eat with Santa, stop by one of these restaurants to catch a meal with the big man.

• Get some brunch and enjoy cookies with Santa from 10am-1pm at Toast on Old Trolley Rd. on Saturday 12/21 and Monday 12/23.

• Montreux Bar & Grill is having a family friendly Christmas Celebration this Saturday 12/21 from 5-7pm. The kids can visit with Santa and decorate ornaments, get their face painted, enjoy hot chocolate and cookies, and listen to holiday music.

• Grab a coffee or Italian pastry from Talucci’s Bakery on 12/21 between 5-8pm or 12/22 between 4-8pm — and take a picture with Santa. In the spirit of giving, they are donating 50% of their proceeds during these events to Dorchester Paws.

PALMETTO PIECE

Just Go With It

Just because things may not go as you imagined doesn’t mean it’s a disappointment for your kids. We often have a picture perfect idea how an event or plans will go and more often than not they go sideways. My son has become obsessed with the tale of The Gingerbread Man over this past year. He’s been begging to bake some gingerbread men and I told him we’d do it in December. So, finally the day came for us to bake. Failure one: I did not have a gingerbread man cutout like I thought I did. Luckily he was pretty easy to convince that we’d just shape them like stars, trees, and stockings since that’s what I had. After the effort of putting together the dough, chilling it, rolling it out, shaping it, chilling it again we stuck them in the oven. And this is how they came out…

At this point, I just had to laugh. I pride myself in being a pretty good baker (I’ve even had a baking business in the past) and we followed the instructions to a T, but sometimes that’s just the way things go.

In my mind we were going to frost and decorate them and have some cute cookies, but I told him let’s just dig in. Luckily they were in the shape of random blobs and were still delicious. On paper, absolute failure. But my son had so much fun, loved eating them, and it was a bonding experience. So, don’t sweat the wayward plans and blob cookies. Your kids just want to spend time with you and that’s what counts.

Love,

The Berks 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 

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