Montclair NAACP Hosting Visit With Santa

BY  |  Tuesday, Nov 30, 2010 5:01pm  |  COMMENTS (1)

We will be adding another Santa photo-op to our list of where to find St. Nick, but we felt that this Santa deserves a bit more attention. This Santa is Black. 

The Montclair NAACP along with the Montclair ACT-SO Team and the Montclair Fire Department will be hosting Santa Claus at the Montclair Fire Department on Saturday, December 11 and again on Sunday, December 12. Your kids can meet him, tell him what they want for Christmas and take a picture. Since it will be held at the fire station, they can also tour the fire engines.

Continue Reading

In My House We Have Bath Day

BY  |  Tuesday, Nov 30, 2010 3:00pm  |  COMMENTS (4)

That’s right, Bath Day. A day assigned for bathing.

The New York Times backs me up on this. The other week they ran an article entitled “The Great Unwashed” reporting on relatively normal people who choose not to bathe, shampoo or deodorize daily. But this is nothing new in my household. My kids are way ahead of that trend.

My kids opt out not for any strongly held philosophical or environmental reasons as is true of some of the subjects in the article. My kids’ motives are really quite simple. They like filth. Or rather they are lazy and prefer the grime to the effort it takes to wash it off.

I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but I may be alone in my enforcement of bath time.

Continue Reading

Save Our Schools Montclair Continues to Fight

BY  |  Tuesday, Nov 30, 2010 1:00pm  |  COMMENTS (3)

Save Our Schools, or SOS, is the small group of Montclair parents who created a petition against some of the threatened cuts to Montclair’s education:

  • half-day kindergarten
  • closing Renaissance and/or Edgemont Montessori School
  • increasing class size

They presented the petition, now with 527 signatures, at the November 15 Board meeting and again at a meeting with Superintendent Dr. Alvarez and Business Administrator Dana Sullivan on November 29.

Continue Reading

Giveaway: Tickets to A Great Big Miracle at SOPAC

BY  |  Tuesday, Nov 30, 2010 11:00am  |  COMMENTS (7)

Hanukkah begins on Wednesday, December 1 and we’ve got tickets to a fun, family show that will retell the story of the miracle of the oil. A Great Big Miracle is brought to you by the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) and Midtown Direct Rep:

A Great Big Miracle is Ben H. Winters’ smart, joyful, and just a little bit irreverent take on the story of Hanukkah. It’s got Judah Maccabee – the random shepherd who becomes a virtuous warrior, wicked King Antiochus and his really mean army. And yes, it’s got the whole candle and the eight nights thing. Narrated by a pair of Borscht Belt sheep, it’s the Hanukkah story like you’ve never seen it before!

Thanks to the generosity of SOPAC, Barista Kids has 4 tickets to give away to one lucky reader.

To enter keep reading…

Continue Reading

Tree Lightings Around Baristaville

BY  |  Tuesday, Nov 30, 2010 9:00am  |  COMMENTS (0)

They may not be as grand as the tree at Rockefeller Center, but they light up our towns with as much joy. Here is where to see your town’s tree lighting:

Continue Reading

Millburn Middle School Gives Thanksgiving to Others

BY  |  Tuesday, Nov 30, 2010 8:00am  |  COMMENTS (0)

Mr. Neville Clarke, Kelle Keyles, Michael Lieberman, Scotty Barabander, EJ Barkhorn and Andrew Kiselik

On Wednesday, at their Thanksgiving Assembly, Millburn Middle School students were taught a lesson on people who are in need. On the eve of a holiday which is all about food, they learned that many people go hungry.

Millburn Middle school students know this, because throughout the year they go on monthly visits to the Morristown Soup Kitchen. This assembly discussed what the soup kitchen does and other ways to help those in need. The school’s Peer Leader Outreach Program (PLOP) organized a food collection at the school, and more than 50 decorated boxes of food were on display on the stage.

Continue Reading

Santa Photo-ops

BY  |  Monday, Nov 29, 2010 3:00pm  |  COMMENTS (0)

Taking pictures on Santa’s lap is a yearly tradition, even if it means a photo of a screaming, terrified child on St. Nick’s lap. Here are some places to take a picture with the jolly old elf:

Continue Reading

Ask Holly: Hanukkah Napkin Rings and Centerpiece

Monday, Nov 29, 2010 1:00pm  |  COMMENTS (3)

Okay Baristaville, it is time to turn your back on that sad looking end cap of random Hanukkah decorations at the craft store. I am dedicating this segment of  Ask Holly to my dear friend Lauren who has been begging me for years to come up with fun, easy and foam-sticker free Hanukkah crafts for years!

Here is what you will need:

Continue Reading

Merry Happy Something

BY  |  Monday, Nov 29, 2010 11:00am  |  COMMENTS (12)

I started planning for the 2010 winter holiday season about a year ago. My wife and I had already been matched with our son’s birthmother, so I made an appointment with Rabbi Amy Small at Congregation Beth Hatikvah in Summit. I wanted to talk through what I needed to know about making sure the kid was Jewish not only according to me, but according to the laws and traditions of Judaism.

Her answers were pretty straightforward: have a brit milah (ritual circumcision) for sure, go to a mikveh (ritual immersion) maybe, and then just make sure teach him everything he needs to know in order to live a good Jewish life. Sounded pretty simple.

Where it gets complicated is that I am Jewish and my son is Jewish…but my wife is not.

Continue Reading

Little Shoebox Collecting Old Shoes For Soles4Souls

BY  |  Monday, Nov 29, 2010 9:00am  |  COMMENTS (0)

Little Shoebox, the kid’s shoe store in Montclair, is holding its annual Soles4Souls drive. Soles4Souls is a charity that collects shoes from the warehouses of footwear companies and the closets of people like you. The charity distributes these shoes to people in need.  Since 2005, Soles4Souls has given away nearly 12 million pairs of new and gently worn shoes.

Not that you need an incentive to donate to charity, but if you bring your old shoes and sneakers to Little Shoebox between December 1 through December 24, you will get 10% off  any single pair of shoes purchased during the collection period.

Little Shoebox Souls 4 Souls Collection and Offer
Who: All ages.
What: Get 10% off any single pair of children’s shoes when you donate old shoes.
When: December 1 – December 24.
Where: Little Shoebox, 602 Valley Road, Montclair, NJ 07043.

Follow, Friend, Subscribe

Giveaways and Contests!

Summer Camps 2013

Barista Kids Guides