Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Philadelphia, PA

I love Christmas.

No, seriously, I LOVE CHRISTMAS.

Know this about me before I begin this month's posts. While I will make an attempt to include the vast array of holidays celebrated in December, I must confess that my own personal experience will come from Christmas themed-events. I apologize in advance for my obvious slant; it comes strictly from irrational exuberance.

When it comes to holiday rituals, I have a few that I am looking forward to sharing with my daughter this year, but I am also looking forward to establishing some new ones. For instance, I've always enjoyed riding around in the car through various neighborhoods (like South Philly, which used to be awesome but has been less so of late) and I can't wait to do that with my daughter.

We always host Christmas dinner, and I cook a large and elaborate feast that most folks who attend would not miss, and have in fact come for many, many years. This is the first year that my daughter will be able to "help" and that should be a giant pain in the arse great fun.

We also have a tree-decorating gathering and I've gotten much better at letting my friends and family have input into how the tree looks, thank you. Ahem.

New rituals we want to add are a trip to the slightly insane Koziar's Christmas Village near Reading (it's really nuts, but I just KNOW my kid will love it). Checking out the newly revamped Christmas show at (now) Macy's downtown. I'm sure there will be many, many more.

What are your favorite holiday rituals? I'm always open to new suggestions!