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Using state-of-the-art radar, satellites, fighter jets, and a Santa-cam, NORAD tracks Santa’s progress around the world every year. You can follow his progress too with the free Santa Tracker app for iPhones or Android devices. Or track Santa’s progress from your desktop by going to www.noradsanta.org.
Download a free app for your Android device or iPhone, or track Santa from your desktop. The phone apps include a game called Elf Toss you can play while you’re waiting. Just make sure you’re in bed asleep before he gets to your neighborhood!
Thanks to Carolyn at Wichita On The Cheap!
Planning on a movie for Christmas week? Check out these steals and deals at Seattle area theaters.
- AMC Pacific Place is showing several family movies: Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (G), The Muppets (PG), The Adventures of Tintin (PG), and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (PG-13). First show of the day (11:25-11:30 a.m.) is just $6, a $3 discount off the regular price. Make it an afternoon of fun; check out the dining offers, like free offers, discounts, and happy hour prices at Pacific Place eateries.
- Northwest Film Forum offers a free movie pass for two when you join, renew or purchase a gift membership. Purchase a membership during December 2011 and you’ll receive a free “Admit-2″ movie pass and a coupon for free popcorn (at $25 value!).
- Grand Illusion is showing “It’s A Wonderful Life” through Christmas Day. Regular tickets are $8. Or buy a $30 membership, and get $3 off your ticket price for an entire year. The Grand Illusion Cinema is a non-profit volunteer run theater and Seattle’s oldest continuously running theater. Help support this cinematic treasure by becoming a member or volunteering your time.
- Central Cinema features E.T. the Extra Terrestrial December 26-31. Save $2 when you purchase advance tickets (at least 24 Hours before the show tix are just $6.00. Day-of-show general admission: $8.00 ).
- Always $3 and always worthwhile, Crest Cinema Centre in north Seattle is featuring Puss in Boots (PG) and the sci-fi thriller In Time (PG-13), plus several other indie and foreign films.
Youth Eastside Services (YES) is a lifeline for kids and families coping with challenges such as emotional distress, substance abuse, sexual abuse, dating violence, gang activity, and discrimination. Each year, tens of thousands of kids and family members discover the inner strength to overcome emotional problems and painful crises as they learn to make the right decisions that lead them toward happy, healthy lives.
YES provides individual and family counseling; substance abuse education, prevention and treatment; community- and school-based violence prevention, family support, consultation and training. At YES, a family’s inability to pay for services never stands in the way of their finding the help they need.
The Salvation Army Northwest Division offers a wide range of social services in 34 towns and cities in Washington, Montana and northern Idaho. In addition, a large network, Service Extension, makes it possible for people in small communities to access Salvation Army emergency services anywhere in the three state region. The manner in which need for assistance is verified and the spirit in which help is given are at the heart of Army service. The compassion and understanding shown in an emergency may open the way for assistance with deep-seated problems and long-term deprivation. Needs may be revealed for counseling, placement, day care, rehabilitation, referral, or other help.
The Salvation Army is an integral part of each community in which it is located. Along with a network of other organizations and services, The Army exists to meet the needs of the people who live in that community. In more than 100-years of service around the world and here in the Pacific Northwest, The Salvation Army has earned the trust of the communities we are part of and strives to merit continued support.
To find out what is available and how to access services near you please click here.
Kindering Center is commited to provide superior, individualized, family-centered services for children who are disabled, medically fragile, or vulnerable because of abuse or neglect and to develop maximum potential, hope, and community understanding.
Prescreening checklists are provided on the Kindering website. These checklists are a quick, organized way of helping caregivers to recognize possible problem areas in a child’s vision, hearing and development. Further, the charts help caregivers recognize areas that deserve a second look by a professional who can give a complete developmental test. The chart may be used by anyone who works with young children, including parents, child care providers, case workers, and preschool staff.
Atlantic Street Center services seek to improve the lives of those whom they serve, to help children of all ages to flourish and to serve family needs. Each family is unique, but the following are some of the challenges that families who utilize the center’s services may be facing:
- Single parent household or children in foster care
- Household income at or below the federal poverty level
- Limited support system
- Children underachieving academically
- Neighborhood detachment and isolation
- Multicultural identity issues
Atlantic Street Services is one of just a few nonprofit organizations in the Seattle area that serves individuals at every stage of life, from toddlers to grandparents. Their resources focus on low-income children and youth of color in Seattle’s central and southeast neighborhoods. All services are free to participants. Costs are met through public and private grants and donations.
Children in foster care live in an uncertain world. Stability and permanence, things that most children can take for granted, are not guaranteed to foster kids. They can be moved frequently, and with very little notice, leaving with just a plastic trash bag filled with their possessions. Kids get used to parting with favorite toys and stuffed animals, saying goodbye to neighbors and friends, and changing schools time and again. All too often, entering the foster care system means losing a sense of identity and purpose.
Since 1988, Treehouse has filled the gaps for kids in foster care, providing services that no other agency addresses: money for extra-curricular activities and summer camp, professional educational support services, resources to fully participate in the everyday activities of growing up, clothing and supplies to help them fit in at school.
Treehouse offers six core programs to give foster children a real childhood as well as hope for the future.
- Tutoring: helps bridge the educational achievement gap
- Educational Advocacy: works statewide to protect students’ educational rights
- College and Career Planning: gives kids support as they follow their dreams for the future
- Little Wishes: pays for activities and experiences as small as hair care and as big as drivers’ ed
- Summer Camp: sends kids on adventures
- Wearhouse: free store where kids shop for clothing, school supplies, toys, books and other essentials
Treehouse programs offer kids in foster care what all children so desperately need: a safe place to dream.
Big Brothers Big Sisters has been recognized as one of the most effective youth development programs in the United States. The program matches a volunteer Big Brother or Big Sisters with a child who could benefit from a one-to-one relationship with a caring adult.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound serves all children in a five-county service area, which covers King, Pierce, Kitsap, Jefferson, and Clallam Counties. Some of the matches get together to enjoy activities on their own throughout the Puget Sound, and others meet at specific schools or for fun filled agency-planned activities.
The free Fishermen’s Fall Festival is a day of celebration and fishing-related family fun, and live musical all day long. There will be a Salmon/Halibut Fillet Demonstration, Lutefisk Eating Contest, Oyster Slurp Contest. The USCG always makes waves with their dramatic demonstration of an at-sea rescue. Food is available for $5-10 per serving and includes a salmon barbecue, other seafood selections or hot dogs. For visitors 21 and older, the Beer & Wine Tasting Garden features a selection of local brews.
Fishermen’s Fall Festival is Saturday, September 17th, 2011 from 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. at Fishermen’s Terminal, 1900 W. Nickerson Street, Seattle, WA 98119 (Google map).
Performance highlights
- 11:00 – Inochi Taiko. Taiko, otherwise known as Wadaiko is a drumming style of Japanese origin. Literally, taiko means “fat drum.” Taiko has become a dynamic and spectacular art form heard at festivals and in concert halls throughout the world. For Inochi Taiko, it has been the life force or “spirit” that has helped each member develop leadership skills, artistic expression and other personal aspects of their lives. The members of Inochi Taiko strive to not only play at a high caliber to entertain audiences, but also try to push each other creatively to form a uniquely distinct sound. This is a performance not to be missed!
- 12:00 – JP Patches in his Farewell Performance: Beloved Seattle icon and long-time philanthropist JP Patches has been entertaining young and old alike since 1958. The Emmy-award winning J.P. Patches Show aired for 23 years on KIRO-TV and at one time had an audience of over 100,000. When it 1left the air in 1981, it was the longest running, locally produced children’s program in the country. Don’t miss his final performance on the Main Stage!
- 1:00 – The Reptile Man: Scott Petersen has performed for over 800 schools in the Northwest. Corporations such as Microsoft, Boeing, and Eddie Bauer have found this program to be exciting for all ages. You can see Scott on Disney’s nationally televised Bill Nye – The Science Guy. Scott’s performance creates an interest in the natural sciences and teach students about the importance of all animals in the balance of nature
Bellevue-based Green Halloween started in 2006 with the idea of making Halloween healthier and safer for children and the environment by promoting non-candy treats and in 2007 organizing National Costume Swap Day.
Green Halloween founder Corey Colwell-Lipson encourages you to go green this Halloween and to “Think outside the conventional candy box!”
There are plenty of swap parties in Washington, including events in Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond and many other locations. You can also organize and register a public or private swap among friends and extended family.
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