If you are looking to get the Holiday Season started, check out some of these local tree farms with pre-cut and cut your own options!

We have some exciting news to share here at Coastal Orthopedics – we have another accomplished specialist joining our team – Dr. Paulina Piekarska, DPM. Meet Dr. Piekarska, a foot & ankle specialist, surgeon, and podiatrist with expertise in both operative and non-operative treatments. She specializes in the treatment of a variety of lower extremity conditions commonly experienced by children including sports injuries, heel pain, and severs disease!

Resilience is the ability to overcome serious stress or difficulty, and bounce back stronger than ever. With increasing pressures academically, athletically and socially on kids these days, being resilient is critical. In this series, Connecticut Children’s pediatric experts share keys to resilience, and how to help your child be resilient. 

If you are looking for a delicious homemade LATKE recipe this season, look no further! But do get ready for your house to smell for days=) Happy cooking!

Anyone else all about made-for-TV holiday movies that are all over Lifetime and Hallmark channels this time of year? Us too! Then you know that Melissa Joan Hart is one of the veritable Queens of Lifetime’s festive films. This season, as part of a new multi-film, two-year deal with the network, the Sabrina the Teenage Witch star directs her fourth Lifetime film, Santa’s Bootcamp. Her youngest son Tucker (10) is also part of the cast (in addition she is Mom to Mason, 16 and Braydon, 14 with husband, Mark). We spoke to Melissa about her favorite holiday traditions, why she thinks these films are more addictive than frosted Christmas cookies, and that time Jason Priestley showed up to her ugly sweater party.

In a season where we are making magic, hosting, decorating and organizing, we can’t forget to take care of ourselves, moms.  That means feeding ourselves as well as we do our families. Food, after all, is fuel for this busy holiday season. We asked The Local Moms Network contributor Stefani Sassos, Registered Dietician and Deputy Nutrition Director for the Good Housekeeping Institute for her favorite healthy eating hacks during celebration season.

If you are looking for something nice to do this holiday season, have your kids help pick out some toys on our Toy Drive Wishlist for kids at The Caesar Battala School in Bridgeport!

There’s an old adage that children may not do as we say, but they’ll do as we do. And never is that more true than when we’re giving back. Whether you’re donating time or money, your kids’ involvement is the key to showing them the power of helping others. To that end, we’ve rounded up five ways to give to others, that lend themselves to including kids. Let them choose a cause that interests them as well as you, and you’ll be halfway there to instilling this core value.

In the spirit of Giving Tuesday, and this time of year, we wanted to highlight Kimberly Greenberg, mom of three girls, who is the epitome of what determination, passion, and a mom’s ability to do hard things looks like. A financial advisor for over 15 years, Kim and her husbands’ lives changed forever when their first daughter, Parker, was born with an incredibly rare genetic syndrome – HIST1H1E. Discovered by geneticists only after Parker was born in 2016, Kim has dedicated her life’s work to helping other families who have children with special needs navigate the financial challenges with which they are faced. Kim has also dedicated her life toward raising money to support research on this rare syndrome, and her friends, family and the Westport community have raised over $200K so far toward “Parker’s Cure.” Some fun facts about Kim – she was a Division 1 college squash player, goes out in Westport more than she did in the city, and is a menace at the net in tennis; watch out! She loves the beach, dreams of a trip to Paris, and enjoyed nothing more than seeing Parker’s face light up on the roller coasters at Disney world this year! Thank you Kim for the amazing work you are doing for all the kids and families out there; Westport is lucky to have you!