What’s wrong with a few drinks during Spring Break? Plenty if you’re under-age.

And youth ages 14 to 20 have lots to say about it in the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s 2009 “Why Not?” Spring Break Video Contest.

Participants submitted videos on why they choose not to make alcohol a part of spring break plans: It’s unsafe, is the prevalent theme.

Using YouTube.com and SchoolTube.com, the initiative provided peer-to-peer communication through the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco’s education and prevention efforts. The partnership also incorporated the Department of Education that encouraged educators throughout the state to share the contest with students.

The emphasis is a good year-round topic: after all, we have holidays, weekends and summers too!

Make it a family time moment when you check out the 30-second spots at MyFloridaLicense.com.

> Please comment

Once your get that tree -- you're going this weekend, right?? -- and the new year arrives you'll need a place to dump it.

Drop it off at one of 13 Broward County parks, which will turn the tree into mulch. There's no fee. Not even gate entrance fee for recyclers.

Here are the rules (there are always rules!):

No more than 2 trees per vehicle

No artificial trees

No commercial vehicles or garbage trucks

Trees must be free of decorations -- this includes tinsel

These 13 Broward County parks will start collecting Dec. 26 - Jan. 18 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the following locations (most are closed Tuesdays, so call ahead):

> Please comment

Continuing on Rafael's earlier holiday-themed post, I'm thinking it would be nice to do something special with the family for the season.

But what to do that's not terribly expensive, but still fun for the kids?

I'm thinking about going to see a production of Beauty and the Beast, Max & Ruby or something else at a local children's theater.

I would probably end up going with my Ana Isabel alone since Lucas Emilio is only seven months old. She's three. I can't imagine Lucas would enjoy it.

But I'm not sure how Ana would handle it either. When's the first time you took your children to a theatrical production? And how did it go?

I open to suggestions on other family holiday activities.

What's you favorite?

> Please comment

Originally posted earlier this month: Bringing this back up for the holiday. Merry Christmas!

I’m two months away from becoming a first-time biological father, and I’ve come to an important decision. As early as I can, I’m going to tell my son the truth about Santa Claus.

He’s real, and I don’t see why I should shelter my son from that truth.

My parents sheltered me from the truth, and when I grew up and learned Santa Claus was real, I was upset. How could they have deceived me throughout my childhood? No such thing as Santa Claus? What's next? There's no such thing as hope, or compassion or tenderness?

Santa Claus is the one who, every year, replenishes warehouses when thieves steal toys from charities. Yes, sir, I’ve seen it happen. He helps hundreds of volunteers wake up during the last month of the year to fix plates of hot food for people who can't afford one. He’s behind countless acts of generosity, sympathy and understanding.

As I grew older, I realized that all those things are really real, and that’s when I learned that Santa Claus does exist.

No, that's not really him ringing a bell beside a kettle outside malls and superstores. Those are his helpers. Santa's the one filling the kettles.

The sober reality of life is that Santa Claus can't make every dream come true, not even the Christmas dreams. No one can do that. But Santa Claus taught me that it’s okay to dream, and I want him to teach the same thing to my son when the time is right.

So my son will grow up knowing the truth about Santa Claus. I’m not ashamed to say it. Santa’s real, and I, for one, still believe.

> Please comment

Students at Broward County schools sent holiday cards to U.S. troops in Afghanistan this week, with the help of U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton.

Klein got kids from these schools in Broward to create cards and write notes to the military personnel: Norcrest Elementary School, Winston Park Elementary School, Park Springs Elementary School, Eagle Ridge Elementary, McNab Elementary, Country Hills Elementary School, Coral Springs Elementary School, Harbordale Elementary School, Coral Springs Middle School, Bayview Elementary School, Park Trails Elementary School.

And kids at these schools in Palm Beach County: Palm Beach County: Conniston Community Middle School, Palmetto Elementary, Palm Springs Middle School, N. Palm Beach Country Elementary, S. Olive Elementary, Howell L. Watkins Middle School, Palm Springs Elementary School, Lake Worth Middle School, Jupiter Elementary School, Royal Palm Beach High School, Boca Verde, Orchard View Elementary School, Boca Raton Middle School.

“This program helps the next generation of Americans understand the importance of military service and support for our veterans,” Klein said in a news release. “I am so proud of the thousands of students who took the time to make cards, write notes and share their personal thanks with the military men and women serving in Afghanistan this holiday season.”

> Please comment

If you don't want to referee fights over the TV, the PSP2, the dolls while putting the finishing touches on that bird, direct the rugrats to entertain themselves (quietly) with the following:

Have them create a wacky Thanksgiving tale in the style of Mad-Lib

Let them watch tiki huts catch fire and other cooking disasters.

Have them pick which TV marathon the family will watch (after the feast).

Let them figure out how much exercise will need to be done after eating the stuffing and pie with our calorie calculator (Note: If beer is chosen, the recommended exercise is of a mature nature.)

Have them vote on the Worst Holiday Album Covers.

And for an old-school treat: Have them write on index cards what they are most grateful for this year. The thank-ful notes can be read just before dessert.

> Please comment

I did a double take when, at dinner one night, Alexander pointed to my glass and said, “wine.” Before long, he started pointing and saying, “daddy’s wine.”

Well, that’s normal, I told myself. Almost 2, he’s learning to name the world, and this is just another item on the horizon. But somehow I felt caught, as though I shouldn’t be drinking in front of my kids. I imagined a chorus of people out there who would say I am planting a seed that will grow into a problem when he’s a teenager.

Then I read an Associated Press story in the Sun-Sentinel about parents letting their kids (as young as 5) drink small amounts of wine to encourage a taste for fine food and “remove the forbidden fruit appeal.” The story adds that many parents and health officials raise alarms about the practice and point to the effect the alcohol can have on brain development. Parents respond that there are plenty of real threats to worry about, from processed food to toxins on toys, and that the custom is accepted elsewhere, including southern Europe. And they’re talking about wine, not whiskey. The debate goes on.

My boys won’t be sipping wine at the dinner table anytime soon. But they probably will take communion wine at church as kids, and I would consider giving them a glass of wine with a special meal as teenagers (provided it’s allowed by law). But maybe kids who drink at home are more likely to drink elsewhere, which is generally not a good thing for teenagers. So what do you think? Are you passing the cabernet to the kids for a sip, or is it locked away for the next 18 years?

> Please comment

All the other Santas had enough sense to wear black shoes to match their faux pullover boots; I have my white New Balance workout shoes. And even a pillow can't keep my black belt up.

I'm easily the worst-looking of the 17 Christmas Eve Santas ready to ride through Plantation. Will people notice? Will children dash away from our truck, scarred for life over a vision of an underfed Santa? Will adults shake their first and cry out "Santa! You fraud!"?

This year, our family manned one of the 17 trucks that drove through the streets of Plantation, tossing out candy canes and greeting the children, parents and grandparents that dash out of their houses when they hear first police sirens, then Christmas music. (Kind of a sick juxtoposition, eh?)

My 11-year-old son, wanting to be an elf, volunteered us for Plantation's annual visit from Santa. He has an outgoing personality and red hair that is perfect for his green elf hat. He and my wife will throw candy and finagle with organizers to get a route through our Jacaranda Lakes neighborhood (thanks for trading, Larry Lerner).

Me, I have skinny arms and am averse to having even my own facial hair, let alone a fuzzy white fake beard. But I do have the name.

A recent study showed school children gravitate to the letters in their name. Adams make more A's, Billys make more B's, etc. I've dressed up as St. Nick as far back in high school (under the false hope that the girls in chorus would sit on my lap) and at prior newspapers, when two weeks after a pay freeze was announced, I strolled in to the company party, spread my skinny arms out and joked "Hey, it's been a lean year everywhere!" only to be met with stone-dead silence.

> Please comment

My daughter, Lily, the 5-year-old, keeps coming home with comments, pictures, and songs about holidays we don't celebrate.

I've been pulling Hanukkah art out of her backpack. Last week it was a lovely crayon-colored dreidel. She had a song to go with it.

Her teacher must be really into holidays.

All month, Lily has been commenting and asking questions about Hanukkah. As a family that celebrates Christmas, I consider Hanukkah a holiday of another religion, and one that I figured Lily was too young to be exposed to without confusion at this age.

I'm not closed-minded at all. My dad's half of the family is Jewish. It's my heritage.

But a child's mind is quite narrow and easily boggled, and I choose to focus on the religion and holidays that I want our family to celebrate.

Anyway, isn't it a sacred right of parents to teach our very young children about the family's beliefs, without someone else offering competing information at this age?

I don't think the teacher talks about the holidays in a religious context. But it's kind of hard to avoid when they come home and ask why we don't celebrate Hanukkah.

This morning, while eating a bagel, Lily asked, "Do we celebrate Kwanzaa?''

Kwanzaa had just been created when I was her age, growing up in Rockwell City, Iowa.

"No,'' I said.

"Why don't we?'' she wanted to know.

I started to think ... Maybe I should re-consider my gut reaction. Some of the ideas the other holidays are based on are concepts I want to encourage: self-determination, faith, creativity, family unity, and religious freedom.

Maybe I could study up on these other holidays, glean the best ideas from them, and offer a hodge-podge at our house, as part of Christmas.

Or maybe not.

I tell my 12-year-old about other religions and cultures. I want him to know these things, to be exposed to them, to be respectful of others' beliefs.

But the constitutional freedoms we fight for in this country don't belong to kindergartners.

They've got no freedom of speech, that's for sure. And I don't think they should have freedom of religion.

> Please comment

My mom's 79 and my dad's 83 and they're coming down this week for the holidays. And it's become harder and harder to buy presents for the kids.

So, we're doing this game this year: We take Aaron to Toys 'R Us, have him pick out the stuff he wants.

Then we'll wrap it. He'll open it on Christmas. Act surprised. Mom writes a check, reimbursing me.

I'd just go out and buy him the stuff on my own, but I really don't know what the heck he wants. He's not a toy or game kind of kid. He likes Nintendo games -- but isn't really a glutton. During the year, if we want to buy something, we just buy it.

He doesn't get sucked into the latest fad, and he's generally happy with what he has. Which makes him very, very difficult to buy for, at age 11.

He has become, um ... me?

> Please comment

Somehow I haven't brainwashed Lily about Santa Claus to the extent that I brainwashed her brother (who now knows Santa is a weird urban legend).

I'm not into it anymore. I spend a lot of time trying to explain our religion, Christianity, and the meaning of the Christmas holiday to Lily. Do I also have to spin tales about a fatso who flies on a sled with an impossible task under impossible conditions and is ALSO all-knowing and watching for good behavior?

It seems like she'd be confused wondering whether to be loyal to God, or to Santa. And then when she finds out later the Santa part was a stinking lie, what then?

And if Christmas is a religious holiday, what does Santa Claus have to do with it, besides requiring me to buy her extra presents?

Meanwhile, at school she's learning all about Hanukkah. I had to further confuse her by saying we don't celebrate that holiday.

We haven't talked about Santa much this year. So I have no idea what she thinks Santa is bringing her. And she apparently keeps adding things. She handed me a list last week and said, "this is what I'm getting for Christmas.'' That's after I've done all my shopping.

And I keep hearing her say, "I'm getting that for Christmas'' when she sees a toy on a TV commercial.

She must think she has a telephathic communication line to Santa. That presents a real problem for me.

I am going to have to elaborate on the Santa fiction.

"Santa thought you were a good girl, but he brought you this instead of what you asked for, because he knew you'd like it better. He sure does love you!''

We haven't visited a mall Santa yet. I'm not in the mood to stand in line that long when I could make up a lie that Santa now prefers to communicate by email.

> Please comment