Join Mayor Gavin Newsom and First Lady Jennifer Siebel Newsom for the first-ever City Hall Holiday Open House on Sunday, December 12 from 2pm-5pm Civic Center Plaza will also host family activities this Sunday, including a first-ever children's snow park and a mobile zoo.

The snow park will be open from 10am-6pm in Civic Center's Joseph L. Alioto Performing Arts Piazza. It will include a snow run for young children and a snow play area for babies. There will also be jumpy houses and holiday music. A mobile zoo for children will also be onsite from 1pm- 3pm.

For more information see the Mayor's website.

by Suze Allen

This very well could be the last year that my children believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and all other magical beings. I feel the immenseness of their oncoming disbelief bearing down on me as if I am tied, helplessly, to the cold steel tracks of a high-speed train. "I know they're not real. I know they're not real. I know they're not real."  Ugh.... (read more)

It's not just Elvis Presley who had a "Blue Christmas."  For millions of people in the United States, singing the blues during the holidays is much more than a sad, sad song: it's a serious clinical condition.  (read the full article ...)

Thanks to the Mental Health Association of San Francisco (www.mha-sf.org) for this article.

Workreation is an employment and training program for city youth ages 14-17. It provides an opportunity to participate in real-world work experiences. Jobs available include day camp junior counselors, aquatics assistants (need life guarding experience), green jobs (outdoor tasks, working with gardening and park staff), and administration (clerical).

Workreation staff will work 30 hours per week. Schedules will vary depending on the assignment. Tentatively, the start date will be May 31, 2011 and the end date will be August 12, 2011. The pay for these positions is minimum wage - $9.79/hr.

Application Deadline: January 14, 2011

Interviews: February 28- March 4, 2011
To submit an application for Class 9910 Public Service Trainee, please visit: http://jobaps.com/sf.  Or call (415) 831-2785 for more information.

Mr. Science Chris Giorni, founder of Tree Frog Treks, will be giving us ongoing tips for how to get our kids out and into nature. Even if it's only for fifteen minutes it's important to get our kids out and experience nature.

What time is it?  It's time for a GREEN 15! 

The rains have just started.  This will bring up our fossorial friends (diggers in the dirt) the CA Slender Salamanders!  So go out and find a log, stone or flower pot and flip it on up - look carefully for a worm like creature with little legs.  It's a lungless salamander!  That's right it breathes entirely through it's skin.  Rub your hands in the dirt so you won't hurt the little squirming guy with your hot, salty, human hands and hold him for a moment if you like.  Take care not to pull his tail off.  Put the cover object down and then put your new amphibian friend down next to it so he can climb back under again - they may live their entire life  (up to 2-4 years) under the same object.  Do not take them home they will quickly die in captivity.  Enjoy the cold snap.  Put on your new coat and Get Out on a Green 15 to play everyday!