"Ballet San Jose kicked off its holiday season featuring its first elegant Nutcracker Black Tie Ball. The spectacular evening commenced with a pre-party held at the San Jose Museum of Art and ended at the Center for Performing Arts with the opening night's performance of THE NUTCRACKER. The featured sponsors of the evening were Bentley Silicon Valley and Gentry Magazine who helped bring to life a new holiday tradition with a lavish cocktail party.

In Hollywood, they have a phrase about production budgets: Is the money spent visible "on the screen?" Ballet Arizona's new Nutcracker cost the company $1.8 million, and you can see every penny up there on the stage.

Don't be a statistic this holiday season or throughout the year because of drunk or drugged driving. Impaired driving will affect one in three Americans during their lifetimes, according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).

The state Department of Public Health and Human Services is encouraging Montanans to get their flu shot this holiday season as a priceless gift of health for themselves and their families.

The holidays just wouldn't be the same without the decorations. From a single wreath or child's picture of Santa taped to a window, to displays so elaborate that they can almost be seen from outer space, the festive season seems to spur the need to express the holiday spirit to our neighbors in addition to our closest kin.

The Berkshire Museum in downtown Pittsfield will offer a host of family programs during December vacation week. The Museum's Festival of Trees By the Sea is open every day except Christmas Day.

For the 2006 holiday season, South Street Seaport Museum and Virginia's House of Hope announce a Toy Drive to benefit homeless and disadvantaged children and families. Toys should be appropriate for boys and girls, ages 4 to 10. The toys, which should be new, unwrapped and safe for children, can be dropped off at the Museum's Schermerhorn Row Lobby.

Usher in the holiday season with the annual ROM for the Holidays program at the Royal Ontario Museum. From Wednesday, December 27, 2006 to Sunday, January 7, 2007 visitors are invited to take part in family programming that is sure to please the young and the young-at-heart. Activities run daily from 11 am to 4 pm in the Samuel Hall Currelly Gallery and are free with general ROM admission.

The 'Friends of Thomas' event returns to The Workshops Rail Museum from 26 December 2006 to 28 January 2007 providing hours of holiday fun for visitors.

Kids and adults will stay glued to video games this holiday season because the fun of playing actually is rooted in fulfilling their basic psychological needs.