December 2025

2025 has been a tumultuous year for the academic community, wondering how national events will affect our jobs, school and finances. But when parenting, we need to reassure and protect our little ones despite our own worries—and in nurturing them, we often find comfort ourselves. They are the light in the darkness.  So light the candles, shoot the fireworks, burn the yule logs, and do your best to give them the happiest of holidays.

See you in the New Year!

Laura MacGregor
UChicagoGRAD Parenting Community Coordinator

Read: Winter Candle by Jeron Ashford or The Littlest Candle by Kerry Olitzky, or Maya and Her Christmas Lantern by Maria Reynolds

Create: Candle Craft using recycled materials. Use paper towel or giftwrap tubes for candle bodies. Cut at different heights. Cut circles slightly larger than the diameter out of thin cardboard (like a cereal box.) Paint circles yellow or white, and tubes various solid colors. Once everything is dry, glue gold candy or cupcake wrapper onto the circle to form a flame, cut slits into top of “candle”, and insert the circle. Add a little glue for stability. Decorate candles however you like. Depending on color schemes and designs, they can be great for Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa or solstice.

Explore: Watch and sing along at the beautiful Rockefeller Chapel Christmas Eve service. It ends with the passing of a flame, as everyone sings the final carols by candlelight. Children are very welcome.

Watch:  Kiboomers sing 9 Little Candles

1. Mix 4 C all-purpose flour, 1 C salt and 1.5 C water in a large bowl. When it becomes too stiff to stir, use clean hands to knead 3–5 minutes. Add flour 1 T at a time if it’s too sticky.

2. Divide dough into 2 or 4 sections and roll out to about ¼–½ inch thick between two sheets of parchment 

3. Cut out with cookie cutters or cups. Make a hole to hang as an ornament

4. Transfer shapes to a parchment-lined baking sheet 

5. Bake in 250 F oven 90 min–2 hours

6. Should be firm to the touch; bake longer as needed, checking every 20 minutes

7. Remove from oven,let cool, and paint with acrylic or tempera paint.

8. Once paint is completely dry, paint on both sides with Mod Podge (or any sealer)

Recipe via Yummy Toddler Food

Ideas from Your Neighbors

Shared by Hyde Parkers and UChicago offices

EVENTS:

Chicago Sinfonietta Holiday Concert
Saturday, December 20, 7:00 p.m., Mandel Hall (in Reynold’s Club, 57th & University Ave). Ticket prices vary. Come early to make a luminaria, which you will light for the end-of-concert sing along.

Artist-in-Residence Event
Saturday, December 20, 12:00–2:00 p.m., Chicago Cultural Center (Randolph & Michigan Ave.) FREE. Use multi-color air-dry clay to make sculptural ornaments with impressions from found objects with artist Aubrey Ingmar.

Kids’ holiday movies
Saturday, December 21, 11:00 a.m., The Logan Theatre (2646 N. Milwaukee Ave.) FREE Family event with arts and crafts in the theater lounge, followed by a double-feature screening of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “A Rugrats Chanukah.”

Kwanzaa Stories
Sunday, December 21, 1:00–2:00 p.m., Harold Washington Library Center (400 S. State St) FREE. Celebrate one of the world’s great Festivals of Light — the Karamu ya Kwanzaa— with Mama Edie McLoud Armstrong, Bilingual Storytelling Speech Pathologist. Please register in advance.

Chanukah Winter Wonderland
Sunday, December 21, 5:00–7:00 p.m., NEWCITY (1457 N. Halsted St.) Featuring a menorah lighting at 5:30, kosher Hanukkah treats, activities and crafts, face painting, balloon twisting and a DJ. Open to all ages. Register.

Lessons & Carols for Christmas Eve
Wednesday, December 24, 4:00–5:30 p.m., Rockefeller Chapel (Woodlawn & 59th). FREE. The Rockefeller Chapel and Children’s Choirs sing carols old and new along with the organ and instumentalists.at this beloved annual candlelight service. Members of the Children’s Choir present the Christmas story in the traditional tableau, as young actors (including some Parenting Community friends!) perform the nativity pageant.

Artist-in-Residence Event
Friday and Saturday, December 26 & 27, 12:00–2:00 p.m., Chicago Cultural Center (Randolph & Michigan Ave.) FREE. archKIDecture invites adults as well as kids into a hands-on exploration of art and the built environment. Join artist Linda Summerfield in creating three-dimensional structures and designs in the Learning Lab. Discover how spatial concepts come to life through materials and imagination.

Kwanzaa Family Day

Tues December 30, 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m., Dan Ryan Woods (8700 W. Western Ave.) FREE. Celebrate community, honor Pan-African Heritage and embrace the 7 principles of Kwanzaa. Features traditional food, drinks and desserts, a fashion show, West African dancing and drumming and more.

ONGOING HOLIDAY EVENTS:

Zoo Lights
Through January 4 (Lincoln Park Zoo) Fixed date tickets $7–12 or flexible for $21. Monday the 29th is free (tix released Monday, 12/22.)

Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light

Museum of Science & Industry (5700 S. Lake Shore Drive) Trees are on display through January 5 Discounted tix for some UChicago affiliations—bring your id card.

Macy’s Holiday Windows Along State Street. On display until January 12.

City of Chicago Christmas Tree Millennium Park (Michigan Ave. & Washington St) FREE. Illuminated through January 11.

Community Rising Mini-Concerts for Families 
December 23–January 8, Citywide in various neighborhoods. FREE

Parenting Resources

Manage your child's expectations around the holidays.

Do you know of a family event, or have a fun activity or recipe suggestion for the newsletter? Email
lmacgregor@uchicago.edu

Laura MacGregor

UChicagoGRAD Parenting Community Coordinator