The winter holiday season is my absolute favorite, especially Christmas. I love to see the gorgeous lights and festive moods of everyone.

The Christmas holiday in the Charbeneau household begins on Christmas eve. We have a Chinese dinner with great wine (Shirley Temples for the kids), go to mass and arrive back home that evening to pajamas for everyone from Santa. The next morning I take great pleasure in waking up my girls and beating them downstairs to see what is under the tree. We video the whole morning and of course my wife takes a billion pictures. It is absolutely amazing to witness the spirit and magic of the holiday through the eyes of my daughters! The excitement and energy they exude is a blast to watch. We stay in our pajamas for almost the entire day, if not the whole time and watch some football, eat great food and then prepare a big dinner; usually turkey with all the trimmings.

On behalf of the Charbeneau Family and the Adventure Aquarium Cast, Happy Holidays and a safe and prosperous 2008 to all.

New Year's Day defines Philadelphia for me. Since childhood, I spend every New Year's Day with the Mummers. First it is off to visit friends and relatives in South Philadelphia and then off to the extraordinary show inside the Convention Center (where it is warmer than the street!) and of course, down to 2 Street for the post-parade celebration.

As a native upstate New Yorker, I love snow and cold. White fluffy stuff and sub-freezing temperatures speak to me of the holidays. When the landscape and buildings of Philadelphia are adorned with snow I believe there is no place better to be.

One of my fondest recollections is living at Alden Park, a late 1920s apartment building in Germantown. Living on the 8th floor gave me a spectacular view over the Wissahickon Valley and my apartment faced west, granting me spectacular sunsets. My first year there I recall waking one morning to one of those paralyzing snowstorms that keeps nearly everyone at home. Cars crawled along out of doors, but I stayed inside, built a burning log fire and enjoyed a snow day in front of the Christmas Tree with my wife.

When the sun began to go down with its golden rays on the tops of the histories turrets of Alden Park and the trees of Fairmount Park, I thought there was no place prettier in the whole world than Germantown.

The holidays are about family and friends connecting, no matter how far the distance between.

My girls are scattered in different parts of the country, and just hearing their excitement as they enjoy this special time of year really gets the season kicked off right. Each year, at lease one of my daughters spends the Christmas holiday with me. The girls always pray for snow when they visit the north; and if they get lucky and snow comes, it is sure to be a popular topic of conversation for many months to come!

When I visit them, I usually travel on Christmas day, and it's great! The excitement of the passengers on the planes is overwhelming, even the flight crews get in the spirit.

That special moment when you are greeted at the terminal by loved ones - that's the memory that stays with you always.

Since moving from Wichita, Kansas, to Philadelphia 28 years ago, the Christmas season has always conjured up feelings of joy and melancholy tinged with lots of nostalgia. Fond memories of dad's fudge, mom's peanut brittle and her nylon net tree trimmed with tiny ornaments, the family's lengthy shopping adventure for the perfect tree - a real beauty for which we'd pay less than five bucks - and running down the steps in my flannel PJs with my two sisters to discover a wondrous bounty of presents beneath the tree. And, of course, there was the church Christmas pageant, gospel readings by candlelight and plenty of holiday carols.

Now, both my parents have passed, but the memories linger. I always enjoy sharing them, annually, with my partner Larry, his children and, this year, I will get to tell our dear seven month old grandchild Sonja about them as well.

Christmas is different now. But I still get that childlike tingle inside when I exit a clear crisp winter night, enter our home and sit by a cozy fire with dancing flames that take me back. My wish to all is a holiday season filled with glorious memories in-the- making.

Thanksgiving dinner is actually my favorite holiday tradition, when my entire family has the time to get together; my wife and I and our six kids and nine grandkids.

I also love to look out my window to see the snow fall on Christmas eve on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, draping the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Sometimes if I look hard enough (and drink enough wine) I'll see a sled and eight little reindeer flying over the Museum...

PNC Bank again released the real cost of the Twelve Days of Christmas in their annual survey. "Eight Maids a Milking" are still working for minimum wage, which got a boost in July, raising the cost 13.6% to $46.80.

Our thanks to Jean Hager of PNC Bank for permission to quote the study.