When my kids were little, we embraced the magic of Santa Claus. Christmas morning meant lots of presents to unwrap, some from mom and dad, and plenty from Santa. Still, we valued giving our kids experiences, as well. When grandparents and other relatives asked for holiday gift ideas for our kids, we'd always suggest things like a membership to our local zoo or movie theater gift certificates — gifts that would provide us with time together as a family instead of sending more stuff into our house.

As a new mom trying to work, parent and still maintain my sense of self, I joined a book club. One of our first reads was Julia Child’s My Life in France, and while I couldn’t uproot my life and move to Europe to pursue a love of cooking with a 1-year-old, I lived vicariously through Child’s stories of learning to cook and discovering a love of food. Later, I read Julie and Julia, a book about one writer’s attempt to cook her way through Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I was among the first in line to see the 2009 movie version of Julie Powell’s novel and can still remember the day I found my own vintage copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking at a thrift store, complete with handwritten, dated notes in the margin from a woman who cooked from it in the ’60s.

It'd been a decade since my kids visited New York, but given their love of theater and big cities, it wasn't surprising when they recently started asking my husband and me to take them. My family relocated to Floridafrom Maryland about nine years ago, so trips to NYC aren't as easy as they were when we lived up north. Still, we began researching flights and hotels, and planning a long weekend with our now 15- and 17-year-old kids in the Big Apple.

Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights has been serving up high-quality scares for decades. The fright-inducing Halloween event opened its 34th season on August 29 and just keeps getting better. Case in point: this year’s haunted house lineup, which includes scary walkthrough experiences based on popular intellectual properties like Prime Video’s Fallout TV series, the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie, and one of this writer’s favorite horror movie franchises, Damien Leone’s Terrifier.

Stocks and broths have long been used by chefs and home cooks alike in dishes ranging from soups to gravies. While there are slight differences between the two—for example, broth is typically made with bones while stock is made using meat—the liquids have much in common. Broths and stocks are great for braising meats or adding moisture to pasta dishes. Both contain flavorful aromatics like vegetables and herbs, as well as seasonings like salt and black pepper, meaning they can infuse a little extra flavor into your dishes as well.

I was young, newly married, and teaching myself to cook when a friend invited my husband and me over for dinner. Lasagna was on the menu, and it was more delicious than any lasagna I’d eaten before—including in my own kitchen and at restaurants. This friend, who later became one of my best friends, was a young newlywed, too, so I asked her where she learned to make such a flavorful, decadent lasagna.

Over the years, Ocean Spray has become one of the biggest names in juice. Browsing the beverage aisle at any grocery store will reveal Ocean Spray products ranging from cranberry juice blends to powdered drink mixes. And, the iconic brand doesn’t stop with juices: it also churns out crave-worthy snack mixes like S’mores Dipped Cranberry Mix. Now, Ocean Spray is bringing back one of its fans most beloved products for a limited time—and introducing a sweet new juice.

From Tupperware copycats to affordable grocery finds, Dollar Tree shoppers love sharing their latest favorites from the retail chain on social media. A Dollar Tree lover to my core, I buy everything from spices to kitchen tools at the discount store, and often turn to TikTok for suggestions on things to look out for on my next visit—including the viral silicone bowl covers I’m still trying to track down.

But there’s one item I always find well-stocked at Dollar Tree, despite it receiving lots of great reviews on social media in places like Reddit and TikTok. No, it’s not trendy wooden Mason jar lids or name-brand cans of Poppi soda (yes, you can find those things at Dollar Tree!) My go-to Dollar Tree item is a cleaning product that helps me keep my kitchen tidy.

The Palm Restaurant is a nearly 100-year-old steakhouse chain that operates close to 20 restaurants in the US, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia. The closest location to me, however, is inside the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando.

I'd been to the restaurant before to enjoy a drink and a bite to eat at the bar — it's long been one of my favorite spots to take a break from the hustle and bustle of Universal — but I'd never eaten in the dining room before.

As a parent of teenagers, I often worry about the ramifications of raising my kids in a world filled with influencers, social media, and extreme oversharing. Gabby Petito, who was just 22 when killed by her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, in 2021, was among the first generations to grow up watching YouTube and counting “likes” on social posts, but I didn’t know that part of her story when news first broke of her disappearance and, later, murder, several years ago.