If you’ve ever wondered what kind of kitchen magic one could make with 70 pounds of gingerbread, hundreds of pounds of sugar, 60 pounds of flour, more candy than you could possibly carry and, oh, somewhere around 400 hours of work, an answer comes in the form of the 12-foot holiday sugar castle now being constructed at the Westin St. Francis by the San Francisco hotel’s pastry chef Jean-Francois Houdre.

Read more »

If you’re going to be in or around Washington, DC on Dec. 3, you’ll be in our nation’s capital for one of the most longstanding free, public holiday events out there: the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. To attend the event, during which President Obama will speak, you’ll need a ticket. Here’s how to get one.

First, you’ll need a little luck on your side, as tickets are available to the general public only through a lottery system. But there are, thankfully, quite a few to be had. The National Park Service and National Park Foundation will award 2,800 seated tickets and 7,000 standing-room-only tickets to those who enter the lottery by 11:59 p.m. Nov. 6. Read more »

Upscale kids amenities are all the rage at Boston hotels this year, reports the Boston Globe. Hotels, it seems, are bending over backwards to please their youngest guests at a time when hotel occupancy is down nationwide. Instead of catering to business travelers as they have in the past, many mid-range and luxury hotels are focusing their efforts on pleasing families. And for good reason. Consider this snippet from the Globe story:

When you're looking for a resort hotel that will entertain the kids as much as the rest of the group, finding a hotel with an excellent pool with kid-friendly features is often a top priority.

We've consulted the travel experts at TravelPost to compile this list of resorts whose impressive pools pack surefire kid-appeal. The hotels that made our list sport some of the Best Kids Pools around. Let us know what you think: