Habari gani! (That's Swahili for What's happening?) If you are celebrating Kwanzaa, the word for today is Ujamaa, which means "Cooperative Economics." It's a day for thinking about ways in which people of African descent can pool their resources to strengthen their families and communities. It's also the fourth day of the week-long celebration, and I've been asked to do a roundup of photos and reports from the festivities so far.

I spent a little time today searching the Net for New Year's traditions, both old and new. My little family needs the aura of stability created by tradition. If I had had more time, I would've celebrated Kwanzaa this year, a celebration with family-grounding traditions, but my life was a little too chaotic this December, which was par for the course in 2007 and previous years.

People all over the world have special traditions for celebrating the arrival of the new year, and often celebrations include the idea of eating lucky foods, thought to bring happiness and prosperity in the year to come. Just which foods are lucky depends on where you are, but there are some traditions that are pretty widespread. Here are suggestions for lucky foods from around the world, but if you have a New Year's Food tradition that brings you luck, please share your link or recipe in the comments.

Today is the first day of Kwanzaa, the celebration that honors African-American heritage. From December 26 to January 1, each day features a special principle symbolized by a candle placed in a kinara. While Kwanzaa has both fans and critics, here we'll stick to Kwanzaa food, around which there can be just one dispute: sweet potatoes or collard greens?

It's Christmas Eve, and for many people that means it's time to break out the eggnog. I'm finding it a little hard to concentrate right now, because all the people in my house happen to be indulging in this particular holiday tradition. I'm also dodging an early Christmas gift of my son's (a remote controlled helicopter), that is whizzing by my head. Is eggnog part of your holiday celebration? If so, here are a few things you might want to know. If you're trying to stay fit for the holidays, you might want to avoid the eggnog.

The romantic energy about at Christmas really can't be denied. Your every Christmas may not be romantic, but romance is there to be had, just around every corner. Christmas lights and candles, yummy wine and delicious treats, romantic holiday music, and mistletoe.

Last month Lainad introduced the concepts of Kwanzaa which begins Wednesday.  While gifts were not initially part of the Kwanzaa celebration, some people do give zawadi, or gifts, on the final day. Others treat Kwanzaa more like Hannukah, giving a small meaningful gift each day of the celebration; with such gifts representing the principle of the day.

It's only fitting that I write a guide to last minute gifts... at the last minute, eh? Well not quite the last minute. I realized I was going to be writing this a couple of weeks ago, but I put it off... errr, sort of like folks who put off gift shopping 'til the last minute. I've found that writing a last minute gift guide at the last minute is a heck of a lot more fun than doing last minute gift shopping. It's fun because when you ask people about last minute gift shopping, they have a lot of opinions.

I can vividly remember the first time I tasted Glögg, the delightful Swedish Christmas drink made of heated wine and other spirits, and often served with raisins and almonds sprinkled on top. When I had my first taste of this dangerously delicious hot drink, I was spending Thanksgiving on a houseboat at Utah's Lake Powell and a friend named Jane had brought along a big jug of Glögg, which we heated on the houseboat stove and sipped from coffee mugs. As soon as I tasted it, I asked her for the recipe, and it's something I've been making for holiday parties ever since. Keep reading for Jane's fabulous Glögg recipe, plus a few more versions of Glögg I found.

I've been on holidays for a week now. No, my job doesn't give me that my time off for Christmas. It was more of a use it or lose it thing with my vacation days. And no, I'm not travelling or partying or whooping it up. For two weeks I'm doing other "ings" - baking, cooking, knitting, and of course, reading. And it really wouldn't be the holidays without some seasonally appropriate reading.

Teens can either be really, really easy to shop for or really, really difficult to shop for. I should know. With six kids ranging in ages, nine to 24, I've experienced it all. There was the year my really cool teen wanted "Tickle Me Elmo" and that was just about all she wanted. This year, I have a teen who flat out refused to make a wish list - that's a first, seriously. The boy doesn't know what he wants and is leaving it up to "Santa" which really doesn't make "Santa" happy. AT. ALL. If you're still looking for gifts to "flesh out" your teens' holiday, here are a few to consider.

Why is it that we seem to be more generous, more compassionate over the holidays? Do I just notice it more, or are we more likely to extend a hand now than at other times in the calendar? There seems to be almost a longing to help, to see to it that giving is done in the best of ways.