We're spendig our first Christmas in Houston, TX with the in-law's/grandparents.
Any good ideas on Christmas'y things to do with our 6 year old? We'll be staying in Deerpark, but don't mind traveling downtown, etc.

Go to this website: www.artshound.com and click on "kids and families." It has listed a whole lot of fun things to do in and around Houston this time of year. Also, check out the Children's Museum website: www.cmhouston.org to see what's going on there.

Also, The Galleria shopping mall is decorated and has carolers, etc. all the holiday season. You can go ice skating or just watch those who are.
http://www.polaricegalleria.com/
This website has info on the skating rink and also pictures of the rink and The Galleria in general.

We really enjoy the Houston zoo--we were there just last month and it looked as though they are making improvements to the elephant and giraffe areas. The meerkats were a hoot to watch.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science is another favorite of ours, http://www.hmns.org/ . In addition to exhibits, they have an IMAX theatre, planetarium and impressive butterfly habitat.

Here's a link to the zoo...

http://www.houstonzoo.org/

the alley theater does the christmas carol adn the ballet does the nutcracker

http://www.second.org/global/seasona...wt.mc_id=gchms
This is really neat, and would be especially so for a 6 year old. There's a train going through a village of candy houses. The website has a video preview. It sounds like there is a village at each of the church's three campuses, but the one on Woodway would be most convenient to where you're staying. (Hope the link works--if not, just go to second.org and look for the Williamsburg Christmas houses.)