Sun. , Dec. 17

The fun part: The Hard Rock Cafe is having a "Breakfast With Santa" event from 9-11 a.m. Sunday Dec. 17, where the jolly old elf takes time off from toy-making to have photos taken with kids, pass out goodie bags and enjoy a buffet style breakfast. (For kids 2-8, it's $5.95; over that (and adults) it's $13.95. The Marines organization Toys for Tots will be there to collect toys you might want to bring for the less fortunate. The sobering part:  the Molly Bish Foundation will be there to teach about the importance of child safety and give out free child identification kids. This includes fingerprinting and photos. They'll be doing that from 9 a.m.- 2 p.m. Naturally, this is a good thing - it's "to assure that no other child, no other family goes through this situation again," says the father of murdered Molly Bish, John Bish - but the necessity of it just truly sucks. Yes, we know no one is ever completely safe, but we think of our rather worry-free childhood and sadly realize that world is gone forever. This, at least, is an opportunity to have Christmas fun and couple it with something that should be done.

131 Clarendon St., 617-353-1400 hardrock/boston or mollybish.org