Finally, a bit of down time amidst the holiday madness, Sagittarius. You definitely
need to find a way to indulge in a retreat from the stress of recent
events and to pamper your body a bit while you’re at it. Don’t break
the budget, though, since a cup of hot chocolate on a park bench would
likely feel like nirvana after the week you’ve had.

Today: two Dakota Tavern house-band faves — Flash Lightnin’ and The Beauties — are team up  for an evening of Rolling Stones covers under the impromptu supergroup handle Hot Rock. Plus: The Garrison and The Drake Hotel wind down their boxing-week festivities.

*Cough, cough.* Sorry, but there’s a nasty bug going around — not that
I have to tell you, Libra! As more than one person falls ill around you
somebody needs to be the one to step up and keep the home afloat. That
person, reluctant though you may be, is you. The funny thing is that
once you get going you actually enjoy running the show. Who knew? Maybe
household manager is in your future after all.

Christmas is over, Aries, and you really can’t wait to clear all the holly and
tinsel the hell out of your home. It doesn’t help that your Martha
Stewart-y visions of holiday trimming wound up looking more like
something out of a South Park episode either. So you can wait
until the New Year like you’re supposed to or go ahead and restore your
dwelling and your sanity to its proper state now.

This weekend: Christmas is over, people — time to start working off all that turkey, pie and egg nog! Thankfully, this Boxing Weekends boasts a full slate of rock ‘n’ roll and dance-party action, including London, Ontario punks The Stiff Wires at Lee’s; The Drake Hotel’s annual What’s in the Box festival; The Garrison’s expanded boxing-week concert calendar; Pressure Drop at The Embassy; and Activate’s Old School Boxing Day.

This Nutcracker audience is replete with little girls, most of them
in ribbons and red velvet, all of them unable to keep it together throughout
the National Ballet of Canada’s annual showing of the Christmas classic.
Even Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”, the most
enchanting of all of his Nutcracker
pieces, is outplayed by giggles.

The thing about going home for Christmas, Pisces, is that no matter how much of
a loser you feel like on a regular basis, no matter how many friends
you have, or how rich you are, you’ll always be greeted with a heroes
welcome. It’s almost enough to make you never want to leave again.
Almost. And right about now, you could really, really use that welcome.

There are four major blockbuster releases hitting local theatres today,
more proof that what was once a tradition for bored Jews — Christmas at
the movies, followed by Chinese food,
of course — has become a popular form of emotional rescue for
holiday-stressed gentiles who need a few hours away from their families. We sift through the big December releases to parse out those films that will effectively kill your time today, rather than your spirit.

Say goodbye to the year — and the decade — with our foolproof primer on New Year’s Eve revelry. Whether you’re a rocker or raver, socialite or hermit, drunk or dry, we’ve got your evening sorted. Plus: tips on how to survive the night (and the morning-after hangover).

Don’t leave your computer with reading about: more crazy facts about Facebook; Aviva Yael on Jersey Shores and "The Rise of the Guido"; Sandra Bernhard on Sandra Bernhard; music list-making debunked; and a classic from Susan Orlean.