BEST BETS Sunday 12/24

2pm TV Screening

If the kids are starting to squirm in anticipation of Santa’s visit, keep them busy for a few hours at the Museum of Television & Radio with a screening of “Christmas Eve on Sesame Street.” In this “Sesame Street” episode, Big Bird embarks on a mission to find out how rotund Santa Claus gets down skinny chimneys. Bert and Ernie also find gift-giving a difficult but satisfying endeavor. Not surprisingly, Oscar is the resident Scrooge. (Speaking of Bert and Ernie and Christmas, Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” was the inspiration for B&E;’s names, which are the names of George Bailey’s cop and taxi driver friends.)

* “Christmas Eve on Sesame Street,” the Museum of Television & Radio, 465 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, 2 p.m. Free. (310) 786-1000.

one moreTK from Jon M.

all day

Theater

What better way to spend Christmas Eve than with Tiny Tim at a staging of “A Christmas Carol.” If Ebenezer Scrooge as a big top ringmaster is your cup of cheer, catch D.W. Jacobs’ staging of “A Christmas Carol” as circus spectacular, at the San Diego Repertory Theatre. For a more traditional Dickens brew, South Coast Repertory’s 30th anniversary production with all the trimmings may be just the thing. Dickens’ evergreen classic of redemption wraps up its run at both theaters with a Christmas Eve finale.

* “A Christmas Carol,” South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, noon and 4 p.m. $17-$41. (714) 708-5555. San Diego Repertory Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, San Diego, 2 p.m. $21-$38. (619) 544-1000.

all day

Museums

Three words for last-minute shoppers who cringe at the thought of fighting for a parking space at the mall on the day before Christmas: museum gift shop. From downtown L.A. to the Westside to the South Bay, several museums will be open into the afternoon on Sunday offering unique gift choices for holiday procrastinators. Their gift suggestions include a museum membership in a box (LACMA), an ultra-modern acrylic dollhouse (MOCA), Mata Ortiz pottery and handmade retablos from Peru (MOLA), an Eames pop-up book and snow-dome rings (Hammer) and Pendleton blankets (10% off at the Southwest Museum at LACMA West). And if you can’t live without “Pinkie” and “The Blue Boy” replica ornaments, act quickly--the Huntington Library’s gift shop will be dark Sunday.

* J. Paul Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. (310) 440-7300. Museum of Latin American Art, 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach, noon-6 p.m. (562) 437-1689. Southwest Museum at LACMA West, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., noon-5 p.m. (323) 933-4510. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (323) 857-6000. UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (310) 443-7000. Museum of Contemporary Art, 250 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (213) 626-6222. Admission to museum gift shops is free. Some parking fees may apply.

all day

Movies

A pair of perennial family favorites form a holiday fantasy double feature at the New Beverly Cinema. Peter Lind Hayes stars in the 1953 musical by Dr. Seuss, “The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T,” in which a young boy dreams about a diabolical piano teacher. Mary Healy, Tommy Reddig and Hans Conried also star. Roald Dahl’s children’s classic “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” came to the big screen in 1971 as “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” with Gene Wilder as the chocolatier. Mel Stuart directed Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum and a score by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse.

* Fantasy Film Double Feature, New Beverly Cinema, 7165 Beverly Blvd. L.A. “The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T,” Sunday, 3:55 and 7:30 p.m., Monday-Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.; “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” Sunday, 2, 5:40 and 9:15 p.m., Monday-Tuesday, 9:15 p.m. $3-$6. (323) 938-4038.

3 & 7pm

Theater

Becky Mode’s riotous, one-man comedy, “Fully Committed,” about a harried reservations clerk and a slew of memorable co-workers and would-be customers at a hot Manhattan bistro, was co-created by its original hilarious star, Mark Setlock, who opened the run here. Ethan Sandler recently took over the tour-de-force role, and he’s every bit as funny.

* “Fully Committed,” Coronet Theatre, 366 N. La Cienega Blvd., L.A., Sunday, 3 and 7 p.m. Regular schedule: Tue.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sat., 5 p.m; Sun., 3 and 7 p.m., except Dec. 31, 3 and 8 p.m. Indefinitely. $25-$45. (310) 657-7377).

FREEBIE: The 41st annual Los Angeles County Holiday Celebration takes place in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, from 3 to 9 p.m. Among the 39 performing groups appearing are the International Children’s Choir, Long Beach Ballet Arts Center, Vox Femina, Church of Scientology Choir, Marla Bingham Contemporary Ballet and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles. Music Center parking is free. Hotline: (213) 972-3099. An interview with one of the participants, Gema Sandoval of Danza Floricanto/USA, page 29.