BEST BETS / Friday 12/7

To celebrate the chilliest month of the year, Friends of the Sea Lion Marine Mammal Center offers a close look at some animals who are used to the cold. At this holiday celebration, enjoy hot cider and cocoa while visiting seals, sea lions and tide pool animals, and create a marine-themed ornament to take home.

Holiday celebration, Friends of the Sea Lion Marine Mammal Center, 20612 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. 6:30 p.m. $8 to $12. (949) 494-3050.

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7:30pm Music

All three choirs that make up the Pacific Chorale’s Children’s Choruses will participate in a holiday concert. Mary Ester Blakley will lead the Children’s Chorus, made up of singers, ages 10 through 17. Gail Barr will lead the Boys Chorus and Jean Turrell the Girls Chorus. The latter two groups are training choirs for kids 8 through 12. The concert is free, but donations will be accepted.

Pacific Chorale Children’s Choruses, Calvary Church of Santa Ana, 1010 N. Tustin Ave. 7:30 p.m. Free. (714) 662-2345.

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7:30pm Theater

“The Homecoming” has quite a history. Novelist Earl Hamner Jr. published it in 1970 as a fictionalized memoir of what happened to his family one Christmas Eve during the Depression. With his father possibly lost in a rural Virginia snowstorm, 15-year-old Clay-Boy Spencer is sent out to find him. All ends merrily in the book, which became more famous in a 1971 television movie. On the TV screen in 1972, the Spencers became the Waltons and Clay-Boy became John-Boy, and “The Waltons” became a beloved series about a large, loving family surviving the Depression on the strength of ethics and togetherness. The stage version has been around since 1976; Hamner, who was the voice-over narrator for “The Waltons,” has a weekend beach house in Laguna. He will be making his stage debut as the play’s narrator for tonight’s opening performance and selected others during this run produced by the Laguna Playhouse Youth Theatre.

“The Homecoming,” Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Fridays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 1 and 5 p.m. Ends Dec. 23. $14 to $17. (949) 497-2787.

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8pm Theater

“La Posada Magica” is South Coast Repertory’s Second Stage seasonal complement to its Mainstage mainstay, “A Christmas Carol.” Octavio Solis’ play-with-songs is having its eighth annual run. It is built around the Mexican American Christmas tradition of Las Posadas, the joyful community procession that reenacts Joseph and Mary’s search for shelter. Teenaged Gracie is the Grinch of the piece, but she has her reasons: Her baby brother’s recent death has destroyed her faith. She and some comically spooky demons try to wreck her church’s community Posada, but the ritual magically recaptures the spirit of the first Christmas, balking the bogeymen and restoring Gracie to grace.

“La Posada Magica,” South Coast Repertory’s Second Stage, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Previews today at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m., Sunday at 12:30 p.m. Opens Sunday at 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 3 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 12:30 and 4:30 p.m. Ends Dec. 23. Previews $14 to $22, regular performances $19 to $34. Discounts of $4 to $8 for children under 12, except for regular performances on Friday and Saturday evenings. (714) 708-5555.

7:30pm Humor

It’s Miami meets Southern California, and funnier than a bowl game. Humorist and Miami Herald Pulitzer-winning columnist Dave Barry comes to Writers Bloc to engage in who knows what kind of witty shenanigans with L.A.’s own-OK, Van Nuys’ own-Sandra Tsing Loh. They’ll have lots to talk about. Barry’s just written a book exposing the foibles of Washington and Loh’s most recent novel revealed the joys of life in Van Nuys.

Dave Barry with Sandra Tsing Loh at Writers Bloc, 7:30 p.m. at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A. $15. (310) 335-0917.

7:30pm Movies

Just in time for the holidays--the wrong holidays, but never mind that--comes the American Cinematheque’s “Merchant of Dreams: A Tribute to Wes Craven,” the first major L.A. retrospective of the director’s work. From the early low-budget horror films “The Hills Have Eyes” and “Last House on the Left” through the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series and the “Scream” trilogy, Craven has established himself as a master of the genre. In a change of pace, Craven in 1999 directed Meryl Streep to an Oscar nomination in “Music of the Heart.” The series runs Friday through Sunday and concludes with a Wednesday double feature. Many screenings are followed by discussions with the filmmaker.

“Merchant of Dreams: A Tribute to Wes Craven,” American Cinematheque, Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” Friday, 7:30 p.m. “Last House on the Left” and “The Hills Have Eyes,” Friday, 9:30 p.m. “Scream,” Saturday, 5 p.m. “Scream 2” and “Scream 3,” Saturday, 8 p.m. “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare” and “Music of the Heart,” Sunday, 5 p.m. “Deadly Blessing” and “The Serpent and the Rainbow,” Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. $6 to $8. (323) 466-3456.