GOING OUT
               Nutcracker: It's now or never — today or you wait until next year to see Cincinnati Ballet's stage full of swirling, twirling toy soldiers, sugar plums, Christmas mice and Mother Ginger in a skirt bigger than your grandma's Buick. Show plays 2 and 7:30 p.m. today,Music Hall, then slips quietly into the night. $10-$39. 241-7469.

        Dulcimer music: Among pyramids of poinsettias and Christmas greenery gracing Krohn Conservatory, there's a bonus: Musicians plucking like a house a'fire. It's the Cincinnati Dulcimer Society with a batch of old-time holiday sounds. 1-3 p.m. today, Eden Park, free. 421-4086.

        Scavenger hunt: The Hamilton County Park District, knowing kids get bored on winter break, offers all sorts of activities. Like a holiday scavenger hunt. Pick up get-list in Farbach-Werner Nature Preserve's gift shop, then head for Pin Oak Trail. Children completing the program receive a nature's sleuth prize. 1-3 p.m. today, Colerain Avenue and Poole Road, Colerain Township. 521-7275.

TV-radio picks
               Wee people: You know who they are — mice-sized people who live in the floorboards and crawl spaces of our houses and who are much nicer than the humans whose belongings they take. Right. The Borrowers. John Goodman is the villain in this wonderful adaptation of the children's books. 8:40 p.m. Disney Channel

        Visiting, revisiting: Like Yogi Berra said, it's deja vu all over again. Shirley Jones guests in a That 70s Show repeat where Kitty imagines life as a member of the Brady Bunch and Partridge Family. 8 p.m., Fox.

        Radio highlight: Bob Bedinghaus, looking for a gig since losing his county commission seat, sits in for Bill Cunningham 12:30-3 p.m. today on WLW-AM (700). His guest list probably won't include Todd Portune or Channel 9's I-Team director Laure Quinlivan.

What's in stores today
               With video-release elves on post-Christmas break, it's a good time to catch up on earlier arrivals you may have missed. Among the best is the three-disc DVD set of Terry Gilliam's ground-breaking fantasy Brazil, with a making-of documentary, the director's cut and a tamer studio-approved ending that the director managed to avoid.

Planning Ahead
               24 hours out: Beautiful ballads, fairy tale costumes, wild and wicked witchcraft. All this and a handsome prince, too, in Ensemble Theatre's original take on Sleeping Beauty. It's in its final week with shows 7 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. ETC, 1127 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine. $25, $12.50 age under age 14. 421-3555.

        48 hours out: The West Fork Branch Library tickles the imagination this happy holiday break with End of the Year Celebration: A Marionette Variety Show starring Frisch Marionettes. 2 p.m. Thursday, 3825 West Fork Road, Monfort Heights. 369-4472.

        120 hours 'til New Year's Eve: Party hats in place? Noisemakers at the ready? Good, you'll need them when musical powerhouses Kathy Wade and Leroy Ellington and E-Funk entertain New Year's Eve audiences at Argosy Casino and Hotel. 8 p.m.-1 a.m., Lawrenceburg. (888) 274-6797.

        Get To It appears daily. Send items to Nancy Berlier, Deputy Tempo Editor, at nberlier@enquirer.com.

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