Thursday-Sunday, Nov. 22-25

Some of the biggest names in BMX bike racing are headed to Tulsa for four days of dirt-flying action. The USA BMX Grand Nationals Pro Series Finale and the 2012 Presidents Cup Race of Champions Pro UCI Series begins Thursday, Nov. 22, at the QuikTrip Center at Expo Square,4145 E. 21st St. Tickets are $10 for ages 7 and over. The series runs through Sunday, Nov. 25. If you think bicycles are only for the pavement or park trails, you’ll soon learn that bikes are just as at home in the air. For the schedule, go to www.usabmx.com.
 

Opening Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 7:30 p.m.

Prophesy holds true for 9-year-old Ralphie in this stage version of the popular holiday movie, 1983’s A Christmas Story. Encore! Theatre Arts brings the hilarious story of Christmas to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center’s Liddy Doenges Theatre, 110 E. Second St., opening 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28. Nostalgic and familiar, A Christmas Story has become a favorite across generations, which means little has changed over the decades at the holidays. Children still hope their good behavior will bring them a big present from Santa, exhausted parents still want to make even the smallest wishes come true and the days leading up to Christmas can still be filled with excitement, which is a comforting thought. And, fortunately, that leg lamp will never come into vogue. The show continues its run through Saturday, Dec. 1. Tickets are $16, available at www.myticketoffice.com.
 

The weekend

It’s always an exciting time when homes, parks and business are suddenly outlined against the long evening in a luminous show of color and wintry scenes. These scenes become the magical backdrop for families and friends to enjoy the hours counting down to the holidays. And it all begins with one of the biggest. A few displays begin the day before Thanksgiving. Look for the particularly fine Chesapeake Energy Holiday Lights Display at the company’s OKC campus at NW 63rd Street and Western Avenue from Nov. 20-Jan. 5. Lights are on from 5 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. the next morning. Broken Arrow’s Rhema Bible Church and college light up 1025 W. Kenosha St. between Nov. 21-Jan. 1 nightly from 5:30-11:30 p.m.
On Thanksgiving evening, expect to find more addresses plugging in, including Utica Square’s Light On, 21st Street and Utica Avenue, Tulsa, at 6:30 p.m.; and Garden of Lights in Muskogee’s Honor Heights Park, West Shawnee and North 40th streets, at dusk.
Others begin after the holiday, including the happenings of Guthrie’s Territorial Christmas Celebration (www.thepollard.org) in full Victorian elegance (Nov. 23-Dec. 23); Woolaroc Wonderland of Lights (www.woolaroc.org) at Bartlesville’s Woolaroc Museum and Wildlife Preserve (Nov. 23-Dec. 23); and the North Pole Winter Wonderland Holiday Exhibit at the Myriad Botanical Gardens (www.myriadgardens.org) in OKC (Nov. 25-Jan. 1). If the lights are on, you’ll always feel at home.
For more on these displays and to find others in the many towns across the state, check out www.travelok.com of the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department.
 

Friday, Nov. 23, at 8:30 p.m.

No matter how much or little you plan to pile onto your plate this Thursday, count on having Thanksgiving-themed meals through Black Friday and the weekend. Add this to your stuffing: Cain’s Ballroom’s 7th Annual Leftover Turkey Show is back with favorites Jason Boland and the Stragglers plus the Turnpike Troubadours. Show is at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 23. Tickets are $19-$29 each and available online at www.cainsballroom.com. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show is open to all ages. Quickly becoming a tradition in its own, Leftover Turkey is just the thing to expend all that energy taken in the day before. With that kind of fuel, these guys should count on playing well into the night. Cain’s Ballroom is located at 423 N. Main St.
 

The weekend

The crowds will be at the malls and department stores in droves Friday. It’s a great time to view spectacular Western art at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 N.E. 63rd St., Oklahoma City. The annual Small Works, Great Wonders exhibit, which opened last week, continues through Jan. 6 with its collection of portraits, landscapes, sculpture and fine art by Prix de West invitational artists. The work is also for sale, and proceeds go to the museum. While there, check out two other exhibits, both closing Sunday, Nov. 25. This is the last weekend to see more than 100 new paintings, drawings and sculptures in the 47th Cowboy Artists of America Show. Faces of Bettina Steinke also concludes its showing of works by the portrait artist behind one of the museum’s most popular works, Father and Daughter at the Crow Fair. The museum is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily (except for Thanksgiving Day, Christmas and New Year’s Day). Admission is $5.75 (ages 4-12 years)-$12.40 (adults). For more, visit www.nationalcowboymuseum.org online.
 

Saturday, Nov. 17

Hey, college football fans – this is almost the final weekend of home games in the regular season. The Oklahoma State University Cowboys hosts Texas Tech at Boone Pickens Stadium, 422 Aquires, on the OSU campus in Stillwater. Game time is 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17. The Golden Hurricane players at the University of Tulsa face the University of Central Florida on home turf at H.A. Chapman Stadium, 3112 E. Eighth St., on the TU campus at 11 a.m. Saturday. Only the Sooners have one more home game left after this weekend, and it’s a big one. Bedlam is coming, 2:30 p.m. Nov. 24, in Norman. The season is almost over, so don’t let this one go by without taking in at least home game. For more go to www.okstate.com, www.tulsahurricane.com and www.soonersports.com.
 

Open through Nov. 18

Now that she’s cleaned house in Oklahoma City, Mary Poppins picks up her carpetbag of goodies for the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. Disney’s Mary Poppins, runs this week in the Chapman Music Hall at the PAC, Second Street and Cincinnati Avenue. The show continues through Sunday, Nov. 18. If you remember anything from the Disney movie this musical is based upon, it has to be the music and dancing. This live stage version has it. Mary Poppins dances on rooftops, jumps into chalk pictures on the park sidewalk and makes taking your medicine palatable – all with magic. See this stage magic for yourself. Tickets are $25-$75, available at www.myticketoffice.com.

Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 15-17

When adults travel, they want adventure, relaxation and experiences to remember the rest of their lives. Kids are curious about travel, too, and that’s why the Tulsa Global Alliance made Kids’ World, the biennial festival that brings cultures from around the world to Expo Square’s Exchange Center from 9 a.m-6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, and from 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 16-17. More than 60 exhibitors and vendors – local businesses and organizations representing ethnic and culture groups from nearly every continent – will have displays visitors can visit to learn more about the people in other countries. The idea behind Kids’ World is to promote understanding between the nations and cultures while providing a stimulating, safe and fun event for kids. Tickets are $4 for children (3 and up) and $5 for adults. For more, go to www.tulsaglobalalliance.org.
 

Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 10-11

It’s all Pearl Jam’s fault that Eddie Vedder turned to the ukulele. With its grunge beginnings and punkish assault on the tired rock scene it helped displace in the ‘90s, the band left its audience in a sea of plaid flannel, begging for more. Pearl Jam has grown up, and so has its iconic lead singer. Stepping away from the band temporarily, Vedder has taken his powerful songwriting into a new direction with his second solo album, last year’s Ukulele Songs. When you hear him at the Brady Theatre, Sunday and Monday (Nov. 18-19), you’ll find a more finely-tuned singer, subtlety and a tempered elegance from an instrument more closely associated with Hawaii Five-O’s inimitable and charming Don Ho. Vedder and his ukulele plays the Brady Theater, 105 W. Brady St., with special guest Glen Hansard (the Swell Season). Shows are at 7:30 p.m., and tickets ($75) are available at www.bradytheater.com. Pearl Jam fans, don’t despair. Vedder has yet to put his guitar down – the band has concerts booked into 2013.

Beginning Sunday, Nov. 18

The halls of the Philbrook Museum of Art are lined with world masterpieces. Add to that a touch of holiday warmth, and it’s easy to see why the Festival of Trees takes on a light of its own. In its 28th year, the Festival of Trees continues its display of Christmas trees and holiday décor beginning Sunday, Nov. 18, with the sponsor-patron preview party at 6 p.m. followed by the Treeview Party at 7 p.m. Area artists and designers had a hand in these creations, so when you decide to buy a tree or an item, you know you’re getting an original work. The festival continues through Dec. 11, but be sure to catch other scheduled events, including the Garden Glow lights display in the gardens from 5-8 p.m. nightly beginning Monday, Nov. 19. Garden Glow continues through Dec. 29. Museum admission is $7-$9. Details and a schedule of museum members events are available at philbrook.org.