Mammoth

”So, where can we sled?” We all ask that question. We're visiting this winter wonderland at Mammoth, we have the sleds or the saucers, and we envision ourselves (OK, our kids) flying down the hills just like those movie scenes -- but where do we go? Well, there's the corner of Minaret and Old Mammoth roads, that spot behind the buildings, where families take their saucers  ... or various meadows  off Highway 395  where hardy souls tromp up the hills with their plastic toboggans ... or there was the on-again , off-again Sledz.

Yes, the mountains of Southern California got a little snow , but the state's biggest snow hill, Mammoth Mountain, is still feeling pretty bony. Fun, but as much fun as man-made snow can be. And we have that lil' La Niña to blame. But wait, last year was also a La Niña year, and Mammoth got blasted with more than 668 inches of snow, including epic pre-Christmas dumps that made for a great holiday season. This year, according to the Mammoth Mountain website, we're sitting at 49 inches.

Tamarack Lodge & Resort Cross Country Ski Center, 163 Twin Lakes Road, Mammoth Lakes; (760) 934-2442, http://www.tamarack?lodge.com/Ski_Center . Full-day snowshoe and pole rental, $27 for adults, $23 for children; afternoon rental, $23 and $19. Expansive, on-site areas for snowshoeing. ? Kittredge Sports, 3218 Main St., Mammoth Lakes; (760) 934-7566; http://www.kittredgesports.com . Full-day snowshoe rental, $14; half-day (five hours), $10. Rentals are by shoe size.

Mom: "OK, let's go. Time to try something different - we're going snowshoeing this afternoon. " Teenager 1: "Huh? Why?" Teenager 2: "I'm not walking on waffle feet, no. " Mom: "Great, here we go. " Surprise! Snowshoeing is actually fun. Good, inexpensive, diversionary fun. If you have kids, you've been there too. Despite excellent early-season snow (it was mid-November) and some great mornings boarding and skiing on the half-dozen open lifts at Mammoth (followed by substantial portions of home-cooked meals shoveled into waiting jaws)

First, a little question: Does anybody hedge their bets the way a weather forecaster does? Predictions for this winter call for another La Niña, the same cocktail of conditions that delivered last season's epic snowfall. Sure to be a happy hour special this winter: La Niña Colada. But squint a little and you'll discover some fine print. Specifically, something called the Arctic oscillation, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration considers a wild card in North America's upcoming winter.

Pssst. Lift tickets are free Friday (Dec. 9) at Mammoth . It's the first freebie like this at Mammoth in more than two years, but you must be a  My Mammoth member. To sign up, click here . Nine lifts are open . . . . Wanderlust Festival, a combo yoga and music fest, returns to Squaw Valley USA for the fourth year,  July 26-29. For info, click here  . . . . Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is offering guests the opportunity to customize their New Year's experience with  “design their party,” at NewYearsAbsolution.com . . . . AirTran will begin new nonstop service from John Wayne to Los Cabos beginning June 3 . . . .  During a Pearl Harbor ceremony Wednesday, a group of survivors of the attack announced that they would disband at the end of the month , citing age and poor health of the remaining members . . . .   Free tours of Amtrak's Exhibit Train , a traveling display showcasing memorabilia from the railroad's 40-year history, will be offered this Saturday and Sunday at Union Station in Los Angeles, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. . . . . The Mondrian in West Hollywood is offering a holiday package with rates as low as $215 per night that includes shopping discounts.

Lehman Bros. Holdings Corp., now just the odds and ends of the global financial behemoth that collapsed in September 2008, received court approval Tuesday to exit bankruptcy early next year. Lehman may now wind down its remaining operations, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck said at a hearing in New York. Once a mammoth investment bank and brokerage, Lehman is now a collection of assets including real estate, private equity and banking investments. Peck, who has spent more than three years overseeing the bankruptcy, choked up as he looked back on the largest ever bankruptcy, one that accelerated the global financial crisis and eroded confidence in markets worldwide.

'Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas' Where: Fox When: 8 p.m. Thursday Rating: TV-PG (may be unsuitable for young children)

Christmas loves a franchise — any already beloved thing that it can dress in tinsel and holly or wrap itself around like mistletoe. This year, as every year, it will be especially (and extra-specially) Christmas on television, where most every sitcom and cartoon — and even the odd drama or two — will nod in sincerity or in irony toward the season and its rites and sentiments. And then there are the Christmas specials, which aim to be so especially extra-special that they will be asked perpetually to return in Christmases future.