A SCATTERED LIFE

After gorging on food and delightful family conversation today, you’re going to feel like you have a yule log in your gut and a three-penny nail in your skull. A good way to digest it all is to drag your kids to a dark theater and make them sit in sweet silence while enjoying wholesome holiday fare. You could go see “Fred Claus” (though it’s PG) or that new toy-store movie with Dustin Hoffman (“Ratso” Rizzo seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it?), but why not go with the celluloid ghost of Christmas past? “Miracle on 34th Street” is playing Friday night through Sunday afternoon at El Segundo’s Old Town Music Hall ([310] 322-2592). . . . While in the holiday mode, you can go see a nut roasting on an open fire next Tuesday when Gene Simmons of KISS is the subject of a celebrity roast at the Key Club ([310] 786-1712) that will be aired later on A&E.; He’s been sticking his tongue out at the world for decades, so the guy is due for some abuse. . . . This week’s date in L.A. history: Tuesday will mark the 91st birthday of the late, great Francis Hearn, who picked up the natty nickname of “Chick” when some college buddies pranked him by giving him a shoe box with a dead hen inside. Ah, memories. To celebrate the announcer who coined the terms “slam-dunk” and “airball,” let’s all take the Blue Line to Chick Hearn Station on Tuesday and stroll over to Staples Center for the Lakers game against the Seattle Sonics. You can even bring your turkey leftovers in an Adidas box.

-- Geoff.Boucher@latimes.com