TV Tango has the list.

Thanks to my co-worker Michelle at Pop Culture Checklist for the heads up!

Detroit News has the details.

Detroit Tigers announcement.

The 2010 home opener is April 9 against the Cleveland Indians.

A snippet with the rules:

Organizers will give out 10,000 free tickets to the 2009 MAC championship game Saturday, Nov. 21 beginning at 9 a.m. at the Gate A outdoor ticket window on Brush Street in downtown Detroit. Two free tickets will be available to each person who can present a Michigan unemployment debit card and government-issued ID, valid military ID or United Auto Workers badge.

Target hosts a Family Sunday series on a regular basis at the Detroit Institute of Arts with art-inspired activities.

But on Sunday Nov. 22, the Target Family Sunday special includes free museum admission from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The usual admission free is $8 for adults and $4 for children.

There’s a full-page ad in today’s Detroit Free Press about the deal, or go to dia.org.

The Huron-Clinton Metroparks will have free park entry and boat launching at all metroparks, including Lake Erie Metropark and Oakwoods Metropark, on Thursday Nov. 26 and Friday Nov. 27 in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Then get the kids’ school calendars out of their bookbags and binders, go find the church bulletin or look up your church’s web site, look up the holiday schedules that have been posted at work, and call or e-mail your siblings or parents to confirm dates for the family get-togethers.

You need to write down all the calendar events that have already been booked for your family in December, such as:

• Final exams for the college kids.
• Christmas programs for the K-12 kids.
• Advent and Christmas Eve / Christmas Day services at church.
• Employee dinner parties or luncheons at work.
• Family get-togethers that have been announced or are expected during the holiday season.
• Christmas pageants, Nutcracker ballet shows or concerts that family members are participating in this year.

Now you know how busy you already are.

Create that basic calendar before you start adding anything else to your wish list during the next few weeks. It would be a sad thing – and a waste of money – to buy tickets for a holiday event or program that you can’t attend because there was a schedule conflict.

If you are one of my local readers, I am tagging all of the holiday events for our on-line calendar as they are sent to The Monroe Evening News. Here’s a bookmark where you can see everything we have on file, and make your holiday fun plans. The bookmark will automatically refresh every time we add new events – and I’m getting those notices on a daily basis now.

Yes, many of those events are free. But some are not – so be sure to double check rates and ticket prices before you promise to take the kids to an event or program.

The Flat Rock Community Center, 1 Maguire St., Flat Rock, Mich., is offering a Holiday Family Punch Card for families or grandparents with children to enjoy a day at the pool or gym during the Christmas season.

The cost is $40 for Flat Rock residents and $50 for non-residents. The card has 16 punches good from Dec. 18 through Jan. 3, and would be more than half off the cost of 16 daily visits.

The cards will be available for purchase after Dec. 1 at the community center.

For information, call the recreation department at (734) 379-1450.

If the attention has been on Santa Claus bringing a pile of gifts, it’s time to put some “old school” celebrations on your calendar.

As you focus your family’s Christmas celebrations away from the secular, modern and commercial customs — and more toward the religious, historical and cultural customs — you will find reasons to enjoy the holiday season even during the years when your family is on a budget.

You don’t have to banish Santa Claus from your home, unless you want to. We followed the Santa traditions when my daughter was growing up. But Santa and his gift-giving generosity was never the main focus of my family’s celebrations. That was just one part of our Christmas.

A great place to start is to schedule a visit with the pastor, youth minister or director of religious education at your church. Ask that person what holiday season resources they recommend for families. Books, videos and music CDs on this topic are stocked in any church or Sunday School library. The Sunday School staff at my church is even hosting a special program this year that will explain many popular and little-known Advent and Christmas customs to our parish families.

You also want to watch for announcements of Christmas pageants, “lessons and carols” concerts performed by local musicians and choirs, and Advent prayer services. These events are a free or inexpensive alternative to the elaborate ballet and professional theater holiday productions.

If you are looking for religious-themed Christmas materials, the best time to shop is just before Thanksgiving. These items aren’t easily found during holiday clearance sales because they’re hard to find on the retail market in the first place. You will most likely be shopping on the Internet, at the craft stores, in the religious supply stores, or at the church craft shows for appropriate books and supplies.

Some of the inexpensive old school ideas (or create / purchase only once ideas) include:

• Nativity sets and Advent wreaths – While such items can be acquired as beautiful works of art, you can also find a nice selection of kid-friendly religious materials in a variety of price ranges at CatholicSupply.com. For example, the cloth Advent wreath for kids on that web site is only $8.95, which is quite reasonable since you would pay at least that much to buy a metal wreath ring and four taper candles at one of the local craft stores.
• Jesse Tree – This tree, which features ornaments representing significant events and people in Bible history, can be as artistic or as simple as you want. I remember making an apple out of layered felt when I worked on such a project for my seventh grade religion class. If you have a tabletop tree, it can be repurposed for this arrangement. You’ll find design suggestions and corresponding Bible verses at CatholicCulture.org.
• Christmas wafers – I know about this custom from my Polish relatives, who broke and shared these wafers on Christmas Eve. You’ll find them at Bronners Christmas Wonderland.
• Family prayer services and blessings – There are many such traditions ranging from blessing of a Christmas tree to blessing of the door post at Epiphany. Your church or Sunday School library certainly has a collection of songs and prayers from your faith tradition that you can borrow or copy for family use.
• Christmas family heritage scrapbook – If you are already scrapbooking, or looking for a project to get started with, create a Christmas family heritage scrapbook by asking the older people in your family about their cherished Christmas memories. You will find that relatives who were children before the 1950s experienced a Christmas season that was far less commercial and less hectic than what we see today.
• Investigate the history of your favorite Christmas traditions – This is a great project for homeschoolers, a church high school youth group, or a family that has some time in their schedule. Go to your local public library or get on the Internet and find out the answers to questions such as: Do historians really know what day Jesus was born? Who was St. Nicholas? Who is credited with the inspiration of the Christmas tree, and how did that custom get introduced to England and America? Who originally drew the image that we now recognize as the American Santa Claus? Why does an audience stand when the Hallelujah Chorus is performed?

Even while celebrating new “old school” traditions, your family members will probably notice if there are fewer presents under the tree this year. You are not alone. A lot of families, especially here in Michigan, will have no choice but to cut back on expenses this year. The way to deal with that situation is to be honest with everyone up front about “Santa’s budget.”

But you certainly can build lots of cherished Christmas memories without a lot of cash.

After all, that’s what Christian families did for generations before the bulging Santa Claus gift bags crowded out old-time traditions.

Huron-Clinton Metroparks will waive vehicle entry fees and boat launch fees on Nov. 11 in honor of Veteran’s Day.

The park district includes 13 sites in a five-county area of southeast Michigan including Lake Erie Metropark, Oakwoods Patropark and Willow Metropark.

For information, call the park offices at (800) 477-2757 or go to www.metroparks.com.

The Detroit Museum Adventure Pass, which is a program allowing those with library cards at participating southeast Michigan libraries to request free museum passes in the area, has started its third year of grant funding.

Monroe County Library System is participating for its second year. Milan Public Library and Flat Rock Public Library also are involved in this project. Macy’s and other partners are the corporate sponsors that make this program work.

Here’s how it works: you go to your participating library branch and use your library card to “check out” a museum pass. The free pass is valid for seven days and good for either two people or four people, depending on the location.

This is a great program for southeast Michigan families on a budget. I visited the Arab-American Museum in Dearborn and the Detroit Institute of Arts this year via the Museum Adventure Pass.