If you’re spending the Christmas holiday in Southern California this year, prepare for some heavy rain and strong winds.
There’s an 80% chance downtown Los Angeles will get 2 or more inches of rain from Tuesday through Christmas Day.
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If the forecasts are right, this could be one of the stormiest Christmases in recent memory for SoCal. The last time downtown got 2 or more inches of rain over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was in 1971.
Even if the weather outside is frightful, the inside of your home can still be delightful.
This week is the perfect time to indulge in a good book, catch up on your favorite TV show, listen to some music, or stream one of the year’s best films.
Here are some ideas from the L.A. Times’ Entertainment team.
Best books of 2025
The Merriam-Webster dictionary might not be as juicy as a celebrity memoir, but it is one of The Times’ 15 best books of the year.
In its first update since 2003, it has added 5,000 new words, 20,000 new usage examples and 1,000 new idioms and phrases. Some of you might be thinking, “Why do I need a physical dictionary when Merriam-Webster’s website exists?” But its sheer physicality is perhaps the best thing about this book — it is a solid doorstopper with pages ready to be riffled. You’ll have knowledge directly at your fingertips.
If the dictionary is not your book of choice, we have plenty of other options, including a biography of Aimee Semple McPherson. Author Claire Hoffman writes about the brilliant performer and inspiring preacher who was derailed by a notorious scandal. McPherson’s spiritualism, stage presence and charisma propelled her into a place of celebrity and fame that became a trap.
Best TV shows of 2025
In our roundup of the best TV shows of the year, don’t expect many psychological thrillers as The Times’ television critic Robert Lloyd thinks there are way too many of them on way too many platforms nowadays.
Still, there are more than enough shows to praise this year, and “North of North” on Netflix is one of them. Set in Canada’s northernmost territory among the Indigenous Inuit people, the sweet small-town romantic comedy wants to make its people, and you, happy, Lloyd wrote in his review. (I can confirm: It definitely made me happy.)
Also on the list: “Demascus.” The science-fiction comedy on Tubi is about the search for identity and purpose, with the titular character being propelled into alternative versions of his life and self by an experimental virtual reality gizmo. “Demascus” almost didn’t see the light of day as AMC had commissioned the series and then declined to air it. “Not being privy to any boardroom discussions or the thoughts of executives and accountants, I won’t claim to know why that was — most everything these days is a calculation instead of a gamble. But simply as regards its quality, AMC was wrong and Tubi is right,” Lloyd wrote earlier this year in a review.
Best albums of 2025
This list is perfect for anyone looking to take a break from the constant rotation of Christmas music.
Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia Sessions” is a great place to start. It’s from the Boss’ “Tracks II” trove of lost albums that spans nearly the length of the half-century he’s spent chasing a runaway American dream, according to The Times’ Mikael Wood and August Brown.
Jensen McRae’s album “I Don’t Know How but They Found Me!” also made the list, with Wood describing it as featuring the year’s sharpest pop songwriting. “In chatty yet carefully measured tunes with nearly as many hooks as words, McRae illuminates the accumulated humiliations and misunderstandings against which every couple flail.”
Best movies of 2025
In Amy Nicholson’s roundup of the year’s best films, she realized a funny thing: Half of them are adaptations.
One of them is a vibrant and venomous adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler,” in which Tessa Thompson stars as a restless housewife who needs to secure her milquetoast husband (Tom Bateman) a promotion and has a nasty habit of playing with guns. The original play is more than a century old, Nicholson wrote, but every scene feels screamingly alive.
Although “Sinners” is not an adaptation, Nicholson includes it in her roundup as the most exciting film of 2025, both for what it is and for what it proves: that fresh blockbusters still exist, and people are eager to gobble them up. The period-piece-vampire-musical mashup could have been discordant, she wrote, but writer-director Ryan Coogler makes all three genres harmonize.
Here’s where you can find more of our roundups, including the best movies, TV shows, music, books, arts and comedy of 2025.
Today’s top stories 
- The East Bay suburb of San Ramon has been rocked by nearly 70 earthquakes since November, with a magnitude 4.0 quake Friday night marking the largest in this ongoing East Bay swarm.
- Although seismic experts acknowledge that swarms sometimes precede major quakes, they caution that these small temblors don’t necessarily foreshadow a larger earthquake or its location.
- Previous Bay Area swarms never triggered major quakes, yet scientists urge Californians to stay prepared; a large earthquake could strike the region at any time.
The LAFD report on the Palisades fire was watered down, records show
- The Times obtained seven drafts of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s after-action report on the Palisades fire.
- Deletions and revisions in the drafts amounted to an effort to downplay the failures of city and LAFD leadership.
- The most significant edits involved the LAFD’s deployment decisions before the fire as the wind warnings became increasingly dire.
The wife of an influential Imperial Valley farmer was killed
- Kerri Abatti was shot and killed in her Pinetop home in November after leaving her 31-year marriage to an influential Imperial Valley farmer.
- Once a celebrated high school talent — prom queen, first violin, Miss Navajo County — she retreated to her ancestral mountain hometown after leaving the marriage.
- The case is still under investigation, and the people in Pinetop are reeling.
What else is going onCommentary and opinionsThis morning’s must readOther must readsFor your downtime 
(Alvaro Dominguez / For The Times)
Going outStaying inA question for you: What is your favorite Rob Reiner movie?
Richard Frezza said, “‘A Few Good Men’ doesn’t seem to be Mr. Reiner’s favorite for many responses. I think it was his best dramatic film, and has a timeless theme: following orders or one’s conscience. Also the incredible Jack Nicholson performance and the line, ‘YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH.’ Jack yelled it at a referee at a Laker playoff game, and it seems to address so many Trumpers when confronted with facts.”
Bill Pucciarelli said, “Although I enjoy many of his movies, if I had to pick one, it would be ‘Princess Bride.’ Story telling at its best, fine acting, comedy, drama, lessons to be learned, it had it all. It is one of those rare movies where everything seems to come together. It is a movie I have shared with my children and now my grandchildren.”
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
And finally … your photo of the day 
A firefighter works to remove a great horned owl from the grille of a car in Orcutt.
(Santa Barbara County Fire Department)
Today’s great photo is from the Santa Barbara County Fire Department in the town of Orcutt, where a driver made a startling discovery Sunday: a live great horned owl stuck in the grille of their car.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, Fast Break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
June Hsu, editorial fellow
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
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