LOS ANGELES — What does it take to elevate the common ant from picnic pest to household pet?

NEW YORK — Macklemore & Ryan Lewis aren't the only ones poppin' tags at thrift shops.

After a number of scheduled performances — including by the Territorial Brass Band and state historian Marshall Trimble — Mesa’s recently re-elected mayor and city council members were designated to be sworn in Tuesday night at Mesa Arts Centers’ Virginia G. Piper Theater during a celebration hosted by local radio newsman Ned Foster.

PHOENIX — Military-style semiautomatic rifles have been used in at least four high-profile shootings in the past year. Bushmaster variations of the weapon have been used in two recent attacks, including the Newtown, Conn., school shootings and the Christmas Eve ambush slayings of two New York firefighters. While commonly called the AR-15, Colt and Armalite have been the only companies to make weapons by that specific name. Many other manufacturers, however, now sell similar versions of the rifle largely styled after the military's fully automatic M-16.

Give the environment a gift this holiday season: the gift of recycling your Christmas tree.

Prescott’s already a Christmastime destination in Arizona, thanks to its old-fashioned courthouse square and Victorian homes decorated in lights.

Aaron Leach doesn’t just decorate for the holidays; he combines his deejay talent with lights to create an audio-controlled show every night throughout the Christmas season.

For more than five years, teams of employees at the Bank of America call center in Chandler have given what local food banks could only hope for during the season of giving while participating in a little friendly competition:

For me, eggnog season can't come soon enough. As soon as Halloween is packed away, I buy a quart of my favorite eggnog at the grocery store. I drink it little by little, spiked and not. I make eggnog cappuccinos in the morning and eggnog milkshakes at night. On the weekends, there is nothing like French toast made with eggnog.

Just because we haven’t had snow doesn’t mean we don’t see our share of flurries.

For many years, Kyleigh Sousa and her mother, Karen Montenegro, would decorate Christmas trees in every room of the family’s home in New Jersey.

The Arizona Big Train Operators are not only “big” in terms of the size of model trains they run, but also on holiday spirit as they host the Trains in the Garden Christmas Open House Tours again this year.

Some artificial Christmas trees glow cheerily even without lights: The branches themselves softly glow, fading on and off in different colors at the tips.

The Nativity scene with the manger and all the ceramic figures including Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus and the shepherds is tucked away in a box somewhere, likely at my mom’s house in Ohio with some of my other stuff I didn’t bring to Arizona when I moved to the Valley nearly seven years ago.

Forget Bing Crosby's classic "White Christmas." For me, Christmastime will forever be evoked by David Cassidy crooning "My Christmas Card to You," and I still have the 1972 Partridge Family holiday record album to prove it.

Every Christmas the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park sparkles with hundreds of thousands of lights, drawing crowds of parents, grandparents and children, anxious to climb aboard the open-air train and ride through the beautifully bedecked park or take a spin on the historic carousel.

For free and festive light displays Ahwatukee Foothills residents don’t have to go too far. Many residents have decorated their homes with lights and inflatables to bring in the holiday spirit.

Thriving families remain the hope of America. And when one does well, it’s a very good thing to put it out there as a paradigm of choice. Many are looking for better ways.

LeAnn Rimes will be at the Mesa Arts Center Sunday, Dec. 9. Get Out chatted with her about her upcoming show, her new album and how the last year has impacted her.

IF YOU GO

Let your light shine.

Last June 5, 17-year-old Mesa High School student JaKelle Michelle Westergard lost a three-month battle with a baffling lung ailment.