Once the snow falls, cars that refuse to start, stranded motorists, and leaving cars running to defrost, all present  opportunities for crime.

Car trouble is more prevalent in the cold, and being stuck with a car that won't start makes us vulnerable. This week, Minneapolis police are warning motorists to be on the look out for a man who initially pretended to help a woman start her car during the snow emergency, but then attacked her. After she was forced into the back seat of the car, she fought off her assailant and ran to safety. Minneapolis police has a list of personal safety tips and a roadside assistance program like AAA cost around $60 annually, and can come and jump start a car, or transport you and your car to a garage or safer location.

Every winter, drivers start their cars, leave them running to warm up, go inside to wait until the car is warm before starting their journey. And every year, car thieves steal them. Even if the car is locked, it's still easy for a thief to break in and drive away. Minneapolis police advises against leaving a car running unattended, which is actually illegal to do in Minneapolis. If you car is stolen with the keys in and the engine running, the Minneapolis Police Department will add insult to injury and give you a $34 ticket.

The first snow emergency of the winter takes many of us by surprise, and hundreds if not thousands of oblivious motorists have their cars towed by the city because they didn't realize there was a snow emergency, or didn't know what the parking rules during a snow emergency were.

If you park on the street, find out what the snow plow rules are for your city, and how to find out when a snow emergency has been called.

Minneapolis and St. Paul both have a complicated set of rules that are different in each city that involve not parking where the city plans to plow. Cities in the suburbs usually have a simpler system that may prohibit all street parking once a certain amount of snow has fallen, or ban street parking overnight all winter.

As well as knowing the snow emergency parking rules, you'll also want to know how to find out if a snow emergency has been called if your city. It's not universal - it's up to the individual city as to when to call a snow emergency.

Minneapolis and St. Paul both have automated systems to notify residents by text message and email, but even if you are signed up for notifications, it's prudent to keep a check on the city's website when the snow is falling so you are not taken unawares.

All about snow emergencies in Minneapolis

All about snow emergencies in St. Paul

Snow emergency rules for other cities in the Twin Cities metro area

Your city not on the list? Visit your city's website, usually www.ci.<your city's name>.mn.us and snow plowing information is usually listed under public works.

The average life expectancy in America is almost 80 years. The life expectancy of a person who is homeless is just 47 years. On Thursday, December 17, homelessness nonprofit Simpson Housing Services holds the 25th Annual Homeless March and Memorial Service in downtown Minneapolis.

The march, and service is to remember homeless people who died in Minnesota in 2009. Last year's service commemorated 131 people, the greatest number in the event's history.

The parade commences at 5 p.m. at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis, and is lead by a giant puppet created by In The Heart of the Beast, whose solemn figure represents the extreme vulnerability of homeless people during the night, and the misery and isolation they experience.

The parade ends at Simpson United Methodist Church, 2740 1st Avenue South, Minneapolis, where the service begins at 6.30 p.m.

Following the service is a community meal at 7.30 p.m., sponsored by several local housing non-profit organizations.

The annual event is attended by many homeless people, those who work and volunteer with housing and homeless charities, and members of the public - all are invited to attend.

As well as honoring those who have died, the march and service serve to raise awareness of homelessness in Minneapolis at the start of winter, the hardest time to be without shelter.

Full event details are at Simpson Housing's website.

Have you ever thought about giving theater tickets as a holiday gift? Or are tickets for a holiday show just a little out of your budget this year?

On Tuesday, the St. Paul Arts and Culture Partnership brings us Raise the Curtain, one day of half price tickets to performing arts shows in St. Paul.  Some of the shows are before Christmas, some after, so there should be something to suit you whether you want discount entertainment now, or want to give tickets as a gift.

Shows include ballet, with the Ballet Minnesota's production of Classic Nutcracker, and an alternative perspective on another holiday classic, Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol, at the Park Square Theater.

There's three childrens' productions at the Steppingstone Theater, and there's cabaret, Stravinsky, hockey moms and plenty of musicals - 25 shows in all.

Here's the full list of the shows and where to get tickets from - some can be ordered by telephone, some by internet, some from the venue's box office. And tickets have to be purchased on Tuesday, December 8.

St. Paul's Farmer's Market opens their winter market on December 5.  Is it outside, like the summer market? Yes, part of it is. Vendors selling local meat, fish and eggs will be at the market's regular locations at 4th and Wall Street on Saturday mornings, which makes sense considering the resources saved on refrigeration. (Another perk of winter: forgetting the bag with the ice-cream in the car after a supermarket trip isn't a disaster.)

Also outside at the farmer's market, until Christmas: family farm grown Christmas trees from Wolcyn Tree Farms of Cambridge, Minnesota.  Christmas trees will for sale daily, and visit St. Paul Farmer's Market Website for a $5 coupon that can be used for any tree costing over $25.

And inside, on Saturdays, Golden's Deli, opposite the farmer's market location, hosts local vendors of cheese, bread and baked goods, chocolate,  jams and honey,  baby food, and apples. The indoor market is open from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. on Saturday mornings all winter long.

Read more...

• Buying a tree too easy? Cut your own at local Christmas tree farms

• Farmer's markets in Minneapolis and St. Paul - other markets are open in the winter too

• Brrr. I'd rather do my eco-conscious shopping inside. Co-ops in the Twin Cities

The holiday season is by far the most popular time of the year to volunteer. And with good reason - the holidays are often the worst time to be alone, homeless, hungry, or unable to celebrate with your children. Minneapolis and St. Paul lead the nation in volunteer hours donated per capita, so you may well have arranged something already. If not, then here's a list of organizations who need volunteers in Minneapolis/St. Paul this holiday season. Helping bake cookies, wrapping gifts, ringing bells and collecting money, there's plenty of ways to help out.

If you are too busy, there's plenty of ways you can help by giving a gift of money, or of toys, winter clothing, and other supplies that homeless and low-income individuals and families need.

Food banks will be glad to collect non-perishable food, either at their locations or the many seasonal food drop-off locations around the metro area in grocery stores and at large events like the Holidazzle Parades. Basic foodstuffs are needed as well as holiday fare.

Toys For Tots know of many eager recipients for your gift of a new unwrapped toy, there are over 100 toy drop off locations in the Metro area.

And can you imagine winter without a coat? There are many local families and individuals who can't afford a coat, winter hat, boots or mittens, and would be glad of your gently used winter clothing. These local non-profit organizations collect and distribute coats and clothing to people in need.

And while the holidays are the most popular time for giving to the community, they are also the busiest time of the year for many of us. Instead of making another commitment of time, perhaps consider volunteering in the new year?  Donating a couple of hours every month will benefit those in need at a time when there is just as much demand on social services, but far fewer volunteers.

And, there's a wider and more interesting range of opportunities that will take advantage of your skills and enthusiasm outside of the holiday season, especially if you can make a regular commitment of time.  Volunteer Match is a great place to look for volunteer opportunities from hundreds of non-profit organizations in the Twin Cities.

On Monday, December 7, everyone's favorite lipstick wearing pitbull will be coming to the Mall of America to sign her new memoir. Former Alaska Governor and Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's autobiography, Going Rogue, was released on November 17, and is currently the best selling non-fiction hardback book in America, having sold almost three million copies.

The tightly controlled event has a list of guidelines for Palin fans. There is to be no camping out at the mall, you have to have purchased your copy of Going Rogue at Barnes & Noble (make sure you bring your receipt) and you'd better stay in line, and in single file. And when you get to see Sarah, there are to be no cameras, and no personalized signatures. If you have any memorabilia from last year's Republican National Convention, she won't be signing that either. Hopeful fans will be permitted to line up outside the mall at 5 a.m. and then at 6 a.m., wristbands will be issued to a limited number of people who have been obeying the rules, and have their Barnes & Noble copy of Going Rogue.

The book signing will begin at 12 noon.

Expect frenzied Sarah Palin fans, dealers getting a copy for eBay, and probably some people who had too much fun at the RNC and might want to recreate some of that tear gas-n-riot police filled atmosphere.

The Mall of America's website is one of those awkward ones with no direct links to any of the pages, but the MOA event calendar has the details for the Sarah Palin book signing event, plus a must-read set of event guidelines.

Here's how we play in (and out of) the ice and snow in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Last month was the first snow-free November since 1963 but temperatures are predicted to be much more normal this week, with a chance of snow. Oooh, snow! I might even be more excited than my kids are about making snow ice cream, building an igloo or quinzhee - a snow cave - in our yard.

Hiking through the woods is one thing. Snowshoeing or cross country skiing on a starlight night through the snow is quite another. Just about every state park, regional park and many of the larger city parks have cross country trails for skiing. And, there's no need for a trail with snow shoes - find your woods of choice and go tromp through it. For trying the sport out, many parks rent gear, like Wild River State Park, and Como Park, and if you get hooked, local retailers Midwest Mountaineering or Finn/Sisu will outfit you with your own gear.

And when it's too cold to be outside, there's plenty of indoor events to entertain us through the winter. The Minnesota RollerGirls and the North Star Roller Girls have just begun their season, with regular bouts of roller derby carnage all through the winter. The North Star Roller Girls demonstrate how to rock out and knock out with an air guitar contest warm-up for their second bout of the season on Saturday December 5 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

The Minneapolis Underground Film Festival is screening movies, shorts and documentaries from as-yet unknown filmmakers at Minneapolis College of Art and Design this weekend. The festival begins of Friday December 4, until Sunday December 6.

Does this count as indoor or outdoor? The Ice Bar at the Chambers Hotel is made of 12,000 pounds of ice walls and sculptures in downtown Minneapolis, and was the first outdoor urban ice bar in America. The Ice Bar just opened for the winter, serving warming cocktails around a glass fire pit in the hotel's courtyard lounge from dusk until bar close.

Winter? Bring it on!

Now it's December, you can officially appreciate the holiday lights decorating downtown, and you can go and cruise around the suburbs in your car looking out for the brightest, wildest, decorated homes. And if you don't want to drive, there's even coach tours and limo tours of the holiday lights - just about every limousine company in the Twin Cities offers holiday lights tours daily during December.

If you don't want to stray too far from the center of the Metro area, or you'd like to support local charities while sightseeing, or if you want to see the gaudiest lights in the suburbs, here's a guide to seeing holiday lights in the Twin Cities.

Minneapolis' nightlife and music scene is in fine health. If only it was easier to get home after a night out.

When the last bus is well before you want to go home, the alternatives are cycling - fine in the summer, and by far the coolest way to arrive, evidenced by the fixed gears attached to every immovable object surrounding scenester destinations. But cycling is much less fun in the winter. And driving, that's OK, but parking near entertainment districts like Uptown Minneapolis, Downtown Minneapolis and Cedar-Riverside is usually expensive, and also poses the question of who has to be the designated driver.

Something we don't have in common with many other major cities is Minneapolis and St. Paul's relative lack of public transit during the night.

In Minneapolis and St. Paul, Metro Transit operates three owl bus services. The Metro Transit night bus services in Minneapolis and St. Paul are: 5 (Brooklyn Center to the Mall of America), 16 (downtown Minneapolis, University of Minnesota, downtown St. Paul) and 19 (Downtown Minneapolis, North Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center). The 14 also has a 3.10 a.m. departure from Downtown Minneapolis to south Minneapolis and the cargo terminal of Minneapolis/St. Paul airport. There used to be more owl buses in Minneapolis: six years ago, several night bus services were canceled leaving just those three running.

Most bus routes end for the night somewhere between midnight or 2 a.m., and services begin around 5.a.m. the next day. The end of the routes is frustratingly just before late shows end at music venues, or when many bars close at 2 a.m. And while I can sympathize with Metro Transit and their drivers with not wanting drunk riders on the buses, there are plenty of night shift workers and other non-party-goers who need to get around town in the middle of the nights.

The Hiawatha Light Rail is a little more friendly for late night trips, the last trains are after 1 a.m. and trains start running again just before 4 a.m.

Minneapolis Transit Blog posted a suggested proposal for revamping the night bus services in Minneapolis, which would restore the canceled routes, would extend the service area to cover much of the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and in future possibly extend the services further out. A common night bus arrangement in other cities is hourly night bus services with extended routes that go further into the suburbs than the equivalent day routes, very handy for suburbanites, and something a new night bus system for the Twin Cities should incorporate from the beginning, at least to my mind.

The Metropolitan Council, the organization responsible for overseeing Metro Transit, is facing multi-million dollar deficits in the coming years,, and is focusing on expanding Metro Transit's service area, increasing frequencies of buses for daytime riders, and the potential of more light rail and commuter rail lines, to ease the pressure on the Twin Cities' roads.

Night buses are easy to dismiss as taxis for drunks and mobile homeless shelters. But that also dismisses the needs of the thousands of people working in hospitals, factories, warehouses, hotels and in hospitality who start or end their shift in the wee hours, many of who are earning lower wages and may appreciate the alternative to driving.

So, night buses. A convenience for hipsters who don't want to get ice and slush on their fixies, or a vital but neglected part of every major city's transit system?