Olivia Newton-John. When I was a kid all you had to say was “Olivia” and everyone knew who you were talking about. She was a one-namer in the 70s.

I’m glad I got to see her perform tonight before she became a one-namer in her 70s.

I said previously that one of the interesting things about Vegas around the holidays is that the headliners are not always performing between Thanksgiving and New Years. Peggy had expressed an interest in seeing Donny & Marie while we were in Vegas (don’t judge). When we looked for tickets we discovered that they were not appearing but that Olivia would be appearing instead.

That’s a no-brainer. Peggy is a huge “Grease” fan, so I did not have to coerce her. I was a teenage boy in Olivia’s heyday, and there really was no one any bigger than she was. Let’s just say I did not have to be convinced, either.

I have a memory from when I was about eleven or twelve years old — so I don’t know if it is accurate or apocryphal — of Olivia winning a Grammy award for “Best Country Vocal” and thinking she was nominated because she was from another country. I have followed her since at least 1973 and, like most young boys, was smitten.

She put on a show! She sang every song that we remembered and were hoping to hear. It was inspiring to hear her speak of the challenges she has faced in her life, and it was wonderful to see her looking like she was having fun on stage.

When you see a star from your childhood it is a celebration of memories. Accepting that Olivia is 68 means embracing that I am now 54. Tonight, 2016 became 1978 for just a little while. And it was a lot of fun.

It’s Black Friday today, but it’s hard to tell in Las Vegas.

Everything looks like it always looks. There were people up until all hours of the night, but they weren’t waiting in line. We even went to the retail areas today and it all just looked like Las Vegas.

Today we went in search of the best Christmas decorations. I have a Fitbit, and it says we walked a little over ten miles on this quest. I’m going to be honest — it feels like more. At least the ankle seems to be holding up OK in the brace. Well, not according to Peggy. She was walking behind me as I was walking up a staircase and I thought she was going to be ill. Peggy’s grandmother used to say (typically when criticizing the way someone was dressed), “Oh, to see ourselves as others see us.” Judging from Peggy’s reaction to my ankle I would say that sometimes it is better not to see what others see.

What we did see was Las Vegas in all its Christmas glory. Perfect weather outside — I wore shorts all day — and beautiful decorations inside.

We sat at an outdoor café at Paris and watched the Bellagio waters while we ate. We went to the Venetian and the Palazzo and walked along their “canals”. We found the best Christmas decorations at the Wynn, but all of it was beautiful. We even found an incredible free live music show on the way back to MGM and sat and enjoyed the music for more than an hour.

I think we are going to change the name to Golden Friday for this year…

I really like Las Vegas.

I’m not much of a gambler, so that’s not the attraction. We come back every year and I never get tired of it.

I think part of it is that Las Vegas is continually updating. Don’t like that old hotel casino? Blow it up and put up another one. I guess technically they blow it down and not up, but you get the idea. Each time in Vegas you see something that wasn’t there the last time.

We try to come each year around Peggy’s birthday. Sometimes we hit it right on the nose and sometimes we are a few days (or weeks) off. I wrote a post earlier about how we really don’t get too uptight about celebrating big events on the exact day as long as we get the chance to celebrate together. Peggy’s birthday is at the end of November, so sometimes we are competing with Thanksgiving if we try to hit the real date. This year we are in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving but staying for several days after. That’s good — I prefer coming after Thanksgiving so we can be sure that the Christmas decorations are up. Vegas goes all out for Christmas, and the decorations are spectacular!

Another reason this is a great time to be in Las Vegas is the weather. We have been snowed on, we have had 85 degree days, but usually the weather this time of year is just about perfect.

Really, the only problem with coming this time of year is that many of the resident acts want to be with their families over the holidays, so several of the iconic performers are “dark” during this period. This has led to us seeing some very interesting shows that were not what we were expecting to see. And loving it.

Three years ago Peggy turned 50 while we were here, and Justin Timberlake just happened to be in Las Vegas on tour on her birthday. That was an unexpected surprise and an amazing show. The next night we saw Shania Twain at the Celine Dion theater in Caesar’s Palace. Let’s just say it probably would have been more fair to Shania if we had seen her before Justin.

So, who is it going to be this year?

I promise to keep you posted as soon as I know…