Good morning, it’s Friday. Wheeeeee! For those of you out there keeping count, there are 19 days until Christmas/the first night of Chanukah. Plenty of time to get all your shopping and decorating and planning done. Lots and lots of time.
As a Jew, I have always been fascinated by – and a little envious of – Christmas. This really has everything to do with the fact that pretty much the entire retail establishment is singularly fixated on the holiday from early November on, and nothing at all to do with the religious observance involved.
For the record, I did marry out of the faith. My husband is Catholic, but, shall we say, lapsed. I am the one who pushes to attend Christmas Eve mass, because I love singing carols and I love getting dressed up and I love twinkly lights and excited children and candy canes and all the rest of the trimmings involved.
Going to mass and then dinner with family are the last vestiges of what used to be a very big deal, because when we first got married, I went all in on Christmas.
I insisted we tromp through the snow and cut down our own tree. I bought yards and yards of fresh pine garland and white lights and festooned the stairs and fireplace. I threw myself wholeheartedly into the tyranny that is Elf on a Shelf. I bought gifts and stocking stuffers for everyone – including the dogs.
I even hand made my own ornaments using a recipe for salt dough created by Martha Stewart. I think the results of this ill-fated DIY experience might still be around in the basement somewhere.
It was very fulfilling and also exhausting. It turned out to be a lot more work than I imagined. While it was indeed nice while it lasted, the post-holiday clean-up was more of a production than I bargained for. There were pine needles everywhere.
So, the next year, we stepped it down considerably, going for a fake tree with built-in lights. We still did the presents and the food and the ornaments and everything. No garland, but I think there might have been a wreath at one point?
And a few years later – once my stepson figured out that Santa wasn’t real and started sleeping past 5 a.m. on Christmas morning – we stepped it down every further, purchasing a very small, fake, Charlie Brown-type tree that not only had built-in lights but also built-in ornaments.
And now? Well, the stepson is 17 and drives. He barely drags himself out of bed before noon. We do more or less nothing for Christmas, aside from the mass and the gifts. I do observe Chanukah, though, lighting the candles each night as I have consistently pretty much as long as I can remember – except when I lived in France and couldn’t find a Menorah.
I do still remain fascinated by the season and the lead-up to it. To that end, if you’re really itching for a little pre-Christmas celebration, you’ve come to the right place.
Today is Saint Nicholas Day (also known as the Feast of Saint Nicholas), although those who are still adhering to the old church calendar might observe this day on Dec. 16.
Either way, Saint Nicholas is basically the precursor to Father Christmas, who was the precursor to Santa Claus, or, as the Dutch would say: Sinterklaas, AKA the patron saint of children, who is best known for selling everything he owned and giving the proceeds to the poor.
Sinterklass, like Santa, does the whole keeping track of the naughty and nice thing, rewarding the good kids with candy and gifts – usually leaving said items in their shoes and/or stockings – and doling out coal or twigs and even spanking the baddies with a broom.
Observance of Saint Nicholas Day is more of a European tradition, but again, if you’re looking for an excuse to get a jump on your festivities, here’s the perfect excuse! Hopefully, however, whatever you’re planning will be taking place indoors, because it is going to be COLD today – barely getting out of the 20s – though skies will be mostly sunny.
The weekend is shaping up to be a mixed bag, weather-wise, with more clouds than sun tomorrow (Saturday) and the possibility of some more snow flurries. Sunday will be warmed – up into the 40s! – and cloudy.
In the headlines…
Donald Trump, largely ensconced at Mar-a-Lago in recent weeks, made a rare appearance outside his Florida resort to accept the “Patriot of the Year” award at Fox Nation’s Patriot Awards last night.
In his acceptance speech, Trump reflected on his campaign for the White House and argued that the country is already seeing the fruits of his victory against Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump announced a series of potential nominations last night, including former senator of Georgia David Perdue to serve as U.S. ambassador to China.
The president-elect also said he was appointing former PayPal Chief Operating Officer David Sacks as his “White House A.I. & Crypto Czar,” another step towards overhauling U.S. policy.
Rodney Scott, former chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, is Trump’s choice to lead Customs and Border Protection, the agency entrusted with managing ports of entry and stopping irregular immigration at U.S. borders.
Trump is expected to attend the Army-Navy football game, according to two people who were granted anonymity to discuss the plans. The game, set for Dec. 14 in Landover, Maryland, will be the 125th in the series.
Outgoing President Joe Biden is considering preemptive pardons for prominent critics of his successor, in a bid to shield them from potential retribution after Trump – who has vowed to take revenge against those who have opposed him – takes office.
White House officials believe that Trump’s selection of partisan warriors for top law enforcement jobs indicates that he will pursue revenge against his perceived enemies.
Former President Barack Obama called out divisiveness and polarization as “one of the greatest challenges of our time,” as he avoided any specific political references in his first public remarks since the election.
“Pluralism is not about holding hands and singing ‘Kumbaya,’” Obama said. “…It is about recognizing that, in a democracy, power comes from forging alliances and building coalitions, and making room in those coalitions not only for the woke, but the waking.”
A man suspected of burglarizing a Trump campaign office in Virginia was arrested in California over the weekend, authorities said.
The acting director of the Secret Service said that the agency is “reorganizing and reimagining” its culture and how it operates following an assassination attempt against Trump on the campaign trail.
A hearing examining the Secret Service’s response to the assassination attempts against Trump went off the rails, when a screaming match broke out between the agency’s acting director, Ronald Rowe, and a Republican representative.
In addition to the hearing, the panel also voted to release its final report, detailing its findings and recommendations.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, spent over a quarter of a billion dollars in the final months of this year’s election to help Trump win the presidency – a massive infusion that makes him one of the largest single political underwriters of a presidential campaign.
The sum is a fraction of Musk’s wealth. But it is nonetheless a staggering amount from a single donor, who poured the cash into allied groups and is now playing a role in helping shape the next administration.
Musk financed RBG PAC, according to the report the group filed last night with the Federal Election Commission. The super PAC, which did not disclose its donors before the election, launched ads contending that Trump did not support a federal abortion ban.
All of the money the group pulled in — $20.5 million — came from a single donation from the Elon Musk Revocable Trust in Austin, Texas.
The House last night blocked the release of a damaging Ethics Committee report about former Rep. Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, as Republicans voted to bury it, an expected move that makes it less likely the materials will ever be made public.
Republicans closed ranks to turn back two nearly identical Democratic-written resolutions that would have forced the release of the report on the ethics panel’s yearslong investigation into allegations of Gaetz’s sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy sad that Gaetz wanted an “excuse to resign” from Congress when he was nominated by Trump to be attorney general.
Bullets that an unidentified gunman used to shoot and kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Wednesday morning had words written on them, CBS News has confirmed.
The words “deny,” “defend” and possibly “depose” appeared on shell casings recovered from the scene of the shooting in New York City, according to NYPD officials, who are examining whether this relates to a possible motive in the incident.
The NYPD released new images of the gunman wanted for killing Thompson as the manhunt led police to the Upper West Side, officials said. The images, taken at the HI New York City Hostel on Amsterdam Ave., show the suspect without a mask and smiling.
As the manhunt continued, law enforcement authorities also appeared to be focused on a gun bought in Connecticut that resembled the one used in what the police say was a targeted attack.
As one of the nation’s largest health insurers, covering more than 50 million people, UnitedHealthcare has battled a range of complaints and investigations from patients, doctors and lawmakers for its denial of medical claims.
Several phone company networks have been compromised in an espionage scheme prompted by “actors affiliated” with the People’s Republic of China, federal authorities recently announced.
Customer call records and private communication data has been stolen and compromised as a result of the scheme, The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Cybersecurity (CISA) and Infrastructure Security Agency said in a joint statement.
Gov. Kathy Hochul says Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield is reversing its decision to limit insurance coverage for anesthesia during surgeries.
A spokesperson for Anthem BCBS said in a statement: “There has been significant widespread misinformation about an update to our anesthesia policy. As a result, we have decided to not proceed with this policy change.”
“To be clear, it never was and never will be the policy of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to not pay for medically necessary anesthesia services,” the statement continued.
Hochul will deliver her 2025 State of the State address — her fourth as governor — on Tuesday, Jan. 14, her office announced.
New numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that warehouse injuries are on the rise in New York, as advocates await action from Hochul on legislation that would impose more safety oversight at warehouses.
A state comptroller’s audit found that preschool students across New York are not always receiving necessary special education services or getting that help late.
The state attorney general’s office announced that five people associated with upstate medical taxi companies pleaded guilty to stealing over $4 million in total from Medicaid by overcharging and faking trips.
The City Council yesterday voted 31-20 to pass a set of sweeping housing reforms intended to create some 80,000 homes over 15 years by addressing a thicket of zoning restrictions that limit the size of new development in every neighborhood in the city.
Mayor Eric Adams dubbed the proposal “City of Yes” — as in “Yes In My Backyard” — and said the changes will allow for the construction of more than 80,000 new homes over the next 15 years.
The mayor celebrated at a City Hall rally with Hochul, who committed $1 billion in state funding to help secure a deal, saying: “We showed the nation that government can still be bold and brave by passing the most pro-housing piece of legislation in city history.”
Adams will meet with Trump’s controversial new border czar, Tom Homan, next week, the mayor said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”.
“I am looking forward to sitting down and speaking with the border czar next week…and I want to hear the actual plan, how we are going to actually operationalize this plan,” Adams said.
The Adams administration is considering granting the 34th Street Partnership, a BID that manages public space in and around Bryant Park and Herald and Greeley squares, the power to issue parking tickets – the first BID to receive that permission.
Adams’ luxury real estate agent pal Eleonora Srugo will star in a new reality TV show called “Selling the City” — with ads for the Netflix series featuring her in a revealing red outfit.
Andrew Cuomo would be the favorite to win the Democratic primary for New York City mayor next year if he jumps into the race — thanks in part to ranked-choice voting, an adviser to the-ex governor claims
Days before his phone was seized in the midst of a federal investigation, former Police Commissioner Edward Caban allowed a New York City Police Department captain found to have repeatedly sexually harassed a subordinate over 18 months to keep his job.
The MTA explained during a congestion pricing webinar that low-income drivers can apply for a 50% discount on the controversial plan.
A Manhattan jury will continue to deliberate today in the case of Daniel Penny, who is accused of choking a man to death on an uptown F train last year.
The jury broke without reaching a verdict yesterday after asking again to revisit shocking footage of the fatal subway encounter during the third day of deliberations.
Jordan Neely’s father is suing Penny over his son’s chokehold death on a New York City subway car as the jury still deliberates whether to convict Penny of manslaughter.
Andre Zachery claims that Penny, who put Neely in a chokehold on a subway train last year, caused his son’s death through “negligence, carelessness and recklessness.”
Smith’s Bar, the iconic, neon-sign dive near Times Square, has closed for good and is set to be replaced by a marijuana dispensary — leaving broken-hearted regulars feeling burned.
A woman who stowed away on a flight from New York to France last week managed to do so without a passport, much less a boarding pass, federal prosecutors said.
JetBlue revealed it will cease operating flights from popular US cities, including multiple routes from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, in the foreseeable future.
“Swept Away,” a darkly elegiac musical featuring the songs of the Avett Brothers, will end its Broadway run Dec. 15, less than a month after opening.
A former Albany Police Department dispatcher has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the agency, alleging that officials failed to address months of racially charged and discriminatory harassment she endured from one of her supervisors.
A proposed $28.8 million bond issue that goes to voters Tuesday would pay to protect the Rensselaer City School District campus from mold caused by leaks in the roof and exterior covering for the district buildings, officials said.
A Schoharie County man has been charged with illegally hunting a bear after luring it with food and posting pictures of the deceased animal on social media.
A 22-year-old Canadian man is missing after he went hiking in the Adirondacks last Friday, State Police said.
Busy Collar City restaurant entrepreneur Vic Christopher is expanding again, this time adding a tiny Tokyo-style bar to his Clark House Hospitality corner of downtown, locating it between Christopher’s Troy Wine Co. and Lucas Confectionery wine bar.
NASA announced more delays in sending astronauts back to the moon more than 50 years after Apollo.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
