Christmas is upon us. If you're traveling and reading this while waiting for your next stop, safe travels to you. If you're at your designated home for the holidays, sipping your peppermint flavored hot cocoa, watch those calories. If you're sick with a virus, I pray it isn't too bad. If you're relaxing by chestnuts roasting on an open fire, enjoy your snuggle.

Gaylord Palms in Florida honored its ice artisans last month with a standing ovation and Chinese-themed lobby celebration. The workers, who began work in August, are carving away in sub-freezing temperatures after a two-year pandemic break.

In their letters to Santa Claus, kids across the US are still asking for toys, clothes, Legos and video games. But in a year filled with illness and uncertainty, a review of letters addressed to the North Pole and collected through the Post Office’s Operation Santa program reveals the pandemic is weighing heavily on children.