On Christmas morning

Our daughter married an Englishman, so we soon became comfortable with wishing people "Happy Christmas!" instead of the jollier American version. It's an improvement, I think. Happiness is, after all, a more substantial goal than merriment.

It's been an exhausting year, thanks in no small part to that hyperactive man in the White House. What can I say about a president who thinks it's fine to add his name to Jack Kennedy's on our national theater and to a new class of hyper-battleship, 880 feet in length and firing cruise missiles insead of cannon? "The U.S. Navy will lead the design, along with me, because I’m a very aesthetic person," the president explains with his trademark humility. There'll be two Teump-class battleships to start, with the first to be named USS Defiant -- which, come to think of it, is a rather English name -- and as many as 25 when his "Golden Fleet" is complete.

This morning, for the first time in nearly four years, there was no Ukraine Daily in my inbox to mark the 1400th day of Putin's murderous assault on his small European neighbor. (Ukraine and Belarus were among the 51 founding members of the United Nations in the summer of 1945.) I hastened to the newspaper's website and found that, happily, it had survived Christmas Eve despite the drones and missiles launched upon the country, killing four civilians and wounding 35. Things don't look great for Ukraine. Mr Trump promised to end the war within 24 hours of taking office, and he can't even get Russia to agree to s ceasefire that offers Putin everything he wants except the keys to President Zelensky's office.

The sun has now risen on Christmas Day 2025, and by golly the day is white, with five inches of new snow! Such holidays were standard issue during the firt half of my life but have now become rare. Fingers crossed that we will also enjoy a Happy New Year!