Welcome to Christmas Day, naughties and nicers...

Gridlock in Congress is nothing new, but sometimes all it takes is a little festive spirit to get lawmakers to work together.

That’s where so-called "Christmas tree bills" come in, and while they can be useful, they’re also often abused, leaving constituents with no choice but to put their lawmakers on the “naughty list.”

No one really knows when the term "Christmas tree bill" first came into use, but a 1956 Time Magazine article was titled “The Christmas Tree Bill” and discussed a farm bill that was the target of more than 100 amendments. A Democratic Senator from New Mexico, Clinton Anderson, remarked that “This bill gets more and more like a Christmas tree; there’s something on it for nearly everyone.”

Should Christmas tree bills be on the nice, naughty, or "meh" list?

Santa's Safe

The nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said he took a trip to the North Pole to give Santa Claus the COVID-19 vaccine before St. Nick traveled around the world to deliver presents.

"I measured his level of immunity, and he is good to go," Fauci told Elmo on a special Sesame Street Town Hall episode with CNN. "He can come down the chimney, he can leave the presents, he can leave and you have nothing to worry about."

Do you feel safer knowing Santa got the COVID-19 vaccine?

Die Hard: Christmas Movie or Not?

John McClane foils a terrorist plot executed during a Christmas party in Los Angeles.

Some consider Die Hard a classic Christmas movie.

Others say the film is only set during Christmas, but not actually a Christmas movie (as compared to, say, Home Alone and Elf).

What say you? Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?

And, in the End…

If you don't partake in Christmas, you can still celebrate the 25th as National Pumpkin Pie Day.

Hope you got everything you wanted this year,

—Josh Herman

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