Updated Christmas Eve:
NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center

Track Santa as he makes his deliveries all over the world! Google Maps will refresh Santa's position every 5 minutes.

As I type this, at 6:41 p.m. he's nearing the west coast of Africa. Gotta go, promised the kid he could go to NORAD as soon as I finish blogging this.

12.23.07, 8:50 a.m.

Like the flickering fire on Christmas of early TV, here's the live, ongoing slideshow of photos tagged Christmas tree 2007 in the free public photo-sharing pool Flickr. The link is full-screen and photos change automatically.

I stayed up all night last Saturday night, seized by an idea. Christmas jazz, mellow, quintets, no schlock, no words, just a laid-back festive track for our own 2007 movie. I worked the lousy search engine at indy-label site eMusic (I subscribe) and found three sweet ones on this mp3 blog post, A Jazzy Xmas From the Southside. The background began as a photo by the Journal's Steve Szydlowski of the 2005 Christmas tree at Providence City Hall. By 6:30, I had burned a CD. (Software: Acoustica.)

I wish I could just give you a download link, but I haven't figured out how to share it legally. Easy suggestions are welcome.

When I was 16, this was my favorite Christmas card message:

Never a Christmas morning,
never the old year ends,
but someone thinks of someone,
old days, old times, old friends.

This week, I'm pushing away from the computer to make new memories.

Merry Christmas to you. Let's hope it's a good one...