Christmas Eve, Garden City, NY Christmas comes softly to Garden City, NY this year, nestling across this part of Long Island like a blanket fresh out of the dryer on this cold winter’s morning. Cotton wisps hang in the pale blue sky and the sun’s so bright it’s white, casting the corner of 7th Street and Franklin Avenue in a gentle luminosity.

He’s practically vibrating in the seat next to me, this kid. Just 9 years old, recently made privy to the Big Christmas Secret, and he’s beside himself on this, his first Christmas mission on the other side.

I had the pleasure of sitting behind the river-side end zone in the Louisiana Superdome — excuse me, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome — a couple weeks ago as my beloved New Orleans Saints leveraged a convincing 31-17 victory over the Detroit Lions, paving their way to a division championship and playoff berth.

I’ll start in the bar at Tujague’s, as good a place as any in a weekend loaded with lede-worthy scenes. The bar has anchored this corner in the French Quarter of New Orleans for more than 150 years, and very little has changed — no neon, no Jagermeister machine, not a naked-lady-shaped novelty cup or set of plastic beads in sight. Though it’s still morning, time was when I would belly up to this old, cypress bar — there has never been a barstool in Tujague’s, ever — set my foot on the bowed brass rail and begun the day’s chase.

I didn’t go all humbug until I saw the tents — not the ones pitched by Occupy protestors in public and private parks in cities across our nation, I kind of like those because, even though I am not in lock-step with all of the movement’s goals,

They move inside the cavernous Greensboro Aquatic Center with feline grace, the US Women’s Synchronized Swimming Team, gliding across the deck like a single organism at the city’s newest swimming pool. Beautiful.

I thought we did a pretty good job covering the Greensboro municipal election this year, with thousands upon thousands of words in print and online, face-to-face interviews with just about every seri- ous candidate — and a few not-so-serious ones.

She’s late. Not a huge deal — I’m late sometimes myself. Plus she’s got a 90-minute drive and a carful of books to load in. One thing I’ve learned during my Book Year is that logistics are a bitch.

This is how out of it I am.I didn’t even realize Kim Kardashian was married — not until this past weekend, when I saw that a cable channel had devoted massive blocks of airtime to her wedd

When Obama comes to town, the cops and the media get put on notice — city, county and state police cars clogged the roads leading to the Ragsdale YMCA, where the president spoke last week, and hulking satellite trucks from every TV station for 100 miles took up the parking lot like an idle herd of elephants.

Ten years ago we picked the date — Oct. 21, well after summer had ended but before the busy holiday season kicked in. We scheduled around other people’s jobs and lives as best we could so we could share the day with the people we loved, who loved us in return.

I picked up the Latham Park Greenway about mid-point, near the intersection of Benjamin Parkway and Wendover Avenue.

On Monday, American citizen Amanda Knox was freed from an Italian prison after well, Im not exactly sure. I seem to recall there was some sort of murder that involved lurid sexual details and scant evidence, and I suppose I could spend an hour or so scouring the news sites to catch myself up on the incident and the trial.

One year gone and we still talk about Robert about the years he was married to my sister in-law and he was a fixture at family events, often hiding out in the bar he built inside his garage to smoke and scowl, and about the years he wasnt, prowling the UNCG campus while he was working and visiting his favorite bars when he was off duty.

It starts out as a conversation between the five women in the room. There are supposed to be 11 of them, but some of them get cold feet, explains Tiger Roxxx, proprietess of the Purrrlesque! burlesque troupe and lead instructor for todays class.

She gets up before sunrise, which comes a bit later each passing day now, rubs her eyes, shuffles to the bathroom. Shes up, my little 6-year-old sweetheart, which means we are too, making the kinds of noises and gestures grown folks do when duty calls in the early, early morning.

First I take out Glass Joe with a devastating series of blows to the face and body. He doesnt stand a chance. Then I polish off Von Kaiser with a TKO in the first round.

Last week Greensboro musician, filmmaker and all-around good guy Tim LaFollette passed after suffering with ALS, AKA Lou Gehrigs Disease, for two years. We were friends not the kind of friends who got together for lunch every week or even talked on the phone all that much.

On the first day of tournament play at the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club, youre gonna want to get the lay of the land.

The stuff coming out of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is complex, dense and truly amazing.