Wake Up, People!!

Rise and shine, crimestoppers! Time to dive in the direction of your Christmas trees and leave nothing but pine needles where the presents used to be. And don't shoot your eye out with the genuine Red Ryder carbide action, 500-shot, range model air rifle.

We said yesterday that we were going to throw you some curves today. And we are. Instead of a traditional posting day, where we're trying to keep up with news and things, we decided that we were going to think outside the box a bit and give you a gift.

A few weeks back I asked the staff to share their favorite family Christmas traditions, a treasured memory of Christmases past, or just drop by today and wish you a Merry Christmas, as sort of a way for you to get to know us a little bit better and allow us to stretch our creative juices. My only directive to the staff was for them to have fun in doing this. We've also got the classic animated shorts that informed generations of Chicagoans in the queue for you.

And some carols. Let's get the carols started right now, courtesy of Lionel Hampton.