UPDATED CHRISTMAS EVE

First manual measurement of Sierra snowpack to occur next week

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-snowpack-20141224-story.html

Christmas lights gallery from around the world

http://framework.latimes.com/2012/12/24/christmas-light-from-around-the-world-2012/#/0

Mysterious Virus That Killed a Farmer in Kansas Is Identified

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/science/mysterious-virus-that-killed-a-farmer-in-kansas-is-identified.html?ref=us&_r=0

Severe weather hits two counties in Mississippi

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2014/12/23/mississippi-severe-weather-system/20812051/

Lincoln Castle to close for Magna Carta project

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-30517893

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Sun's sizzling X-rays photographed from space

The man who brings 20,000 toys back to life w/video

All warmed up and nowhere to go: The missing El Niño of 2014

We will soon be taking a short break for Christmas.

Wednesday Christmas Eve will be our last post until

December 26 afternoon.

A Family’s Tradition, Helping Decorate the Met Christmas Tree, Has Come to an End

In one of New York’s most public family holiday traditions, the artist Loretta Hines Howard and her descendants have for 50 years overseen the installation of the nativity scene around the Christmas tree at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

On Monday, family members were informed by the museum that their services were no longer needed, said Andrea Selby, a granddaughter of Mrs. Howard, who has worked on the tree for decades, since she herself was a young girl.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/24/nyregion/a-familys-tradition-helping-decorate-the-met-christmas-tree-has-come-to-an-end.html?hpw&rref=nyregion&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

ending

Canadians