The president has returned to Hawaii for Christmas, just as Joseph returned to the place of his birth for the first Christmas two millennia ago. Perhaps because he was going home to be taxed and seemed a person of little importance, no one demanded Joseph’s long-form birth certificate to disprove rumors he was really a Syrian, while Obama is still dogged by those insisting he was born in Kenya. May the president shed the malaise that has lately fallen over his administration and return to Washington reborn in the spirit that excited us so in 2008. Just because the president is on vacation, however, does not mean that all issues of racial identity have gone on holiday. Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly rushed to fill the void by announcing that Santa Claus is a real white man – and that Jesus was a white man, too. (“That’s a verifiable fact.”) Fox News’ crack investigative team is now looking into allegations that Santa is undocumented and Jesus was actually a Jew.

In other birthday travel news, Denis Rodman is back in Pyongyang, organizing a basketball game between young North Koreans and NBA veterans to celebrate Kim Jong Un’s 31^st birthday on January 8^th. The big obstacle is that the Americans are afraid to come, despite Rodman’s insistence that “it’s all love here.”

Here in Maine, our family traveled through ice, snow and cancelled flights to get here for Christmas. It’s an exciting and hopeful time. I wish you warmth and good cheer.