Like most blogs, we slowed down a little for the holidays and had a bit less content than usual—but we still managed to fit in a Christmas story, a cute puzzle, and the long-delayed solutions to my remaining honors problems.

Speaking of puzzles, I seem to have puzzled a substantial fraction of my readership with the subtlety of my sly Santa Claus reference. (I know this from my email.) Given the astute nature of this community, I am forced to infer that the fault is mine.

More holidays next week, and hence more days off, but I won’t disappear completely. Check back on Monday!