Greetings... This morning, my daughter Grace and I were inflating and 
deflating and inflating and deflating the campy, eight-foot tall inflatable 
Santa Claus that stands near our front door for the season, when a winter 
wren landed on the front step near a holly bush, jip-jipping and fluttering 
against the front door for all it was worth. Just then, a juvenile Cooper's 
hawk flew over our shoulders, landed on the step, did a little dance with 
the wren, nabbed the wren in a talon, flew across the street into an oak 
tree, and had a tiny meal. We were within fifteen feet or so of the event.

Between the Santa Claus, the winter wren at the front door next to a holly 
bush, and then the Cooper's hawk swooping in for the kill, I'm fairly 
overwhelmed by this funny  mix of references to any of number of ancient and 
modern Christmas and winter solstice myths.

Season's greetings, I guess!

Take care,
---Mike Busam
West Chester, OH