San Diego Union-Tribune

• Gift exchange
  The tree is up, the nog is chilled, the stockings are stuffed, the packages await ripping. And with all that in place, you might even take time to remember that tomorrow is the birthday of Christ.
• Lee Grant's Outtakes
  “Browns over the Bills 8-0,” reported KGTV/Channel 10 sports anchor Ben Higgins, explaining how Cleveland won by “three field goals.” Uh, no. A field goal, Ben, is three points. You lose a point on that one.
• Home 'School Musical': Two locals return to town
  When “High School Musical” opens at the Civic Theatre on Wednesday, two of its cast members will no doubt reflect on their own high school days in San Diego, where neither was a part of her school musical.
• Weekend Box Office
  
• Cakewatch
  “It takes no more time to see the good side of life than it takes to see the bad.” – Singer Jimmy Buffett, who turns 61 tomorrow
• Essentials
  Cocoa? Check. Jammies? Check. Comfort TV? Oh yeah. Just in time for your Christmas Eve chill-out comes TV Land's “Merry-thon,” a 24-hour celebration of your favorite TV families.
• Manipulating morsels served up one spoon after another
  As it begins with Charles Trenet's “La Mer,” one of the supreme love songs of the last century, we sense that “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” wants to get its hooks into us. Many hooks, frequently.
• 'Great Debaters' arguably in tune with the times
  There is a history lesson in “The Great Debaters,” and not the old one about Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. Both those gentlemen would have appreciated it.
• Monster's a ball as myth of Nessie comes to life
  Scotland on film has never looked lovelier than in “The Water Horse,” which is a real compliment given the small, romantic country's long history of movie stardom. What else can you expect? Plenty.
• The airbrushed world of 'The Girls'
  'Playboy,” like chewing tobacco and the Three Stooges, has long been favored by the male of the species. But E!'s “The Girls Next Door,” which follows the misadventures of Hugh Hefner's three girlfriends, is turning that tradition on its ears.
• No-shows: Will big names cross picket lines for Leno and others?
  The late-night talk show hosts are returning. But the stars are not yet ready to come out for them.
• Her husband's death leaves her confused as how to handle holiday
  My husband had a stroke the morning of New Year's Eve last year. He died on New Year's Day. This year has been hard for me. With the help of my strong faith and my family, I have been coping.
• For your eyes only? Return the card
  A few years ago we received a card that was addressed to the previous owner of our house. After a month or so of wondering how we could forward it, we finally just opened it.
• Many ways to reuse greeting cards
  I was wondering if the organization that collects fronts of greeting cards is still recycling them. It used to be St. Jude's Ranch for Children.
• Night stalker: Best of the late night
  
• TV listings
  
• Horoscope
  
• Costly zealotry
  'Any citizen” who opposes a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on endangered species may sue the agency. “Any citizen” is typically environmental activists, who helped Congress write that provision into the Endangered Species Act. Suits are good publicity for activists, and a moneymaker, too. If the case is won or settled, federal taxpayers pay the activists' attorneys fees (as well as the agency's).
• Desperation time
  One of the hallmarks of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's push to overhaul California's health care system has been distortion. He has consistently exaggerated the size of the uninsured problem and offered inventive theories to explain how his proposal to require most employers to provide health coverage or pay a fee to the state does not violate a federal ban on such state mandates.
• Letters to the editor
  Regarding “The Mitchell Report/Serious Threat” (A1, Dec. 14): As a 60-year-old man, I've seen the bygone days of real “team” baseball when a fan would follow his or her team, and cheer and support that team with its same players year after year.
• Obama: 'Let's go change the world'
  MANCHESTER, N.H. – Barack Obama has become a one-trick pony. But what a trick it is! The stump speech he has developed in the closing stages of the pre-Christmas campaign is a thing of beauty, a 40-minute oration delivered without notes that is powering his gains in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3 and the first primary here in New Hampshire five days later.
• Helping the less fortunate year-round
  When I was 11 years old, there wasn't a lot of reason to pine for a stack of presents piled under a Christmas tree. My father had lost his job months before, as scores did in the mid-1980s oil-industry bust. With our house in foreclosure, my family packed up the car and moved to try to make a new start, in hopes of my father finding the exploration work that suddenly was not in demand.
• Helping the less fortunate year-round
  When I was 11 years old, there wasn't a lot of reason to pine for a stack of presents piled under a Christmas tree. My father had lost his job months before, as scores did in the mid-1980s oil-industry bust. With our house in foreclosure, my family packed up the car and moved to try to make a new start, in hopes of my father finding the exploration work that suddenly was not in demand.
• Bush is more than happy to govern by veto in his last years
  President Bush is feeling newly empowered by threatening to veto legislation approved by the Democratic-controlled Congress. The threats seem to be working with the lawmakers. They are rolling over very easily as they rush to get home for Christmas or to catch up on re-election campaigning.
• Other voices: What other editorial pages are saying
  New Jersey's abolition of the death penalty is both admirable and a sign of the times. Gov. Jon Corzine signed the new law (last) Monday. That should prompt other states to do away with this arbitrary and inhumane punishment.
• A rougher road
  The October wildfires showed no mercy, consuming homes in suburban neighborhoods and backcountry communities alike. But for those living in the far corners of the county, rebuilding can bring hurdles unimaginable to suburban dwellers.
• Deaf foster children find a home closer to home
  CHULA VISTA – He has bounced from foster home to foster home and state to state over the past decade, searching for a permanent place to lead a normal life.
• Getting in on the action figures, that is
  I found Jesus in Wal-Mart. And it was no miracle. It