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Also: Peace envoy meets with Assad; woman in police uniform kills U.S. contractor in Kabul; snow could make post-Christmas travel tough in much of the nation; Sen. Mike Crapo, D-Idaho, faces drunk driving charge.

That jolly old elf has fooled NORAD, Google and others trying to track him, says astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. The "science of Santa" makes the most sense if you figure he's getting to the homes of good girls and boys via wormholes, not down the chimneys.

Most Indonesian leaders have been generals or bureaucrats who came to power by building patronage networks, not by providing services to citizens. But Jakarta's new governor, who has been in office only a few months, has already won widespread popular support.

A combination of greater job security, fewer bills and rising wealth sent shoppers heading off to car dealerships, malls and restaurants. "Job growth was not great, but it was good enough to make people feel like things are getting better," said Nariman Behravesh of IHS Global Insight. NPR's Marilyn Geewax covers 2012's economic good news.

Maya Thompson's son Ronan died of cancer three days before his fourth birthday. During his illness, she began a raw and sometimes angry blog that drew millions of readers. Thompson has since started a foundation and is funding clinical trials to find a cure for childhood cancer.

The flow of good classical Christmas albums seems to have slowed to a trickle. And that's got one holiday listener longing for holiday albums from years past, from Jessye Norman's Christmastide, Duke Ellington's NutcrackerSuite and carols led by Robert Shaw.

It's been a great year for high-profile comics creators, producing landmark works destined for many "Best Comics of 2012" lists. But what about the lesser-known artists and their work? Glen Weldon points to outstanding works that haven't gotten the attention they deserve.

In a study, a biology professor argues the animals pulling Santa's sleigh might actually be young caribou. North American Caribou have a "greater power to mass ratio" than Siberian reindeer. They are leaner and have longer legs.

Christians the world over are celebrating Christmas. India, the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism, marks the birth of Jesus with a national holiday. In this land of great religions, Christians and non-Christians join in the festivities of this season with song and special meals.

Few people today remember E.T.A. Hoffmann, but most everyone is familiar with his most famous creation: The Nutcracker. NPR's Robert Siegel traces the history of everyone's favorite Christmas ballet all the way back to its much darker original version.