It’s a tale with a flavour of Tiny Tim but brightened by the goodwill of a group of surgeons, with a fun Christmas twist.

ENGLAND: The top cats in Whitehall have apparently ceased hostilities after a “fracas”, new Commons Leader David Lidington has reassured MPs.

USA: When it comes to holiday decorations, Kathy and Mark Hyatt go to extremes.

Christmas bells peal out into the winter dark while angels rub shoulders with Santa Claus in a blaze of light on the roofs of houses going that extra festive mile for charitable causes.

As foot-in-mouth merchant Silvio Berlusconi finishes his first week of community service, Dave Kenny picks some examples of other people who’ve been in hot water with the political correctness brigade.

The magic of Christmas is found nowhere more than in the hearts of children.

Some people take just a few hours putting up their Christmas decorations.

Lucky for Pat and Margaret Carey that ESB workers decided not to strike. They would have been hard pushed to power up the thousands of Christmas lights that adorn their house in Youghal, Co Cork.

Make your days merry and bright this Christmas by ensuring your home is a safe haven.

ROY WHITE — checks your brussels sprouts

THIS will be Marian Heffernan’s first Christmas at home in three years — and she intends to make the most of it.

IT was just what the doctor ordered to boost festive spirits.

As girl band The Saturdays tour Ireland and Britain, singer Mollie King regrets her loss of privacy,says Ed Power

Fred and Beryl Overty are a Christmas institution in Killarney.

Interior designer Deborah Ruddy of Chic Unique, Ratoath, Co Meath answers your questions. Email: interiors@examiner.ie

IT CAN pilfer our pockets, raid our reserves and strip away our sovereignty but there’s no way the Irish are going to allow the economic crisis become the grinch that steals Christmas.

An Abu Dhabi luxury hotel that boasted a €8m Christmas tree decorated with gold and gems now says its holiday spirit may have gone too far.

YOU couldn’t blame the poor postman for stopping his van and rubbing his eyes in disbelief.

WE CAN whinge all we like about the state of the economy. We can rant and rave and blame but, apart from letting off steam and maybe raising our blood pressure, it’s unlikely to get us very far. So let’s count our blessings and try to focus on the positives.

CHRISTMAS in Cuanlee, a domestic violence refuge for women and children in Cork City, is a busy time.

A COLOURFUL parade of Santas through Dublin’s city centre yesterday highlighted the bitter-sweet message that Christmas is a time for families, including separated parents.

Up to 20 parents committed suicide over the past year because they were denied access to their children, it was claimed today.

THERE were so many Santas wearing Munster hats on the terraces of Thomond Park last night, it was inevitable that Christmas was going to come early this year.

FEAST your eyes on a Christmas winter wonderland that has been 20 years in the making.

Damien Enright contemplates a few of the wonders we are set to eradicate

A gang of about 50 apparently drunken Santas invaded a New Zealand cinema complex at the weekend – frightening customers, damaging property and swearing, the cinema’s manager said today.

Christian pilgrims from across the world flocked to Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of Jesus today.

SHE braved the boards on London’s West End during the Blitz, survived not alone a world war, but a lifetime acting and directing in film and television but, Jessica James had to come to Ireland to be silenced — all for the cause of political correctness.

Neglect and filth marked Evelyn Joel's passing, writes Catherine Shanahan.

A STAGGERING €90 million has been spent on buying and decorating real Christmas trees this year.

A BATTLE between ‘Good Santa’, Brian Cowen, and ‘Bad Santa’, ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet, will drive consumer sentiment and spending this Christmas.

More than 100 Santa Clauses and their little helpers danced, bellowed ho-ho-hos and raced up a rapidly melting hill made of snow at the annual World Santa Claus Congress.

Paul O’Brien talks to Lawrence Moore about what 100 Santas really get up to in July.

DECK the malls this Christmas season ... Falalalalalalalala ... Blow your cash for no good reason ... Falalalalalalalala.

WHEN it comes to Christmas decorations, the Gray family are the country’s leading lights.Their Birr, Co Offaly home — known far and wide as Santa House — acts as a magnet that attracts people from many parts who come to watch and marvel at the unrivalled display.