Armed with food coloring and empty Mr. Clean spray bottles, Nat and a friend redecorated cars covered in snow after Friday's storm:

... We need to find a lower-effort, higher-volume spraying technology. Ideally backpack-mounted and pressure- or battery-powered. Compressed air canisters are very heavy, so something pump-driven is probably best.

Steve is suffering Sudoku backup.

Jenny explains why you should always wear your seatbelt:

... I was one block from my house, at one of the busiest (5 way) inersections in the city. I slowed to a stop at a red light. Not ten seconds later, my car was rear ended and launched 1-2 car lengths into that intersection. Luckily all lights were red and no one was coming at me.

I sat in shock for at a least a good 30 seconds before I realized a) that half of the people around me were BEEPING at me to move! and b) that HOLY MOTHER OF GOD my head hurt. BAD. ...

Tony checks out BarLola, a tapas place at Dartmouth and Comm. Ave. and leaves happy:

All in all, the restaurant was one of the most fabulous places I've been in a while.

Red has some other suggestions for comeback kids the Sox could sign, starting with Dwight Evans:

I've never been a big Nixon fan... can't we dust off Dewey for a couple more seasons? Not only does he look like he could still navigate the right field corner, but, more importantly, "Dew-ey" was the coolest nickname ever chanted in the stands at Fenway. ...

John is willing to cut headmasters who don't like them some slack but says:

... If kids are afraid of getting shot during classes, nothing else in the experience of school has meaning.

In for a penny, in for a pound of giant inflatable Christmas ornaments seems to be the watchword at this house on the VFW Parkway in West Roxbury. Meanwhile, on Bateman Street in Roslindale, somebody is dreaming of a tropical Christmas, just like the one they used to know:

On Metropolitan Avenue in Roslindale, St. Frosty, the patron saint of lifesize illuminated plastic choirboys, gives his blessing:

Hizzonah and Santa exchange pleasantries at the West Roxbury tree lighting today:

The ceremony, which featured songs by the Beethoven School chorus, as well as pizza and cookies, was notable for a couple of things: One was that Menino made a point of referring to the tree as "a Christmas Tree" (take THAT, Jerry Falwell!). The other was that when the tree lights went on, it was hard to tell, because noon is just not the best time to illuminate a Christmas Tree - especially when the sun is shining right into it.

Just in case you missed it, a top Romney official now says the head of the state's IT department did nothing wrong in going to conferences on open-source software. Seems Eric Kriss approved all of Peter Quinn's travels - but didn't bother to tell anybody when the Globe Spotlight Team (or Stephen Kurkjian, at any rate) began asking questions about it. Charley says:

... And so much for the outrageous Globe hit piece on Quinn -- muckraking, not nitpicking, please. The real issue in this is campaign finance: Who's paying for Romney and Marc Pacheco to shill for Microsoft? Who's making the phone calls and making veiled threats or non-promise promises? Follow the money, guys. ...

Speaking of the Globe coverage, the initial story that raised allegations about Quinn ran on page 1. The follow-up, which cleared him, ran on page B1.

My standard newspaper disclosure. Bonus disclosure: Last week, I wrote an editorial for Network World calling the charges against Quinn ludicrous.

Randy's running on a poll on the formerly unthinkable: Do you want to see Clemens back in Boston?

Yet another reason to love Mt. Auburn Cemetery.

Ellen reports somebody mooed at somebody else at Arlington Street station.

Either that, or they let the high-school interns write the news stories tonight. Joel can't figure out how they could run a story about the Menino/Catholic Charities flap without mentioning gay rights or abortion or one about Richard Pryor's death without mentioning race:

... At least they did mention the Vietnam War when they talked about (the death of Gene) McCarthy. One out of three ain't good, though.

Ah, wasn't it beautiful today? The trees dappled in sugar powder? The fields glistening in the sun? The crap that people put out to save "their" spaces on Boston streets (like this old TV on Brown Avenue in Roslindale)?

Greta and I started out the day by heading to Hynes Field in West Roxbury for some snowtubing (and also snow tunnel digging):

Then we headed out in our automobile to survey the winter wonderland, starting with:

Snow-covered sneakers hanging from a tree near Hynes Field:

A snowbear on Poplar Street in Roslindale:

Snow-covered tombstones at a Jewish cemetery off Edgemere Road in West Roxbury (bonus fun fact: West Roxbury, perhaps the most Irish of Boston neighborhoods, has more than four dozen Jewish cemeteries):

We didn't think anything could top the rotary-dial TV, but some creative soul came close with these two chairs, bucket and empty Corona box:

Snowman on Hawthorne Street in Roslindale:

Some things the snow just can't beautify, like the old White Dove Restaurant on Rte. 1 in Dedham:

We got home just in time for a beautiful sunset:

Sharon's posted an interesting interactive table that lets you see how Massachusetts cities and towns increase and shrink in population as workers flow in and out during the average workday.

Ian hates Channukah:

So I've been looking for things I could like about Hannukah -- ways to redefine it, make it something OTHER than a simple "yay our repressive theocracy killed their repressive theocracy."

He may have found an answer in the Talmud.

Political Cortex will feature liveblogging from today's BlogLeft confab in Worcester.

With Bill Griffith gone from the Globe, Bruce tries his hand at telling you what sports are on when and where this weekend.

Thanks to Tim, we now know that that lightning we saw and rolling thunder we heard early this afternoon is called thundersnow.

Night Owl City took some photos around Leverett Pond in the Emerald Necklace at the height of the storm (also see hardcore snow in JP and snow on Acorn Street on Beacon Hill).

Halley did a little cross-country skiing:

... When I got home, I shook out my hat, it was breaded in snow. As I whacked it along side of the outside wall, a burst of lightning happened. It was really weird since the sky is so thick with snow, I didn't even realize at first what it was. I turned around in the entryway, thinking a light had burned out. I couldn't believe it was lightning and then BOOM, it was followed by thunder. ...

Blurst got a bit exercised at bosses who make you come into work, then stay home themselves because they have kids.

Colin got a bit exercised at New England weather for forcing him to shell out $90 for a hotel room when it didn't look like he'd ever get home today (he eventually did):

You go to hell and you die, New England. You and your f****** blizzards with thunder and motherf****** lightning and 8-inch snowfalls in 3 goddam hours. ...

BK reports on a commute on 128 near Salem:

...It was moving - no joke - 5mph. Then the visibility dropped to 5ft. ...

Kids from the Washington Irving Middle School wait for the bus home in front of Wapo Taco in Roslindale Square today.

Bateman Street in Roslindale around 8:30 a.m. (also see Savoy Street in the South End).

Alison reports she had to console her son because, unlike surrounding towns, Lexington kept its schools open (if it's any consolation, Alison, Boston did the same thing):

... I assured him that it's only December 9, winter (on the calendar anyway) hasn't officially started, and that there's surely more white stuff to come. ...

And I promised the wee one a trip to one of the local sled hills if it stays snow.

Erika, meanwhile, gets the day off - and promptly finds herself dialing 911:

"Police department, what's your emergency?"

"Umm... I'm not sure it's an emergency... I'm 7 months pregnant, it's snowing and I'm locked out of my house..."