When we asked listeners to tell us what they ate on Christmas Day, we found a lot of commonality — puddings, cookies, egg nog — and a few quirks, including a drink called a "Holiday Harvey," and an odd Christmas Day sandwich made of biscuits, salami, cookies, and butter.

Robert Siegel talks to Ofeibea Quist-Arcton and Tom Bowman about the U.S. fight against terrorism in Africa, where the number of Islamist militant groups is on the rise — some with close ties to al-Qaida.

In Newtown, Conn., Christmas is very different this year, a little more than a week after the shooting at an elementary school. Eight families that attend St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church lost children to the tragedy. Parishioners came to Christmas masses there seeking solace, and priests gave a message of hope and comfort.

Robert Siegel shares Christmas messages from the Pope and Queen Elizabeth.

Rudolph is of course known as the red-nosed reindeer, and scientists say they may know why that's the case.

Several of the films contending for top prizes this year have one thing in common: They all say they're inspired by true events.

Among them are Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, Hitchcock and Ben Affleck's Argo, which chronicles a covert operation that involved creating a fake Hollywood film to rescue six Americans during the Iran hostage crisis. (The Americans posed as the picture's production crew to escape the country.)