On Our Cover
11th Hour Inspiration
Design by J. Alex Knoll
Again this year, inspiration arrives in the nick of time, as Bay Weekly writers share — indeed, invite you to steal — the creative solutions they’ve devised for friends and family.

Stanley Norman’s Luck
Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s skipjack saved from fir
by James Clemenko

Navy Masters Football
After 21 years of misery, the Mids scored an 8–4 season
by Louis Llovio
Do You Treasure the Chesapeake?
Then come January, you’ll be buying a new license plate
by Louis Llovio
Way Downstream
In Texas, even at Christmas local tree growers can’t get any respect in the Statehouse…
In Virginia, fish cops can’t get the budget they need to help save the Bay … In New Jersey, hunters go for bear…
This week’s Creature Feature: In New Zealand, turning pests into profit: far-too-plentiful Australian Brushtail Possum makes lambs’ wool feel almost like cashmere.

In the Spirit of Giving … Let’s All Take the Credit But Not Pay the Bill A Modest Proposal for Chesapeake Bay For more than two decades, we have been studying the Bay to death Look for Sue Sheehan at the Pearly Gates Good-bye Old Friend

by C.D. Dollar Woodpeckers and Other Birds of Winter Gifts Kids Can Make and Give by Martha Blume Imagine … by Howard Ernst Home-Grown Shopping for the Holidays