NHL player organizes outdoor hockey game in order to connect with fans - via twitter

MONTREAL (AP) — With the NHL lockout grinding through its fourth month, Montreal Canadiens defenseman Josh Gorges looked to an unusual source to find his next hockey game: Twitter.

The 28-year-old Gorges extended an open invitation to his followers on the social network to join him at a Montreal rink Wednesday afternoon, during the Boxing Day holiday.

Fans responded in droves.

Today's Quote of the Day...

Homeless family surprised with a big present - a new home!

ENGLEWOOD - The Rivera family woke up this Christmas in a homeless shelter.

All seven of them slept in one small room for about a year.

The family never expected they'd be going to bed on Christmas night in a much bigger, and better, place.

Christmas morning is a time of celebration.

This is one Christmas that will be hard to beat.

"As far as I knew we were just going to breakfast," said Amber Rivera.

Harvard and MIT team up to educate 1 billion people online...

Last December MIT took its decade-old Open Course Ware initiative to the next level when it announced the launch of MITx, a nonprofit online platform that would allow students anywhere in the world to take MIT classes for free. Now MIT has joined forces with its neighbor, Harvard, to launch a new online learning platform, edX, that aims to share knowledge with an even greater number of learners.

Harvard provost Alan Garber says MITx was such a game changer—over 120,000 students from around the globe signed up for the first class, slightly fewer than the total number of living MIT alumni—Harvard knew they wanted to be a part of it. As a result, the schools are investing $30 million each to jumpstart edX as an umbrella organization that will oversee MITx and the just-announced HarvardX.

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Man with Iron Man costume makes autistic boy's Christmas wish come true

Another feel-good Christmas miracle! Cameron, a 13 year-old boy with down syndrome, had his Christmas wish come true thanks to the kindness of a guy with an Iron Man suit and the internet. Someone posted on the popular forum reddit asking for help making a video for a boy with down syndrome who was a huge Iron Man fan. One of reddit.com's members saw the post and decided he would make it happen. He worked with Cameron's parents to come up with a video message Cameron would enjoy while wishing him a Merry Christmas. Watch the video below.

Volunteers tracked Santa Claus' travels by fielding some classic phone calls...

Volunteers at a Colorado Air Force base monitoring maps showing Santa Claus' progress have answered more than 41,000 phone calls from children asking about the jolly old elf.

Phones have been ringing nonstop Monday at Peterson Air Force Base, headquarters of the North American Aerospace Command's annual Santa-tracking operation.

The artist behind the 2012 Presidential Christmas Card...

A fresh start for "motel kids"...

Photographer gets creative and sends out an interesting card for Christmas with 14 versions of himself...

Like many of us, Gary He, 28, struggled to choose just one representative portrait of himself for his holiday card. So he used 14.

Read the full story here...

French company develops a tablet specifically for the kitchen...

Qooq kitchen tablet computer

Leave it to a French company to develop a tablet computer especially for the kitchen. The Qooq is a costly but clever digital cookbook that can help you crank out hundreds of tasty dishes.

For this disabled veteran a new wheelchair ramp is the perfect Christmas gift...

Frank Gioia got all choked up emotionally last week when a small group of Santa’s helpers showed up at his Colonial style house on Pleasant Valley Street to hang a holiday wreath on the wheelchair ramp they recently built for him.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas present than this,” said Gioia, a 70-year-old Marine veteran of the Vietnam war who has needed a ramp since suffering a double stroke seven years ago that paralyzed much of the left side of his body.

Read the full story here...

St. Francis House in Boston serves a Christmas dinner for 900...

As he does every Christmas, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley visited St. Francis House in downtown Boston Tuesday to offer words of comfort to the homeless.

But this year, as O’Malley concluded his prayer and bid farewell to about 30 men and women , a short woman wearing a sweatshirt and jeans stood from her seat in the front row.

“Excuse me, Cardinal,” said the woman, Lisa Marie Jenkins, 50. “May I say something to you?”

In a round, sonorous voice as surprising as it was beautiful, the woman began to sing.

“Thank you, for your presence today,” she crooned in a gospel style, swaying to her own beat. “May I say, hallelujah to you. May I just say, God bless you for your heavenly word, for what you do.”

Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester puts on his best performance when it comes to fighting kids cancer...

Five years removed his own battle with cancer, Red Sox starting pitcher Jon Lester joined with the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation to launch the NVRQT (Never Quit) campaign earlier this year. Among its events was a NVRQT Night at the House of Blues in Boston -- where he posed with teammates Clay Buchholz, John Lackey, and Will Middlebrooks for the photo above.

Read the full story here in Jon Lester's own words...

"Dear Santa, this is my motto and you might use it too. 'You might have a bad day, today, but there's always a bright star to look forward to tomorrow.' Look inside. What's your bright star? Thank you. Happy holidays," said Gabriella a 9 year old with an inoperable brain tumor who has raised nearly $250,000 for the Make A wish Foundation

A 9-year-old cancer patient has raised nearly $250,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help sick kids. One month ago Mark and Ellyn Miller learned their daughter Gabriella had an inoperable brain tumor. Thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Gabriella gets to travel to Paris. Before going, she asked kids to write letters to Santa. That's because Macy's donates $1 to Make-A-Wish for every letter received.

"It's really buoyed her spirits during this time that otherwise might have felt really lonely and really dark," said Chris Croll, a campaign organizer.

The goal was 10,000 letters. Defying all expectations it quickly escalated to almost 241,000. Despite draining chemo and radiation treatments, Gabrielle made her first public appearance this weekend.

"This is my motto and you might use it too. 'You might have a bad day, today, but there's always a bright star to look forward to tomorrow.' Look inside. What's your bright star? Thank you. Happy holidays," said Gabriella.

While cancer leaves Gabriella physically weak and alters her speech, it hasn't diminished her incredible spirit.

For these officers the gift of Christmas Day off....

On Christmas Day, thanks to a grassroots effort by their fellow law enforcement brethren in nearby communities, Newtown's police officers will be the recipients of a rare gift in their profession -- a holiday off, for the entire force.

Read the full story here..

Secret Santa ....the real man behind this fake Santa beard is a - she.

Wearing a bright red suit and sporting a giant fluffy white beard, Santa Claus paid a visit to Brooklyn recently, entertaining tots at a music festival and introducing a special guest from Sesame Street. He danced with the kids. He struck playful poses. He hammed it up for pictures.

It was like countless scenes across the country in advance of Christmas, except the real man behind this fake Santa beard was a woman.

Read the full story here...

Today's Quote of the Day...

Playing Santa on the streets of Boston...

These three little angels (my nieces) spent their Christmas Eve day yesterday playing Santa and giving back by walking the streets of Boston and helping to feed the homeless with Dunkin Donuts gift cards...the gratitude, appreciation, kindness and respect that was shown to and by these three is a priceless memory that will not be soon forgotten. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Coach ready to resume duty after taking on biggest fight of his life...leukemia

Chuck Pagano stepped to the podium Monday, hugged his team owner, thanked his family for its support, and wiped a tear from his eye.

He might, finally, turn out the lights in his office, too.

Nearly three months to the day after being diagnosed with leukemia, the Colts’ first-year coach returned to a team eager to reunite with a boss healthy enough to go back to work.