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Holiday shoppers took to the Web in a big way this year. The latest figures show a 16 percent jump over last year. There were 10 days on which online sales topped $1 billion.

A federal mediator says port operators and workers will start talking to each other again. The clock is ticking because a contract extension expires Saturday for longshoremen from Maine to Texas. Talks broke down last week, and retailers are pushing hard for mediation.

Few people today remember E.T.A. Hoffmann, but most everyone is familiar with his most famous creation: The Nutcracker. NPR's Robert Siegel traces the history of everyone's favorite Christmas ballet all the way back to its much darker original version.

Rita Betush and Judy Bottomley grew up with a sense that something was missing. As a child, Betush's mother told her she had a sister who'd been put up for adoption. This year, after decades apart, Betush and her long-lost sister, Bottomley, connected by phone, and in February, they'll finally meet.

Guest host John Donvan reads listener comments from past shows about witnessing tragic events, adoption in the Internet age and how to fill time while you wait.

The Keystone pipeline is supposed to carry tar sands oil from Canada to Texas — a route that runs right through David Daniel's land. To try to save his woods from bulldozers, Daniel built tree houses 80 feet in the air and protesters climbed up into them.

At the Cain and Abel School for Prophets, students learn to interpret dreams and divination. Rabbi Shmuel Fortman Hapartzi, the Tel Aviv school's founder, says everyone in his class, himself included, is in the beginning stages of reaching enlightenment. But critics say Fortman is trying to profit from the prophet business.

Ben Affleck's Argo chronicles a covert operation to rescue six Americans during the Iran hostage crisis. Some of it's true, and some is just inspired by real events.

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

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.