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The image of the rural bed and breakfast with claustrophobic rooms, spartan amenities and prying innkeepers has long been a source of laughs for comedians and sitcoms. But B&Bs are fighting back. Now, many country inns are trying to dispel old stereotypes to appeal to new travelers.

Boyd Applegate has been dressing up as Santa Claus for more than 20 years. It's a pastime he unintentionally discovered while on the job as a big-rig truck driver. Every year, he makes under-the-tree gift deliveries designed for children to wake up and catch him in the middle of the night.

Big insurance companies are opening their own doctors' offices and clinics — a strategy that has previously met with mixed results.

The Audubon's 113th Christmas Bird Count is underway, and thousands of volunteers are taking part this year. Ornithologist David Bonter, and Gary Langham, Audubon's chief scientist, share tips on which species to look out for, and how even birding beginners can get involved.

John Boehner's inability to get fellow Republicans to line up behind him not only increases doubts about his future as House speaker; it also raises a more immediate question for President Obama: Who can he negotiate with in the effort to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff?

Some politicians believed the mass shooting in Newtown would be a tipping point leading to new gun restrictions. That may still happen, but the NRA and other groups have made clear their belief that guns aren't the problem.

Japan's economy was a world beater in the 1980s. But the country has now gone through two tough decades and there's no end in sight. What lessons might it hold for the U.S. as it confronts the "fiscal cliff"?

The Republicans' blowup leaves the path to avoiding automatic tax hikes and spending cuts in the new year unclear. Leaders seem to agree that a bipartisan solution is the only way — but, as House Speaker John Boehner said, "How we get there, God only knows."

After a 1996 mass shooting, the country changed its gun laws and the government bought back roughly 20 percent of all guns. Since then, gun violence has been down, and there have not been any mass killings.

If John Kerry leaves the Senate to become secretary of state another Kennedy could fill his Senate seat — at least on an interim basis. And ousted Republican Scott Brown could have fighting chance of returning to the Capitol.