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| Presented By Walmart |
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| Axios AM |
| By Mike Allen · Dec 25, 2022 |
| 🎁 Merry Christmas! Axios' Erica Pandey is at the helm this Sunday morning — drop her a line at erica@axios.com. - Smart Brevity™ count: 977 words ... 4 minutes. Edited by Donica Phifer.
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| 1 big thing: NFL takes Christmas |
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| Illustration: Tiffany Herring/Axios |
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| The NFL is coming down the chimney and stealing the NBA's milk and cookies. What's happening: For years, the NFL had Thanksgiving — and the NBA had Christmas. Now, the NFL is playing on Christmas Day for a third straight season — and going bigger than ever, with the first Christmas triple-header in league history, Axios Sports editor Kendall Baker reports. - Packers at Dolphins (1 p.m. ET, Fox)
- Broncos at Rams (4:30 p.m., CBS/Nickelodeon)
- Buccaneers at Cardinals (8 p.m., NBC)
🏈 State of play: The NFL accounted for 41 of the 50 most-watched TV broadcasts of 2021, and 75 of the top 100. - So today's triple-header will likely lap the NBA in ratings, even though only one of the teams playing — the Dolphins — has a winning record.
🏀 The NBA's Christmas Day games averaged 4.1 million viewers last year, the lowest viewership since the schedule expanded to five games in 2008. |
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| Charted: NBA's Christmas games |
 Data: NBA. Table: Thomas Oide/Axios The New York Knicks haven't had a great basketball team in quite a while, but they've still shown up in the NBA's marquee Christmas Day games more often than any other team. And they're back in today's mix. - By the numbers: The L.A. Lakers hold the record for the most wins on Christmas, when the NBA tries to highlight its best teams and biggest stars, Axios' Sam Baker and Thomas Oide write.
Stat of the day: Today will be LeBron James' 17th Christmas Day game — more than any other NBA player in history, per ESPN. He's also the all-time leading scorer on Christmas. Today's games: 76ers vs. Knicks (noon ET) ... Lakers vs. Mavericks (2:30 p.m. ET) ... Bucks vs. Celtics (5 p.m. ET) ... Grizzlies vs. Warriors (8 p.m. ET) ... Suns vs. Nuggets (10:30 p.m. ET) |
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| 2. Christmas vs. Sunday morning |
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| Photo: Universal Images Group via Getty Images |
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| For the first time since 2016, Christmas Day falls on a Sunday — and lots of churches are telling parishioners to take it easy. - What's happening: Many Protestant pastors around the country focused on Christmas Eve and canceled Christmas Day services, The New York Times' Ruth Graham writes.
"Christmas morning and Sunday morning are sort of in tension with each other," Timothy Beal, a professor of religious studies at Case Western Reserve University, told The Times. - "Most people who are churchgoers think of Christmas morning not as a religious time but as a family time: stockings and brunches and staying in your pajamas until midday or later."
By the numbers: 84% of Protestant pastors and 61% of nondenominational evangelical pastors say they'll hold services this year, according to a survey by Lifeway Research, which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. - That's a majority. But many churches are opting out.
The big picture: "For smaller churches, canceling can be a matter of blunt realism: It can be difficult to summon the volunteers necessary to staff a well-attended Christmas Eve service and then another service the very next morning," writes Graham. Read the story (subscription). |
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| A message from Walmart |
| Walmart named one of LinkedIn's Top 20 Companies to Grow a Career |
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| Patrick Joseph began his Walmart career as a pharmacy intern. Today, he oversees 11 pharmacies and eight vision centers — and his story is just one of many. See how Walmart's focus on mentorship and advancement helps create more stories like Patrick's. |
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| 3. 🌲 Tree turf wars |
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| Trees for sale in Soho in Manhattan. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images |
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| If you visit New York around the holiday season, you'll spot the pop-up Christmas tree stands that dot the city and assume they're all small, quaint, independently-owned businesses. - Nope. "In reality, a few eccentric, obsessed, sometimes ruthless tycoons control the sale of almost every single tree in the city," Owen Long writes in a fascinating feature in Curbed, from New York Magazine.
- "They call themselves 'tree men,' and they spend 11 months a year preparing for Christmas — which, to them, is a blistering 30-day sprint to grab as much cash as they can."
"They've carved up the city into territories," Long adds. - Those turf wars matter because the same tree can sell for four times as much in Soho as in Staten Island.
What it's like: "The first two weeks of the season are a bloodbath. You're on your feet from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day fielding hordes of customers, each of whom has an incredibly specific idea of the ideal tree." - "Some customers scrutinize an evergreen longer than I would an 8-year-old child I was interested in adopting."
Worth the read. |
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| 4. Inflation hits holiday dinner |
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| Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios |
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| Your Christmas feasts with all the fixings, including eggnog and ham, cost around 16.4% more than last year with inflation, Axios' Kelly Tyko writes. - Why it matters: Nearly every ingredient in 2022 holiday feasts is more expensive — hit by inflation, supply chain interruptions and the avian flu, according to data from Datasembly and the Consumer Price Index.
🧮 By the numbers: This year's basket totaled $60.29 on average, compared to $51.79 last year for the same items. - Biscuits rose the most between December 2021 and 2022 — 47.1%.
- Butter was second highest at 37.9% with the price rising from $6.52 to $8.99.
- Cranberry sauce was 35.3% higher at $2.76. A box of stuffing was 26.4% more.
- Eggnog is 9.8% higher. Bone-in spiral-cut ham is 7.7% more.
Tip to go: Here's a list of stores open today. |
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| 5. West Point boots Confederates |
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| The military museum at West Point. Photo: John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images |
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| The U.S. Military Academy at West Point says it will do away with 13 pieces of Confederate memorabilia on campus by next December. - Those pieces include a portrait of a uniformed Confederate General Robert E. Lee that has been hanging in the academy's library since the 1950s, per AP.
The big picture: West Point's efforts are part of a Defense Department directive in October that ordered the school to remove any names, symbols, statues and paraphernalia that commemorate the Confederacy. |
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| 6. 🌟 Smile to go |
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| Photo: Pierre Crom/Getty Images |
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| A Ukrainian soldier dressed as Saint Nick gives children presents in front of a decorated military vehicle in Sloviansk. |
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| A message from Walmart |
| Walmart is investing $1 billion in career training and development |
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| At Walmart, a first promotion is often just the first of many — 75% of management started as hourly associates. That's just one reason why Walmart was named one of LinkedIn's Top Companies to Grow a Career in 2022. Learn how Walmart's mentorship and training help associates advance in their careers. |
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| ❄️ Thanks for sharing your holiday weekend with us. Please invite your friends to sign up to get their daily essentials — Axios AM, PM and Finish Line. |
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