Morning Edition

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Mark Shoopman is into green beans. The Illinois chef is cooking 270 pounds of beans and 75 pounds of onions. His goal, according to WMBD in Peoria, is the largest green bean casserole in Central Illinois.

In Britain, every year on Christmas Day, the Queen delivers a speech to her subjects. Recently in Cornwall, which is part of England, a new royal tradition has taken root based on an episode of The Simpsons.

Following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the debate over gun control has been reignited. Many have said that if there is going to be any action on gun control, law-abiding, responsible gun owners will need to be a part of the conversation. Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep talks to Steven Rinella, a writer and avid hunter, about how he views the current debate.

On Friday, members of Congress went home without settling their differences over how to avoid the spending decreases and tax increases known as the "fiscal cliff."

It's been known for a while that girls start puberty earlier than they did in the past, sometimes as young as 7 or 8. But it's been unclear whether boys also go through puberty earlier. Now, a study from the American Academy of Pediatrics helps answer that question.

The city of Rome may be the seat of the Roman Catholic Church, but as far as bright, glitzy decorations, Christmas there has always been a rather sober affair.

And yet at Christmastime, there's one area where Romans pull out all the stops — the dinner table.

Even with the economic crisis, outdoor markets, grocery shops and fishmongers are crowded with customers.

You might not expect "Santa's Helper" to be a career-altering gig, but for David Sedaris, it changed everything. The writer and humorist spent a season working at Macy's as a department store elf. He described his short tenure as Crumpet the Elf in "The Santaland Diaries," an essay that he read on Morning Edition in 1992.

Instantly, a classic was born. Sedaris' reading has become an NPR holiday tradition. Click the "Listen" link above to hear Sedaris read his tale.