Fire follows police standoff at Everett apartment

Authorities secured the area during a standoff with a man in an Everett home on Friday afternoon.

Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff

Firefighters were battling a blaze Friday evening after a man had exchanged gunfire with police sporadically this afternoon.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/21/BostonGlobe.com/Regional/Images/dtlumacki_seawalls_reg02.jpg Storms taking toll on towns? sea walls

Marshfield, Scituate, and Plymouth have repaired portions of decades-old seawalls that continue to take beatings well beyond their lifespans.

Carlo Allegri/REUTERS

Free late-night coffee at Mass. service plazas

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is about to make your trip a little bit easier ? and a lot more caffeinated.

Maybe this homeowner on Maquan Street had the foresight to predict a warm Christmas as these pink flamingos pulling santa in a tropical shirt on the lush green grass of the front yard, seemed more appropriate for the current weather.

Unseasonably warm weather continues

For Christmas Day: partly sunny skies and temperatures in the low 60s.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/25/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/26omalley03.jpg Cardinal O?Malley calls for compassion at homeless shelter

The archbishop of Boston asked all present to remember Jesus as ?a baby born in a stable, in obscurity.?

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/25/BostonGlobe.com/Foreign/Images/2978281b7cbf4ac8951909350d2a17ff-01054514506643f589351e7547478ee6-0.jpg UK astronaut calls wrong number from space

Anyone can dial a wrong number, but it?s not often done from outer space.

Kamal, a Syrian native, left Kroger after buying cupcakes for his children.

Erin Hull/The New York Times

In Texas, thriving amid appeals to reject refugees

One Syrian said he embraces his new identity as a Texan, but has watched state officials battle to keep out more like him.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/25/BostonGlobe.com/Foreign/Images/2015-12-03T203613Z_1080423935_GF20000084161_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-ARSON.jpg Months after deadly West Bank arson, case makes progress

Israeli authorities are expected to soon raise charges against Jewish extremists suspected in a July arson attack.

editorial

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/23/BostonGlobe.com/EditorialOpinion/Advance/Images/1225stryderroom.jpg Giving Strider Wolf a start

Those who would roll back services that are an essential part of lifting children out of poverty would do well to remember Strider.

Members of The November Project sprinted uphill on Summit Avenue in Brookline on Christmas morning.

Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff

A merry ? and fit ? Christmas

Pre-dawn hill-running, visits to the gym, jogging. For some, Christmas was just another day for a workout.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/25/BostonGlobe.com/Sports/Images/502134790-8984.jpg Joey Iosefa had a bullish impact on Patriots ground game

The sturdy rookie announced his presence emphatically in last Sunday?s win over Tennessee.

What will the biggest MBTA stories be in 2016?

In the new year, we?ll be debating MBTA fare hikes, the Green Line extension, service cuts, and more.

Lucara Diamond Corp.?s 1,111-carat diamond recovered from Bottswana, the world's second largest gem quality diamond ever recovered.

Why it?s hard to put a price on the world?s biggest diamonds

Figuring out what diamonds like the golf-ball-size, 357-carat rock found this year in Lesotho are worth can prove difficult.

A FedEx delivery worker carrieds a package for a delivery in Wilmette, Illinois in October.

FedEx draws scorn on late holiday shipments

The delivery company is being excoriated on social media from customers missing everything from clothes to food.

Duxbury School Superintendent Ben Tantillo in his office.

Bella English

Work-free, stress-free for the winter break

The Duxbury superintendent declared the holidays to be homework-free because of the stress on students, parents, and teachers.

Snow blanketed Easton, Maine, 400 miles north of Boston, on Wednesday.

The Boston Globe

Looking for snow? Try Caribou, Maine.

Heading away from balmy Boston in a determined search for a white Christmas? Don?t bother looking in the Berkshires, or even Buffalo.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/24/BostonGlobe.com/Arts/Images/2015-12-04T001814Z_1390199561_GF20000084509_RTRMADP_3_CHRISTMAS-SEASON-WHITEHOUSE.jpg Holiday music with the Obamas and the Bidens

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden released their families? holiday playlist on Spotify.

Movie Review

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/15/BostonGlobe.com/ReceivedContent/Images/ca1_3079r_alt_lg.jpg In ?Carol,? standout performers include the director

Unfolding in a haze of romantic and sexual tension, Todd Haynes?s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith?s 1952 novel is about loving someone you?re not supposed to.

James Reed

The most overlooked albums of 2015

Critic James Reed picks five of the year?s most overlooked albums, including releases by PWR BTTM, Lady Lamb, and Dawn Richard.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/25/BostonGlobe.com/Sports/Images/144593e689694a11b4da0c05128a0cdc-144593e689694a11b4da0c05128a0cdc-0-9066-k6d--90x90@BostonGlobe.com.jpg In Buffalo, everybody likes ?Eich?

The speedy Hobey Baker winner from BU and Chelmsford is off to a good start in his NHL career.

UP CLOSE

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/19/BostonGlobe.com/Regional/Images/Copy%20of%20BarbiraSmithmattressA.jpg Furnishing families in need for a quarter century

Barbara and Ira Smith of Acton have operated Household Goods since 1999.

Ground Game

ground game

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/12/24/BostonGlobe.com/Politics/Images/e7de421814804554812d89fdfd0f2328-e7de421814804554812d89fdfd0f2328-0.jpg Things are not going well for the Carson campaign

After several confounding statements on foreign policy and then fighting claims he made about his own life for weeks, Ben Carson?s poll numbers have tanked.

Globe Santa

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/11/25/BostonGlobe.com/Special/Images/santa_logo[1]-U80342642589InF--90x90@BostonGlobe.com.jpg Donate to Globe Santa

Globe Santa delivers holiday gifts to local children in need.

Globe investigations

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/11/18/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/spotlight150x150-165.jpg Globe investigations and Spotlight reports

A look at high-impact investigations from The Boston Globe, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning report on abuse in the Catholic Church.

The Big Picture

 A Lebanese woman wearing a Santa Claus costume sings during a Christmas event, in downtown Beirut on Dec. 19. (Hussein Malla/Associated Press)

Hussein Malla/Associated Press

The Big picture

Santas everywhere

They come in all shapes and sizes, donning the iconic red suit and hat that symbolize modern-day Christmas.

The story behind 'Spotlight'

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2015/11/18/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/spotlight-9497.jpg Boston Globe coverage and the movie ?Spotlight?

?Spotlight? is based on the stories and the reporters behind the investigation of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.