Merry Christmas y&#x27;all
keep promptin&#x27;

I love your player character tree topper.

<pre><code> @
 ***
 *****
 *******
 *********
 ***********
 *************
 ***************
 |
 |
</code></pre>
Best I can do ;&#x2F;

Ah, don&#x27;t worry. If you just append to one side always and do an anti-balancing one, you get a string of lights.<pre><code> o 
 \ 
 o 
 \ 
 o 
 \ 
 o 
 \ 
 o 
 \ 
 o 
 \ 
 o 
 \ 
 o</code></pre>

Hey we have the same tree!<pre><code> (()(()((())((())(()())))))</code></pre>

<pre><code> o
 &#x2F; \
 o o
 &#x2F; \
 o o
 &#x2F; \
 o o
 &#x2F; &#x2F; \
 o o o
 &#x2F; &#x2F; \
 o o o
</code></pre>
I knew I should have invested in that fancy self-balancing one, oh well.

<pre><code> .-^-.
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;Merry Christmas HackerNews__&#x2F;_&#x2F;\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_o_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_\_\
 &#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_&#x2F;_\_\
 |||||||||||||||
 |||||||||||||||
 |||||||||||||||
 |||||||||||||||
 _|||||||||||||||_</code></pre>

Lovely idea but please spare a thought for people using a screen reader! Imagine having ASCII art spelt out to you character by character, line by line.This really is a job for a LLM.With apologies to screen reader users: 
&quot;space tab space space asterisk new line space space tab space new line space space space tab pipe new line ... forward slash o full stop full stop backslash ...&quot;

Not always!  Sometimes `extends Plastic{}`

May you have a perfectly balanced Christmas<pre><code> h
 _____|______
 &#x2F; \
 r t
 &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \
 e . i a
 &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \
 M r y C r s m s</code></pre>

<pre><code> *
 &#x2F;|\
 [ROOT]
 n=25000
 &#x2F; | \
 [N] [I] [C]
 .33 .51 .94 &lt;-- UCB1 winner
 | | &#x2F; \
 [OH] [MEH] [E] [E]
 coal socks NICE NICE
 | \ \
 :&#x2F; :) :)

 MCTS: Monte Carlo Tree Santa

 &quot;in the limit, all children converge 
 to the nice list&quot; - S. Claus
</code></pre>
Merry Xmas Nerds!

That&#x27;s the first tree that rendered properly on my mobile, Merey Christmas and good job! Also nice bottom layer of ampersands, looks really festive for some reason!

Just you mentioning Doom makes me wonder how fast will we get someone to run Doom on individually controlled Christmas LEDs on a Christmas tree.

<pre><code> DOOM BSP (XMAS) TREE :p

 . * .
 (IDKFA)
 ---\ | &#x2F;---
 \|&#x2F;
 ( ROOT NODE )
 ( Partition )
 &#x2F;`--...___...-`\
 &#x2F; \
 &#x2F; \
 o--( Node 1 )--o o--( Node 2 )--o
 &#x2F; Front \ &#x2F; Back \
 &#x2F; | \ &#x2F; | \
 &#x2F; o \ &#x2F; o \
 [SUBSECTOR] ( Node 3 ) [SUBSECTOR]
 | (Leaf A)| &#x2F; \ | (Leaf B)|
 |_________| &#x2F; \ |_________|
 [SEGS] &#x2F; \ [SEGS]
 ( Gift ) [SUBSECTOR] [SUBSECTOR] ( Gift )
 | (Leaf C)| | (Leaf D)|
 |_________| |_________|
 [SEGS] [SEGS]</code></pre>

Merry Christmas! Nice touch with the snow, makes for a cosy and homely atmosphere! (It&#x27;s 25⁰C here. Please send help &gt;.&lt;)

▲
 ▲▲▲
 ▲▲▲▲▲
 ▲▲▲▲▲▲▲
 ▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲
 ▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲Hell - mine one is crashed! Claude didnt work properly :-D

Build one yourself! Here&#x27;s an interactive balanced binary tee builder:
<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gregfjohnson.com&#x2F;redblackbuilder.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gregfjohnson.com&#x2F;redblackbuilder.html</a>

Shall we showcase our trees?<pre><code> *
 |
 &#x2F;.\
 &#x2F;o..\
 &#x2F;..O\
 &#x2F;.o..o\
 &#x2F;...o.\
 &#x2F;..O..o.\
 ^^^[_]^^^</code></pre>

HN is a pretty simple, efficient monolithic web application. Some updates might need a restart. It&#x27;s OK for some web requests to fail during that time. HN isn&#x27;t life critical with sixtuple nine uptime requirements.

I&#x27;d rather restart once (ok, twice) a year than keep that code around in production.It only affects traffic for about 10 seconds.

I feel like this obsession with zero downtime has gotten a bit silly.  Sure, for some things it&#x27;s damn near required (though I imagine that&#x27;s fewer things than most people think), but it 100% does not matter even a little bit if HN is unavailable for 10 seconds or so.

You’d have more luck asking for world peace.

You must have grabbed that first one awfully quickly!

Perhaps you&#x27;ve looked at the site so much that you&#x27;re blind to the numbers at the start of each item.

The numbers next to the submissions are red&#x2F;green

So what&#x27;s the christmas theme? Unless I&#x27;m blind, it looks the same as always, except the header color seems to have changed... slightly?

Dear Santa, for Christmas can we get a prefers-color-scheme: dark mode for HN, thank you and Merry Christmas

Fun seeing HN restart to switch to the Christmas theme, in three steps:<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;share.cleanshot.com&#x2F;vJZv6k03" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;share.cleanshot.com&#x2F;vJZv6k03</a> (restarting the server)<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;share.cleanshot.com&#x2F;qFyM347P" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;share.cleanshot.com&#x2F;qFyM347P</a> (online but temporarily readonly)<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;share.cleanshot.com&#x2F;kW8kY7mp" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;share.cleanshot.com&#x2F;kW8kY7mp</a> (back online!)

Easy mistake. HN&#x27;s AI apocolyose color is a slightly darker hue.

I got scared when I refreshed and HN turned red

Merry x-mas.  We all deserve love and happiness.  Be kind to your neighboor.

The ol&#x27; off-by-one error.Merry Christmat!

May everyone here discover more and better ways to spread the joy of giving and doing good.<pre><code> *
 &#x2F;_\
 &#x2F; o \
 &#x2F; * \
 &#x2F; o o \
 &#x2F; . * . \
 &#x2F; o * * o \
 &#x2F; . * o * . \
 &#x2F; o * * * * o \
 &#x2F; . * o * o * . \
 &#x2F; o * * * * * * o \
 &#x2F;______________________\
 |||||| 
 |||||| 
 ||||||</code></pre>

and a healthy dose of Australian Christmas Stereotypes to all: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=amL8QRiDH2E" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=amL8QRiDH2E</a>including not the original Rolf Harris version: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=CQVEZLcBfS8" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=CQVEZLcBfS8</a>

Merry Christmas!&quot;An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”&quot;-Luke 2

&quot;A Spaceman Came Travelling&quot; - Chris de Burgh

I’m assuming they fixed the formatting since you posted, but it’s a Christmas tree in text art using braille characters.Side note: I assume you can’t call it ASCII art if it uses non-ASCII characters, but Unicode art doesn’t have the same ring.

It shows up as a Christmas tree for me on my phone in portrait mode. In landscape mode the braille is messed up.

If you&#x27;re viewing on a desktop, shrink the browser until each line stacks below the previous one, creating a tree.

not sure what i&#x27;m looking at here...

Did you forget to double space between the lines, or put leading spaces?Also, I had to turn off firefox&#x27;s enhanced tracking protection for the font to load. Before that it was unicode tofu.

I love all the trees but this is my favorite.ThanksMerry Christmas!

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⠀⠀⡰⡇⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠰⢾⠇⠨⡦⠀⠂⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡀⠀⢈⣹⠜⠻⢾⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠁⢠⣿⡵⠾⣻⣶⠿⠦⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⠀⢀⣠⣮⣦⡶⠻⠛⢶⣄⡀⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣽⠏⠁⣠⣂⣦⣈⣝⣦⣄⠀⠈⠁⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠁⣠⣾⣵⣾⣾⠟⡙⠟⠿⣍⡉⠀⠀⠆⠀⠀ ⠀⠰⠀⠀⠄⣠⣶⣾⣭⡶⠟⠻⣶⡰⣜⣳⣦⣄⠀⡀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⢀⣠⣴⣿⣋⡴⣪⠎⣄⡙⠻⠿⣯⣉⠉⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠂⠀⢀⣉⡭⢿⡛⣛⣵⠎⠀⠙⢾⣶⣦⣭⣷⣦⠐⠀ ⠀⠀⢈⣙⣿⡿⠿⠟⣋⢅⡄⡄⡐⣄⢤⣉⠷⢦⣄⣀⠠ ⠐⠾⠿⢽⣷⡶⠶⡿⣓⣭⣾⣿⢷⣬⣓⢿⠿⠿⣯⣉⣁ ⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠉⠛⠛⠉⢀⣿⢿⡀⠙⠋⠓⠿⠿⠏⠉⠉ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠠⠤⠶⠾⢿⡯⠷⠶⠤⠄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Merry Christmas, HN!

I&#x27;d consider myself more spiritual rather than religious, but do pray to a god of my understanding. Just wanted to say thanks for sharing this, I haven&#x27;t actually read the whole Bible but, as the other reply states, I&#x27;m sure there are so many little nuggets like this in there that many ignore.

Thank you for sharing this one! It&#x27;s from a beautiful parable found only in Luke&#x27;s gospel, from which only &quot;no slave can serve two masters&quot; seems to have entered the popular lexicon. Your quote, or the closing line &quot;you cannot serve God and wealth&quot;, better speak to the spirit of the passage.For anyone interested in approaching the Bible this season, perhaps as part of a New Year&#x27;s resolution, there are many wonderful free and paid resources to do so. It&#x27;s easy to get bogged down in a comparison of translations and tools, or to ambitiously pick a Bible in a Year reading plan and get waylaid in the pentateuch. Instead, I&#x27;d recommend starting with the Berean Standard Bible (a modern, public domain translation with good footnotes) and Mark (Matthew is my favorite, but it starts with a genealogy and requires some Old Testament knowledge to fully enjoy.)Here&#x27;s a link: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;biblehub.com&#x2F;bsb&#x2F;mark&#x2F;1.htm" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;biblehub.com&#x2F;bsb&#x2F;mark&#x2F;1.htm</a>

Truth. You can evaluate a lot about someone from the details they give attention to, and what they ignore. It&#x27;s not a hard and fast rule, but helpful in determining who you can trust with work, important things in your life (including your self), etc.

See also: dropping unwashed spoons in a communal sink

That&#x27;s like how you can evaluate someone&#x27;s character by whether they return supermarket trolleys when they&#x27;re done with them

Wonderful verse, it’s so true, thanks for sharing

Merry Christmas to everyone.Being a non-Christian and it being Christmas time, I am sharing one verse from the New Testament that is, in my opinion, useful - or at the very least, insightful - to anyone, regardless of religion.Luke 16:10: He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.

Merry ChristmasChristus natus estO Χριστός γεννιέταιХристос раждаетсяהמשיח נולדابن الله يولد اليوم

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone has wonderful time with family.

Just in case anyone does not know, that is a Base64URL-encoded string. Used by JWT.

eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJtZXNzYWdlIjoiTWVycnkgQ2hyaXN0bWFzIiwidG8iOiJIYWNrZXIgTmV3cyJ9.Lg_fp5WWKGLpbxI_YbRY-CfQiXe-gLXzDFMiChkXzY0

Merry Christmas to the awesome hn community!

Not gonna filter your emojis on Christmas but I&#x27;m impressed how many of our restrictions you routed around :)

<pre><code> Ⓜerry 
 
 ©hr®istmas ‼ ⁉

 ⭕
 ↙▫⬇↘
 ↙▫↙⬇↘↘
 ↙↙▫↙⬇↘▫↘↘
 ↙▫↙↙⬇↘↘▫↘↘
 ↙↙↙▫↙↙⬇↘▫↘↘↘↘
 ♟♨⬛#⃣#⃣♨♟
 ◽◾◽
 〰㊗〰

 
</code></pre>
#⃣ #⃣ #⃣ ™ ℹ ↔ ↕ ↖ ↗ ↘ ↙ ↩ ↪ ⌚ ⌛ ▪ ▫ ▶
◀ ◻ ◼ ◽ ◾ 
♠ ♣ ♥ ♦ ♨ ⤴
⤵ ⬅ ⬆ ⬇ ⬛ ⬜ ⭕ 〰 〽 ㊗ ㊙
 ⏏ 🟰 ‼ ⁉ 〰 ⭕ 〽 © ® ™ *⃣ 0⃣ 1⃣ 2⃣ 3⃣ 4⃣ 5⃣ 6⃣ 7⃣ 8⃣ 9⃣ ℹ Ⓜ ㊗ ㊙ 󠁧󠁢󠁥 ♨ ♟ ⌨

Merry Christmas, friends. And a special cheers to everyone that makes this community possible. It’s one of the last bastions of all that is good about this internet.

Here&#x27;s to a happy and healthy 2026!Thanks HN for all the thoughtful comments and interesting articles.

I thought this was Advent of Code! Merry Christmas!

Just because old ASCII and ANSI art is often signed by the author, which is something fun I appreciate, see also:<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;oldcompcz.github.io&#x2F;jgs&#x2F;joan_stark&#x2F;xmas.html#treewithbunn" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;oldcompcz.github.io&#x2F;jgs&#x2F;joan_stark&#x2F;xmas.html#treewit...</a>And of course, the BBS Documentary: Artscene episode:<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=oQrBbm5ZMlo&amp;list=PL7nj3G6Jpv2G6Gp6NvN1kUtQuW8QshBWE&amp;index=5" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=oQrBbm5ZMlo&amp;list=PL7nj3G6Jpv...</a>

Challenge issued.I wouldn&#x27;t be surprised if someone comes up with obfuscated C code that looks like a christmas tree and prints out wishes by the end of the day&#x2F;season.Merry Christmas!

Pretty sure it&#x27;s a regex to match email address strings.

It&#x27;s a red-green tree.  Your task is to invert it in O(n) operations.

I thought it was unobfuscated perl code. Merry Christmas ya filthy animals.

Thought it was obfuscated C code, then I realized it’s a tree or something

Thanks for posting. This was fun! Towards the end it gets really hard. 
Merry Christmas!

Since I might have peoples&#x27; attention for a moment (Can no longer edit my original post). Might I suggest the King William&#x27;s college quiz this Christmas?<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;kwc.im&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2025&#x2F;12&#x2F;GKP_2025_26.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;kwc.im&#x2F;wp-content&#x2F;uploads&#x2F;2025&#x2F;12&#x2F;GKP_2025_26.pdf</a>

Merry Christmas !May your glühwein be hot and your cats purring :)

Very nice, the introduction to recursion in university (which was around that time of the year) was drawing a fractal Christmas tree

These ascii art remind me the good old days of internet where we would celebrate holidays and special days sending these little marvels thru our mail client, pine under ibm aix unix terminals.

<pre><code> *
 &#x2F;*\
 &#x2F;***\
 &#x2F;*****\
 &#x2F;*******\
 &#x2F;*********\
 &#x2F;*** * ***\
 &#x2F;*************\
 &#x2F;*** * * ****\
 &#x2F;*****************\
 &#x2F;*** * * * *****\
 &#x2F;*********************\
 &#x2F;********** *** ********\
 |||
 |||
 |||
</code></pre>
Merry Christmas, HN

Reading some of the translations for the quoted verse, it&#x27;s really interesting how so many different sentiments can be expressed with very little changes of words&#x2F;phrasing.“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”&quot;Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.&quot;“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.”<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;biblehub.com&#x2F;luke&#x2F;2-14.htm" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;biblehub.com&#x2F;luke&#x2F;2-14.htm</a>

I think I do prefer the KJV here. Has the classic familiarity.The ESV is the translation I have used since it came out for personal reading and study, though.

&quot;Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.&quot;

Luke 2:14<pre><code> [14] “Glory to God in the highest,
 and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”</code></pre>

Merry Christmas!Here’s a quad tree:1111—0110011011110110—0000000000011000000110000011110001111110111111110001100000011000

Hope everyone has a healthy, rewarding and prosperous year. Special thanks to @dang and team for keeping this community a great place everyone wants to come back to. I love coming back here every day.Merry Christmas to all!

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;codepen.io&#x2F;LimeWub&#x2F;full&#x2F;yQWbNW" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;codepen.io&#x2F;LimeWub&#x2F;full&#x2F;yQWbNW</a>

Merry Christmas, everyone! Continually grateful for this community: stumbling into it as a teenager changed my life and I never get tired of spinning out about new tech big and small with the folks here. Stay safe, everybody

Saturnalia isn’t related to it other than coincidence of dates, no?Either way, merry Saturnalia to you! (Off-by-one day :D)

could just be very adamant about the Jan 6 date

Technically it’s merry Yule and Saturnalia, christ has nothing to do with it.

Merry Christmas!<pre><code> ▲
 ▲▲
</code></pre>
did I do it right?

United States to Japan.I was a bit eager to start work after three months of waiting for the HSP 1b visa. Tried to keep myself busy with side projects, and got quite far with embedded Rust. But the lack of a &quot;regular schedule&quot; from a job was making me eager to start &quot;proper work&quot; again.So far, it has been a mixed bag of trade-offs. Made it in time for various events, got to see a few friends for the first time in a while, etc. However, nothing beats the comfort and security of one&#x27;s parents home, especially during the holiday season.Probably obvious to everybody, but seriously do not schedule a move in December. If it is feasible, spend the time to make memories with your family and loved ones.

Yeah, I&#x27;m aware of extensions like Stylus and use it on a few sites. But my brain is irrational and doesn&#x27;t treat it the same as having a snapshot of HN during Christmas.

Indeed, I needed it longer than one day so wrote myself an extension. HN didn&#x27;t seem to care but I still love it :-)<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=46266496">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=46266496</a><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;FreedomBen&#x2F;hacker-news-christmas-colors-browser-ext" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;FreedomBen&#x2F;hacker-news-christmas-colors-b...</a>

&gt; Sometimes after Christmas, I avoid refreshing an HN tab, so I get to see the theme just a little bit longer :)There&#x27;s always browser extensions&#x2F;scripts.

Merry Christmas, everybody!Love seeing the custom HN theme every year. Sometimes after Christmas, I avoid refreshing an HN tab, so I get to see the theme just a little bit longer :)This year is a bit special to me. I recently moved countries for a new job, but I moved a bit too soon. Now I am spending the holiday season alone for the first time in my life. Learned a lot of lessons the hard way over the past week.

My first Christmas with mom gone was really tough. Stuck alone during COVID in 2021 in a really bad place. I couldn&#x27;t sleep. And I happened to turn on the radio in the middle of the night and there was an Amy Grant interview. I almost turned it off, oh no, christian stuff I thought. But she talked about her first Christmas without her mom. Then they played her song about it. If I had been 5 minutes more trying to sleep, or given up on sleep 5 minutes earlier, I would have missed that.Anyways, in case anyone needs to stumble upon something similar, I couldn&#x27;t find something so perfect but...hearing it now it&#x27;s not as amazing as it was that night I needed to not be alone in grief, but here it is:<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.npr.org&#x2F;2016&#x2F;12&#x2F;25&#x2F;506715971&#x2F;amy-grant-on-faith-songwriting-and-christmas-blues" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.npr.org&#x2F;2016&#x2F;12&#x2F;25&#x2F;506715971&#x2F;amy-grant-on-faith-...</a><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=3LOqLV6Om4A" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=3LOqLV6Om4A</a>Merry Christmas to you!

Merry Christmas everyone. If you are not Christian, then seasons greetings,  hope you got the day off anyway!

Some interesting and topical links:<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;NORAD_Tracks_Santa" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;NORAD_Tracks_Santa</a><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;St._Nicholas_Church,_Demre" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;St._Nicholas_Church,_Demre</a><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Legend_of_the_Christmas_Spider" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Legend_of_the_Christmas_Spider</a><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;G%C3%A4vle_goat" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;G%C3%A4vle_goat</a><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Caganer" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Caganer</a>

Merry Christmas! HN Christmas theme is always great to see<pre><code> *
 &#x2F;_\
 &#x2F;***\
 &#x2F;*****\
 &#x2F;*******\
 &#x2F;*********\
 |||
 |||</code></pre>

There are so many. Muppet Christmas Carol, of course. Emmett Otter&#x27;s Jugband Christmas is a classic. White Christmas, a bit cliché but I love it. Bishop&#x27;s Wife (with Carey Grant) is also a classic. Home Alone for the funny.And probably a hundred others.

Merry Christmas everyone!Favorite Christmas movie?

Happy Winter Solstice (resurrection of the sun)Happy Yalda (Yuletide)<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Yalda_Night" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Yalda_Night</a>

Oh man, I love flying over the Pacific Ocean (during the day). There&#x27;s just so much nothing but water. It&#x27;s kind of astounding.

Have a wonderful time! The city changes so fast; make the most of what it is right now

Happy Christmas everyone, I’m at 29000 feet on a flight to Hong Kong after a mini version of planes, trains and automobiles and including cancelled planes and taxis to different airports. I’m struck by honestly what a miracle it is that we can travel thousands of miles at hundreds of MPH and have okay internet access and communicate. I don’t think people quite realise how delicate all of the technology is now and how easily it could fail if we don’t all look after each other. I hope you all have a brilliant Christmas and new year!

Merry Christmas HN. I offer this group my thanks for something I can learn from every day.This is the Trinity College Choir’s advent concert - really puts me in the mood for the season,
a remarkable performance and service: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;live&#x2F;MsUd-twzG2U?si=1HMiaD2-Le70-fch" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;live&#x2F;MsUd-twzG2U?si=1HMiaD2-Le70-fch</a>

Merry Christmas HN! Whether you celebrate it or not, hope you get some time off to spend with friends and&#x2F;or family!

Merry Christmas! This great community has changed my life so many times. Let’s go for more!

Merry Christmas to one of the last great internet communities that I actually like to interact with

(note the red and green story numbers as well)(this is an old pg tradition btw)

Just noticed that color of the HN top bar is more red which I never noticed in previous years.Merry Christmas to everyone.

Can&#x27;t believe no one&#x27;s regifted this present yet:<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xkcd.com&#x2F;835&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xkcd.com&#x2F;835&#x2F;</a>

Merry Christmas, friend!  I am sorry to hear about your family situation and that you are alone.  If it is any comfort, know that I, and I&#x27;m sure others, are thinking of you.  Thank you for your reminder to rest in the Light of the World.

I am alone. I haven&#x27;t seen my family in many, many years for reasons that I don&#x27;t want to get into. I am a founder. I check Hacker News every day and have learned an immense amount from all the commenters, articles, and discussions over the years. I thank you all for that. I am truly grateful.I wish you all a Merry Christmas full of joy, and I hope you can all appreciate, share, and express love for those around you, be it family, friends, or strangers on the internet. We are all very lucky to be part of the HN site and community. I have been here for about 15 years (at least that is what it feels like) with my other accounts that I don&#x27;t want to dox.Glory to God. For believers in Jesus, may the light of Christ guide you as it does me in difficult times. Wishing you all His peace and joy.

Merry Christmas everyone! :)If you’d fancy a little holiday-themed adventure game - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gricha.dev&#x2F;happyholidays&#x2F;terminal" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gricha.dev&#x2F;happyholidays&#x2F;terminal</a>

Merry Christmas everyone! My friends and family are on two different continents so it&#x27;s very quiet this year.I hope everyone has a wonderful, relaxing, and joyous time.

Thanks all for your contributions to positive chats on this site — have a joy filled holiday

Merry Christmas friends! I have a C64 Ultimate under the tree this year so looking to have a bit of retro fun that would make the HN community proud (after assembling all the kids stuff, of course).

Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year

Prompt: create a christmas tree in ascii but that is a merkle treeAnswer:
Here’s an ASCII Christmas tree that is also a Merkle tree 
(Each parent node is the hash of its two children; leaves are the “data blocks”.)<pre><code> MERKLE TREE 

 H(ROOT)
 &#x2F; \
 H(0-1) H(2-3)
 &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \
 H(0) H(1) H(2) H(3)
 &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \
 D0 D0 D1 D1 D2 D2 D3 D3

</code></pre>
But that&#x27;s a little too tidy to be a proper Christmas tree — so here’s a more “tree-like” version with ornaments, while still preserving the Merkle structure:<pre><code> H(ROOT) 
 &#x2F; \
 H(0-1) H(2-3) 
 &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \
 H(0) H(1) H(2) H(3) 
 &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \
 D0 D0 D1 D1 D2 D2 D3 D3
 (leaf)(leaf)(leaf) (leaf)(leaf)(leaf)
</code></pre>
Notes (so it’s actually Merkle-y)D0–D3 = data blocks (your “presents” )H(0) = hash(D0 || D0) (duplicated leaf for balance, common in Merkle trees)H(0-1) = hash(H(0) || H(1))H(ROOT) = hash(H(0-1) || H(2-3))If you want, I can:generate a bigger tree (8, 16, 32 leaves),make the hashes look like real hash strings,or format it like a perfect triangular Christmas tree silhouette while keeping the Merkle parent&#x2F;child layout.--
Prompt: format it like a perfect triangular Christmas tree silhouette while keeping the Merkle parent&#x2F;child layout.Answer: You got it — here’s a perfect triangular Christmas tree silhouette that still preserves the Merkle parent&#x2F;child layout (parents directly above their two children, leaves at the base).<pre><code> H(ROOT) 
 &#x2F; \
 ┌────────H(0-3)────────┐
 &#x2F; \
 ┌────H(0-1)────┐ ┌────H(2-3)────┐
 &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \
 ┌─H(0)─┐ ┌─H(1)─┐ ┌─H(2)─┐ ┌─H(3)─┐
 &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \
 D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7
 
</code></pre>
If you want it even more like a Christmas tree (full silhouette + ornaments)Here’s a slightly more “filled” version while keeping the structure valid:<pre><code> H(ROOT) 
 &#x2F; \
 ──────H(0-3)──────
 &#x2F; \
 ─────H(0-1)───── ─────H(2-3)─────
 &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \
 ───H(0)─── ───H(1)─── ───H(2)─── ───H(3)───
 &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \ &#x2F; \
 D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7

</code></pre>
Edit: Note the emoji ornaments did not come through.

This is a good time to start your own tradition, or continue one that you find worthwhile.

Merry Christmas from a long time HN lurker!

Merry Christmas hackernews community! What a great forum. Peace on Earth.

Hey, Merry Christmas. Thanks for posting.

Merry Christmas, Feliz Natal.That reminds me I have to update my HN theme to have the Christmas theme

Twas brillig, and Santas toes were freezing in the sleigh.All icey were the Reindeer hooves, moody and unlikely they were to play.Then Christmas Eve did come about and, Santa, mounted slay he did.Present bag taken firm in hand, one for each and every kid.Down-down-down chimney stacks around each and every town.Milk and cookies, warmth and hearth.Every present for every home. Boys and girls light and dark.Good or bad, used to matter. But Santa had a change of heart.We all mess up sometimes. And, sometimes, we need a brand new start.Enjoy the gifts! Santa yelled, as the reindeer took off once again.Be kind to one another all, and try to make new friends.Merry Christmas!

Linus van Pelt has entered the chat.Fun tidbit: The Charlie Brown Christmas animators had Linus drop his security blanket when he said, &quot;fear not&quot;.(I&#x27;m an atheist, but as an official GenXer™, I could almost recite this speech from memory.)

Merry Christmas!And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.- Luke 2:10-11

If anyone would like to add some Christmas lights to their site I made a little web component to add a little cheer to any site.<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;bradly&#x2F;christmas-lights.js" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;bradly&#x2F;christmas-lights.js</a>You can see it in action at <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bradlyfeeley.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bradlyfeeley.com</a> and <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;birdymusic.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;birdymusic.com</a>

Sti-hilläh Na-hacht, hei-li-gäh Na-hacht.Wir Frässähn bis die Schwarte kracht!

Merry Christmas HN!<pre><code> _===_
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 | &gt; |
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 | | | |</code></pre>

<pre><code> *
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 &#x2F;_______\
 &#x2F;_________\
 &#x2F;___________\
 &#x2F;_____________\
 &#x2F;_______________\
 |||
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</code></pre>
Merry Christmas!

He wasn&#x27;t awesome he was a literal Nazi, through and through.

I remember this awesome guy’s posts but didn’t know he’d passed.Thank you for posting this.

Thank you for the mention. I could not follow through this last year [2025] unfortunately, the need has been so great throughout this year from the less fortunate and I had exhausted my discretionary resources by the time the holidays approached. I hope to be able to sponsor again soon. My apologies.

I&#x27;m taking a moment to recognize once more the work that user @atdrummond (Alex Thomas Drummond) did for a couple years to help others here. I did not know him, don’t think I ever interacted with him, and I did not benefit from his generosity, but I admired his kindness. Just beautiful.Ask HN: Who needs holiday help? (Follow up thread) - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=38706167">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=38706167</a> - Dec 2023 (9 comments)Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays? - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=38492378">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=38492378</a> - Dec 2023 (210 comments)Tell HN: Thank You - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=34140096">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=34140096</a> - Dec 2022 (42 comments)Tell HN: Everyone should have a holiday dinner this year - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=34122118">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=34122118</a> - Dec 2022 (58 comments)Unfortunately, Alex died a few months after his last round of holiday giving, about 1½ years ago now.Tell HN: In Memory of Alexander Thomas Drummond - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=40508725">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=40508725</a> - May 2024 (5 comments)If you read the comments in that last thread, know that @toomuchtodo followed through last year and kept the tradition alive. Amazing and magnificent.Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays? - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=42291246">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=42291246</a> - Dec 2024 (46 comments)

Different cultures celebrate Christmas at different days and time zones are a thing. But it&#x27;s Christmas here, so:Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you get some rest and can spend time with people who are dear to you and get to focus on what&#x27;s important rather than getting lost in stressing about everything having to be perfect.Also much love to everyone who cannot spend their Christmas with dear people.To make sure this post meets the relevancy criteria, here is a Wikipedia article about some Christmas (more precisely advent) tradition which I personally really like: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Christmas_market" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Christmas_market</a>

Tell HN: Merry Christmas