Patriots 16, Broncos 3

Special teamer Jonathan Jones (center) stood out after recovering a fumbled punt in the first quarter.

Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

BEN VOLIN | ON FOOTBALL

Patriots learned lessons from last year?s losses

The Patriots did not turn the ball over and ran the ball well, something they didn?t do in 2015.

DAN SHAUGHNESSY

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2013/10/06/BostonGlobe.com/Sports/Images/shaughnessy_20131006.jpg Are Patriots this good, or is every other team a Tomato Can?

The list of inept offenses the Patriots have faced staggers the mind.

The relationship between Cheers and Tom Kershaw and Globe Santa is a story of 36 continuous years of generosity to the holiday fund from the famed Beacon Street establishment. Last week, the generosity was extended by another $11,000 in a presentation at the Hampshire House. From left, Markus Ripperger, Sara O?Malley, Stephanie Vetter, CEO Thomas A. Kershaw, Bill Connolly of Globe Santa, John Vo, and Ciara Ripperger.

Globe Santa

A plea for three children from a shelter

From a safe house for battered women, a mother writes to Globe Santa on behalf of her kids.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2016/12/19/BostonGlobe.com/Arts/Images/gabor2.jpg Zsa Zsa Gabor, who helped invent a new kind of fame, dies at 99

The middle and most famous of the sisters Gabor died Sunday of a heart attack at her Bel-Air home.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2016/12/15/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/davis_world5_met.jpg What came first, the chicken feathers or the bureaucratic nightmare?

Importer Paul Swope?s N.H. business ran afoul of federal officials over ? yes ? feathers.

Anne Frank in 1942. The Jewish teenager died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in May 1945 at the age of 15.

AFP/Getty Images/File

Was Anne Frank?s family actually betrayed?

For decades, her father tried to figure out who tipped off the Nazis. Now, the Anne Frank House museum has put forth a new theory.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2016/12/18/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/greenhouse_19christmasincity-7_metro.jpg Joy to the world at Christmas in the City

The holiday spectacle began Sunday morning with about 150 buses traveling through Greater Boston to pick up homeless families.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2016/12/14/BostonGlobe.com/Business/Images/Bred1_biz.jpg Harvard students help mom and pop shops get off the ground

A Harvard business class asks students to apply their classroom skills to help yoga studios, pho restaurants, and bakeries thrive.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2016/12/19/BostonGlobe.com/Arts/Images/hecray150-1866.jpg ?SNL? spoofs ?Love Actually? with Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton

?Saturday Night Live? gifted viewers with another Kate McKinnon-as-Hillary Clinton skit.

SPOTLIGHT FOLLOW-UP

Across region, outdated sex abuse laws have loopholes
Laura and Tony Siracusa, photographed in their daughter?s bedroom.

Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff

Laura and Antonio Siracusa were shocked to learn police could do nothing when a teacher allegedly had sex with their 16-year-old daughter.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2016/12/17/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/PresidentJohnF.Kennedy.jpg Library reveals yearlong events for JFK centennial

Initiatives include an exhibit that includes precious private mementos and touch football games across the state.

Adrian Walker

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2016/12/19/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/walker-11327-12270.jpg Should Marty Walsh be worried if Tito Jackson runs for mayor?

Whatever one makes of the councilor?s chances ? which, on paper, look rather slim ? his candidacy would be a jolt for the city.

The transition to Trump

President-elect Donald Trump addressed supporters Saturday in Mobile, Ala.

Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images

The Electoral College meets today. Here?s what to expect.

Electors will meet to officially determine who will be the next president.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2016/12/15/BostonGlobe.com/Business/Images/8589a49a9485488aa62442ebcf23ac4e-8589a49a9485488aa62442ebcf23ac4e-0.jpg Will Trump?s embrace of Russia upend foreign relations?

The president-elect has a 180-degree shift in attitude toward a nation that?s been viewed as America?s enemy since the end of World War II.

STAT

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2016/12/02/BostonGlobe.com/Business/Images/03statshyman1_stat.jpg Shy man made outsize impact in online patient community

Stephen Wheeler was a manufacturing specialist by trade and a shy man by nature.

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2016/10/27/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/McCrimmon_03potczar06_met.jpg Colo. pot czar seen as possible Mass. regulator

Said Andrew Freedman: ?We see problems. We solve problems. We?re fast-acting. We?re responsive to data as it comes in.?

Special reports

special report

Every doctor told the Lacey family their son would die ? except one

Pat and Dina Lacey had been parents for only a few months when doctors discovered a tumor in their new baby?s chest. Told to take their son home to die, they put their faith in a young doctor who wouldn?t accept death as the answer.

Opinion & Ideas

Opinion | Christine Lagarde

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2016/12/16/BostonGlobe.com/EditorialOpinion/Images/income%20inequality.jpg The challenge of economic inclusion

A more equitable income distribution is not only sound social policy, but also sound economic policy.

Life sciences

STAT, a national publication from Boston Globe Media Partners, covers health, medicine, and life sciences.

Investigations

The Desperate and the Dead | Part 7

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2016/12/05/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/20160923_SAMentalHealth_312.jpg The San Antonio solution

How one Texas city took on mental health as a community and became a national model.

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.

Globe must-reads

Critics hit law firms? bills after class-action lawsuits
Bonnie Bruce is the mother of a Vermont woman, Tamara, who was found the day after Thanksgiving passed out from heroin in her car with her fiance and their two young children.

?Heroin is the worst thing in the world?
People stood in a booth while voting in the New Hampshire primary earlier this year.

Voter fraud? Officials found next to none
Secretary of State John Kerry will step down next month from the post he has held since 2013.

Top diplomat Kerry leaving legacy of hope, determination
Giving feedback in the office

What kind of performance review do you want?
Karolyn Feeks Maws and Tony Maws are raising Charlie, 8, in Jewish and Christian traditions.

Now bring us the Yuletide brisket: Dec. 24 is Chrismukkah

THE CUTTING EDGE OF THE COMMON GOOD

Child care for $10 a day
A new chart of the Charles River basin created by MIT and the Charles River Alliance of Boaters reveals the

Charting project reveals Charles River?s depths
Donald Glover as Earnest Marks, left, and Keith Standfield as Darius in a scene from ?Atlanta.?

THE YEAR IN ARTS

Everyday epiphanies in the best TV comedy-dramas
Taunton, MA -11/22/2016 - Mark Cook (cq) is program director of The Matthew Mission (cq). He hands out gloves in the community outreach center, which serves as a

For some people, ?most wonderful time of the year? is a bummer
Eastham, MD - 12/7/2016 - The Nauset Regional soccer team poses for a portrait in Eastham, MD on December 7, 2016. (Keith Bedford/Globe Staff) Topic: Reporter:

Fall 2016 Globe All-Scholastics: Honoring the area?s best
Far right, Jaime DeRocker, 25, wore a costume donated by the Kansas City Ballet for the Festival Ballet Providence performance of the Nutcracker.

?Nutcracker? perform in borrowed costumes after theft

Sports

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Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley (0) recovers a loose ball against Miami Heat forward Josh McRoberts (4) in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2016, in Miami. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

celtics 105, heat 95

Celtics hold on without Isaiah Thomas

Al Horford (17 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds) had two huge baskets after Thomas was ejected.

Metro

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The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, with the reactor building at right.

Nuclear plant still shut down over leaking valves

Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station has been shuttered since late last week because of the issue.

Real Estate

Home of the week: A five-bedroom fully restored Victorian in Dorchester

Everybody needs options, the opportunity to see what life is like on the other side of the door. This fully restored Victorian in Dorchester?s Meetinghouse Hill neighborhood offers choices, particularly for where the master can lay his or her head.

Politics

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Efforts to cut funding for Planned Parenthood last year sparked rallies across the country, including one at Los Angeles City Hall.

Donald Trump?s moves could cost Planned Parenthood

Trump has backed efforts to defund the health care agency.

Cars

Search This Week's Specials

Review: Jaguar?s 2017 XE 20d gives diesel a good name

It's a luxury car that gets 42 miles per gallon.

Columnists

US Presdent Barack Obama puts his hand on the shoulder of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) after laying a wreath in front of a cenotaph to offer a prayer for victims of the atomic bombing in 1945 at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on May 27, 2016. Obama on May 27 paid moving tribute to victims of the world's first nuclear attack. / AFP / POOL / KIMIMASA MAYAMA (Photo credit should read KIMIMASA MAYAMA/AFP/Getty Images)

JEFF JACOBY

Bitterest enemies can become most trusted friends
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 08: Trevor Noah hosts

Renée Graham

Trevor Noah comes into his own
Babson College.

Kevin Cullen

Lines blur between what?s hate and what?s not
Republican congressman Tom Price will be nominated as health and human services secretary.

Yvonne Abraham

It is time to fight to maintain choice

Tommy Elrod, a former Wake Forest player and assistant coach who later was a radio broadcaster, stands accused of leaking playbook information to opponents. He was fired from his radio position.

Bob Ryan

Wake Forest football scandal difficult to fathom
Eric Marcotulli is CEO of the health supplements startup Elysium Health. Dan Alminana is chief operating officer. Lenny Guarente is chief scientist and a professor of chemistry at MIT.

INNOVATION ECONOMY

Search for a youth medicine never grows old
Easton;1-16-07;Terry and Jim Orcutt (cq) hold morning prayer with volunteers at their

Beverly Beckham

Good people quietly spreading joy
01/24/16: Denver, CO: The Broncos Aqib Talib upends Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, but not before he picked up a first and ten at the Denver 29 yard line on a second quarter scramble. The New England Patriots visited the Denver Broncos for the AFC Championship Game held at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. (Globe Staff Photo/Jim Davis) section:sports topic:Patriots-Broncos

DAN SHAUGHNESSY

Mile High is Tom Brady?s House of Horrors
Rachel Jordan protested outside Friday?s special session of the North Carolina General Assembly in Raleigh.

Michael A. Cohen

North Carolina?s legislative coup
Mason Thorp called his day among antique construction equipment ?the best day of my life.??

THOMAS FARRAGHER

This is a love story. About heavy equipment.
Former commissioner Bud Selig did a lot of good things in office, but he goes down as the Steroid Era Commissioner.

Dan Shaughnessy

Is it time for Hall voters to ease up on steroids?
The newsroom at WHDH-TV (Channel 7).

Shirley Leung

Channel 7 doubles down on local news

Nation & World

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A bus entered the southern outskirts of Aleppo to evacuate besieged residents. The effort was halted later Sunday.

UN reaches compromise on imperiled Aleppo evacuation

Rebels opposed to the agreement on handling of civilians set fire to buses that were supposed to carry evacuees.

Business

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STAT

WPI researchers show new approach to ?liquid biopsies?

Worcester Polytechnic Institute scientists say they have designed a device that can gauge whether a tumor cell is on the cusp spreading.

Arts

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Andrea Bocelli

Andrea Bocelli faces backlash over inauguration plans

A report says the famed tenor will sing at the Jan. 20 event in Washington.

The Big Picture

Santa Jim Hastings (R) from Durham, North Carolina, is helped into his suit by a fellow Santa prior to a visit from a group of children at the Santa House in Midland, Michigan, U.S. October 28, 2016. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi SEARCH

Christinne Muschi/REUTERS

Becoming Santa

Some two hundred Santas and Mrs. Clauses came from across the world to a Michigan Santa school to learn how to spread Christmas spirit.

Ground Game

Ground Game

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2016/12/13/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/c111cd6a43c04db7b2a16699544c5e69-9e7102c434834193a6ada4404c2df1e4-0.jpg With Carrier, Trump exposes rift between unions and leaders

Somehow Donald Trump, who claims a net worth of $10 billion, was standing up for the little guy, against their own union boss.

Design New England

Design New England

//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2016/03/04/BostonGlobe.com/Lifestyle/Images/gardeners.jpg A Gardener?s Garden

The lush landscape around Andrew Grossman?s home and studio is a showcase of possibilities.

Magazine

The cover for the December 18 2016 issue

Bostonians of the Year 2016: Kylie Webster-Cazeau and Meggie Noel
The cover for the December 11 2016 issue

Santa is real
The cover for the December 4 2016 issue

Advice: Is it rude to give out lists for holiday presents?
The cover for the November 27 2016 issue

Blind date: The officer and the law student