Holly and Noelle are just two of the most popular holiday-inspired baby names, but what about the others that most people wouldn’t think of? Here are 20 sweet holiday-inspired names to start your list.

A new version of the annual defense policy bill released Sunday could limit Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's travel plans next year if he doesn't release video of recent military strikes. Congress is set this week to consider the bill, which includes a provision that would restrict Hegseth's travel budget for fiscal year 2026 until he provides the video of military strikes on boats in the Caribbean. Language included in the revised bill text would cut those funds to "not more than" 75% until Hegseth "provides to the Committees on Armed Services of the House of Representatives and the Senate unedited video of strikes conducted against designated terrorist organizations in the area of responsibility of the United States Southern Command."

War Secretary Pete Hegseth must submit the unedited footage of all boat strikes conducted against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean Sea or else face travel budget cuts. The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 added several provisions that require Hegseth's action to authorize three-quarters of his designated travel budget, including a report on the lessons learned by the military from the war in Ukraine.

U.S. lawmakers may withhold a quarter of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's travel budget if he does not provide unedited videos of military strikes on boats in the southern Caribbean and eastern Pacific, the latest effort to obtain more information about President Donald Trump's campaign against Venezuela. The Senate and House of Representatives Armed Services committees included the travel budget provision in the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, a massive defense policy bill released on Sunday night and likely to become law by the end of the year.

Teaching children how to tie their shoes can be frustrating for both parent and child. Usually, adults try to turn it into a fun game that uses the imagination to convert the laces into bunny ears, roller coasters, or rocket ships. But what if tying your shoes could be as entertaining as a magic trick? This one isn't just for parents teaching kids to tie their laces. This bow-making trick just might change the way everyone ties their laces.A woman who goes by the name Alet on social media recently uploaded a video of herself tying her shoe. It was so quick that viewers thought it was fake or done with savvy editing, but it's real. She introduces the lace tying trick as "your next party trick to impress a drunk person or a surgeon equally." But to be fair, you don't have to be drunk to be impressed by this speedy sorcery.To prove that she didn't splice the video in anyway, Alet slows down the process to show viewers how it's done after sharing how tying her scrub pants resulted in an impromptu cheering session. While standing in the operating room hallway with surgeons and others crowded around her excitedly shouting at her to "do it again," she explains before spilling the secret of the neat trick. Mom ties kid's shoe.Photo credit: Canva"I worked in an orthopedic hospital, so it was all men, and so all of a sudden it was just like eight or ten men standing around me in a hallway, staring at my crotch, periodically going 'WAHHHH!!!' I was doing this," Alet says before quickly tying her laces. In an effort to show the viewers how to tie their laces as quickly as she does, she explains it using fun terms that can also be used when teaching small kids. She explains that you have to start by using "fancy pinkies" to hold the laces. Then Alet says the next step is to make little finger guns, complete with laser shooting sounds, before turning those finger guns into crab claws. The next step will make or break this shoe-tying experiment: the two crab claws have to kiss in a very specific way to make a bow. It's something you have to see to understand.Watch the clip here: @dr.mrs.knits Introducing your next party trick to impress a drunk person or a surgeon equally. #tutorial #howto #knots #surgery #medstudent #partytrick ♬ original sound - Alet One person in the comments summarized the steps to make it clear for others, though unless you watch the process slowed down, the steps will seem nonsensical: "fancy pinkies - pew pew - lobster claws - eff you, no eff me - train tracks, make them kiss - tighten."Another person shares that her autistic child picked up the steps in no time, writing, "Uhhhhhhh my autistic son figured it out the second you turned the phone around… no explanation needed. He’s 10 and COULD NOT tie his shoes before this… haha he is also making the noises too. Apparently they are a must." Girl helping tie shoelaces on the trail.Photo credit: CanvaThe video is clearly tickling the brain of neurodivergent people. Another person says, "I do believe the sound effects helped my ADHD brain better understand it.""Girl, nevermind the insane party trick power, I have dyspraxia and never learnt to tie my shoes "normally". I'm 31 and I've been doing double knotted loop bows my entire life. I just managed this first try. It's a miracle!" someone else shares.

"The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter, it isn't just one of your holiday games…" – T.S. Eliot One of the best parts of getting a new pet is choosing a name for them. Unlike children, who have conscious feelings about their names and may object to off-the-wall choices at some point, a pet presumably couldn't care less what the humans in their lives call them. A dog could be named Fred, Red, or Potatohead and be none the wiser. We've seen cats with names that go far beyond the norm even for pet names, like Parking Lot, Crunchwrap Supreme, and Missile Launcher (Missy for short) among other creative monikers. But if any animals were going to care about what we name them, surely it would be our finicky feline friends. And one man, whom we'll call Unc (for his @UncGotThaMunchies handle), seems to have a gift for giving kitties very special (or rather, "pecial") names. Unc has become the father of 13 kitties, and his naming of cats has become a bit of a viral phenomenon. @uncgotthamunchies #cat #cats #catsoftiktok #kitten #kittensoftiktok First, there's Blackaroni and Cheese, a black and orange kitten pair that people are just gaga over. But Unc has begun a whole movement of naming kitties in a "berry pecial" way, with Hersberry leading the way. Why Hersberry? Because her's berry pecial to Unc, of course. @uncgotthamunchies #cats #cat #kitten #kittens #catsoftiktok Among the other kittens, we have another pair named Thor and Lowkey (yes, spelled Lowkey) and another orange kitty that Unc named Midas, "because there Midas well be no other kitties on the whole planet." @uncgotthamunchies #cat #catsoftiktok #kitten #kittens #kittensoftiktok People have become so enamored with these cute and clever kitty names that some have started asking Unc to help them name their own kittens. One person shared a photo of their adorable orange kitten and asked if Unc could name him because they couldn't think of a good name. Unc didn't disappoint. "When people see dis kitty right here," he said in a response video. "They will say, 'Oh, dis kitty is so beautiful. Oh, dis kitty is so pecial.' So I think his name should be O'dis." Then he explained all the nickname benefits of the name O'dis and how special this name would make the kitty feel. @uncgotthamunchies Replying to @glitterdiamondsparkles #greenscreen #cat #catsoftiktok #kitten #kittens Someone else shared a photo of their fuzzy little tabby kitten, writing, "First I saw your Hersberry video then Midas and now the universe sent us a kitten and we can't think of a name for her. Can you help name her??" Unc responded with a video saying that he'd had a premonition as he was laying around looking at kitties on TikTok that a beautiful little girl kitty was going to come to him needing a name, and he should have the name ready for her when he saw her. Watch how that played out: @uncgotthamunchies Replying to @megan_elizabeth__ #greenscreen #cat #catsoftiktok #kitten #kittensoftiktok Did he choose a perfect name or what? The kitten's owner responded in the comments and said, "Won’Da it is!! ? Thank you!!"Unc got another orange kitten sent to him with a name request. This one got the name Nuffin: @uncgotthamunchies Replying to @Raegan Schafer #greenscreen #cats #cat #kittens #kittensoftiktok "Because there is nuffin on dis Earf more cuter than this kitty. And there is nuffin on dis Earf that I would not do for this kitty. And there is nuffin on this whole Earf that could keep me from loving this kitty," explained Unc. Of course.People are loving watching Unc name other people's kitties, with multiple people calling him a walking green flag. "There is nuffin on this earf as precious as you naming kitties ????," wrote one commenter. "There is nuffin I love more than a man who loves his kitties as much as you do!!""Another perfect name!!! My sister is adopting a kitty today and I’ve been telling her about your names and how you come up with them. It’s great. ?"Ultimately, the way Unc interacts with his kitties is what keeps people coming back. There's something so endearing about the mutual affection between him and the whole lot of them. Not all cats are sweet and snuggly, but Unc's kitties seem to be quite affectionate. People with more standoffish cats may be wondering why this man's cats and kittens are so loving. Well, here you go: @uncgotthamunchies #cat #catsoftiktok #kitten #kittensoftiktok #kittens So berry, berry pecial. You can follow Unc on TikTok.

On January 7, actress and TV personality Ricki Lake was one of the thousands of people who tragically lost their homes in the wildfires that swept across Los Angeles. Nestled near the Pacific Palisades, her beautiful home was completely destroyed by ravaging flames.Writing about it on Instagram, Lake shared a terrifying timeline, marking it "The day we lost our home.""Timeline of our efforts to save our beloved home in Malibu. 11:24 am early signs of smoke in Temescal Canyon 11:54 am setting up our fire defense system 4:10 pm Ross hosing down our neighbor’s palm tree (baller move) 6:17 pm Ross attempting to siphon gas for the fire defense system motor. (Even bigger baller move, though it didn’t work.) ? 6:55 do we stay or do we go?" See on Instagram Cut to nearly one year later. Artist Patricia "Patty" Scanlon just happened to be at the Pasadena City College Flea Market when she came across a box of photos. One woman in the pictures struck her as oddly familiar, and she soon realized it was Ricki Lake.On an Instagram/Threads post, she wrote, "Anybody know how to contact Ricki Lake? I picked up some 'found photos' at Pasadena City College Flea Market and the box seems to be full of a LOT of photos of Ricki Lake. I think she may WANT these. She may not have copies. Thank you!" See on Instagram The post went viral almost immediately. One commenter explained, "Her home was destroyed in a fire. I'm sure Ricki Lake would love to have these." From there, the clock began ticking and the hunt to get a hold of Lake was on.Others had similar experiences in their own lives. "Lost my house to a flood years ago and lost everything except a tiny four-inch mustard seed plant in a resin magnet. Years later, someone found a box of precious photos. A miracle!"Just a few hours later, Scanlon updated social media with excellent news. "Found Ricki! Will be getting photos to her! Thank you, everyone!"Many were completely moved by the serendipity. One person wrote, "Every time I wanna give up on the Internet/social media, I come across something like this." Another shared, "This is astounding. Finally Instagram proves its worth. Well done Patty and so happy for you Ricki Lake."Lake chimed in on Scanlon's thread, writing, "I'm still in complete disbelief."On her own Instagram post, Lake wrote, "I'm speechless. Here is a happy story for your holiday season! It's been almost one year since the fire and I made peace with the fact that my photographs and memorabilia were gone. But turns out they were at the Pasadena Flea Market!!! @patty_scanlon I cannot say thank you enough for your generosity and kindness in protecting these images. It’s seriously a miracle!!!" See on Instagram In the video, Lake (who incidentally had another house fire 15 years ago) enthusiastically shares, "I can’t even process. Those of you who are new here, you know I lost my house in the fires in the Palisades in January. I lost everything. My phone started blowing up late last night in New York. The first people that reached out were my friends Romy Rosemont and Brooks Smith. And they're like 'Hey did you see this?' And it was a screenshot of someone on Instagram or Facebook trying to find me. 'Does anyone have a way to get in touch with Ricki Lake? I found these photos at a freaking flea market!' I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Because all of it was gone in the fire."Then the video cuts to a chat split screen of Lake with Scanlon. Ricki asks, "I want you to tell me how you happened upon these pictures in the first place.""I needed to get out of the house and it was like the universe drove me to get your pictures," Scanlon said. "I'm an artist and I look to pictures for inspiration. The first guy I stumbled upon, I was looking through a box and he goes 'you want that whole box for 15 bucks?' And I said, 'I'll give you 20!' I opened the pictures and the first one I saw was this one…" She then flashes to a young Ricki with a baby. Lake interjects, "Yep, that's me with Milo. My kid who's now 28."Scanlon continues, "So I saw that and I thought, 'Oh I love that woman's face!' And then I looked through and I saw more." See on Instagram She continues to share photos, one after another, which Lake immediately recognizes and gives descriptions. Lake shares, "These pictures are so priceless to me. They would be anyway, Patty, but the fact that I lost all of these images in the fire in January. I mean, I thought they were gone forever. I had peace. It was such a heartache and such a painful thing to come to terms with, that all of these memories are no longer in front of me. They're just in my mind and heart now. But the fact that you found these is unbelievable."Lake, so earnestly, adds, "I really cannot thank you enough for your generosity. Making the effort to find me, and the fact that I'm gonna get something back that I thought I had lost forever, it makes me so happy. It's really such a cool story and I'm so happy to share it. We all need good news these days and I feel like this is leaving me with such a beautiful feeling about the human race."

Underappreciated in her time... The post Laurie Styvers: The life of Texas’ great forgotten songwriter first appeared on Far Out Magazine.