For many of us, the holidays can be a time of shortened tempers, sadness, or feeling like not getting out of bed. But there are ways to brighten up the days, if only a little.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s veto of a bill that would have jump-started an overdue effort to right a wrong done to the Montaukett people was disappointing and part of a long string of similar rejections coming from successive New York governors.

The prevailing narrative on Representative George Santos’s rise and imminent fall has bothered me from the start.

I’ve stood on a ladder pointing a hose through the window of a house ablaze in the boondocks of Nova Scotia, and you can’t take that away from me.

A quite noticeable fashion statement at Saturday’s N.C.A.A. Division III national cross-country championships was worn on the face. The mustache is back.

The classics teacher in “The Holdovers” says it was always thus, that it was no different in ancient times, that there’s always been the horrific and the sublime. Yet thinking about how to get beyond it seems to be the only thing that keeps us sane.

The South Fork traffic mess is worse than ever, and it’s driving everyone nuts. 

In 1923, from the White House lawn, President Harding introduced a “modern adaptation” of John Howard Payne’s “Home, Sweet Home” home on the 100th anniversary of the song. Then at the Own Your Home Exposition in New York, a full-size duplicate was built for Americans to check out various products of the trades. And more from yesteryear.

From kudos to kvetches, here’s the latest heaping helping of Star letters.

The latest raft of real estate transactions, Amagansett to Water Mill.

Will Hermes gives us Lou Reed in full: complicated, scandalous, arty, poetic, ambisexual, temperamental, a battler through critical and commercial disappointments.

Journey back — way, way back — to winters past, when prosperity came from harpooned whales, kids flew up and down frozen Hook Pond on skates with sails at their back, and the annual businessmen’s holiday promotion was a raffle for a free ton of coal. Here, season snippets from the pages of The Star evoke the sights, smells, sounds, and snowy pastimes of Decembers gone by.

Here’s Fireplace 101, in honor of chestnuts-on-an-open-fire season, with tips to help keep your burn safe, your wood dry, and your coziness level at the max.

Home décor, like fashion, shouldn’t be generic, but should reflect the uniqueness of your personality, and that’s another reason to shop local, rather than at the homogenous big boxes this season. Here, a guide to small, special South Fork shops offering housewares to match your aesthetic

Wine has never been more popular than it is today (as we know from all the “You had me at merlot” and “Mama needs wine” T-shirts sold on Etsy). But what about . . . hot wine? Reporting in on the rich delight of Scandinavian glogg.

Cold winter night, nothing to do? Gather a group of friends, head to your corner bar, come up with a goofy team name (“Sherlock Homies” or  “Simple Minds”), and put on your thinking cap: Pub quizzes are popping up in restaurants and bars all over the East End.

What to do with winter’s ugly vegetables —  all those ungainly, bumpy, stripey winter squashes that stock the farm stands this time of year, intimidating us with their sheer mass and quirky colors? Turn those ugly veggies into something beautifully delicious.

What to do with winter’s ugly vegetables —  all those ungainly, bumpy, stripey winter squashes that stock the farm stands this time of year, intimidating us with their sheer mass and quirky colors? Turn those ugly veggies into something beautifully delicious.

There’s no easier way to cook for a crowd than to throw an old-fashioned holiday cocktail party, serving simple, make-ahead hors d’oeuvres. We'll help you master the art.

Fred Berner, Amy Durning, and Kristie Macosko Krieger, the producers of "Maestro," the just-released film about Leonard Bernstein, will be at the Sag Harbor Cinema on Saturday for a question-and-answer session after the film's 6:15 p.m. screening.