Well, this is just about it for Patrol in 2008. Starting today, we're taking a couple of weeks off to enjoy rest our screen-weary eyes, silence the Twitter feeds (okay, not really), and try not to think about the news. We're going to enjoy some holiday traditions and take our families to see Benjamin Button. You should do all of the above as well. 

Throughout the rest of December, however, we have a couple of traditional year-end pieces queued up for you: our annual most-read lists, for you to look back over and see the articles you liked best this year (and probably a few you missed). For those of you who have only been with us the past couple of months, you can check out some of the articles from earlier in the year.

If you aren't getting the Patrol weekly dispatch, you should change that RIGHT NOW: go to our (NEW!) email list, join our Facebook group, add our Facebook page to your profile, or follow us on Twitter.  You should also check out our RSS feeds to keep up with your favorite sections.

Before I go any further, I want to give a massive thank you to the readers who have made this year a success -- all of you who have tolerated our political opinions, typos, and occasional short-tempered comments. To all of you especially who have emailed us and commented on our posts, we appreciate your input more than we can say. And we want more of it. We went through a lot of adjustments and growth this year, and we'd love to hear your suggestions, what you liked and didn't like, which parts you read and which you ignore. To that end, you can email me personally here.

We will return to our regularly scheduled programming on Monday, January 5, 2009. We'll not only have some great articles and reviews stocked up for you, but also a couple of new features, design updates, and, best of all, NEW BLOGS! Several of our editorial staff have agreed to collaborate on some new, more targeted blogs that we hope will give you more opportunity to interact with us personally and discuss all these things we love fighting out together. 

We hope we've been a stimulating part of your tumultous 2008, and are looking forward to do even better next year. Blessings to you and the ones you love, and we'll see you in January.