Photo by Doug Duvall

>> Lots of kids in the region depend on their schools’ free breakfast and lunch programs, but during the annual holiday break, they face 10 days without the consistency of those meals. The Washington Post reports that while eligible students can get those meals during summer vacation, there is no equivalent for the Christmas-New Year’s break, leaving students who qualify for free meals and their families dependent on a patchwork of religious organizations, food banks and other charitable groups.

>> Same-sex couples will be able to get married in Maryland in eight days, and New Year’s weddings are being booked fast. WAMU reports that a staffer in the Baltimore mayor’s office and his partner are aiming to be the first gay couple to be married in the state on January 1. Meanwhile four weddings are booked for January 2 at the Montgomery County courthouse.

>> Keep dreaming of a white Christmas. But your fantasies of a gray, slushy Christmas may just yet come true. The Capital Weather Gang expects the D.C. area could be hit today by a slight wintry storm dropping at most half an inch of heavy, wet snow inside the Capital Beltway, but likely a bit more in mixed precipitation.

Briefly Noted: Richmond to Fairfax County: Drop dead. … Annual Leesburg nativity scene fight finally resolved … No nurses at 56 D.C. charter schools … Three Prince George’s sheriff’s deputies under investigation for drunk driving … This graphic was a lot better when it was a post-9/11 New Yorker cover and not some dumb WaPo Style thing.

This Day in DCist: In 2010, Baltimore officials released an economic impact study on the prospect of the city building a stadium for D.C. United. The team politely declined.