The Morning Sixpack - December 25, 2025 [Christmas Edition]
Holiday miracles, big-hearted leaders, reopened roads, super agers, swift relief, and one billion-dollar Christmas win.
This Christmas Day, The Morning Sixpack is doing something unheard of in 2025: We’re running only good news. Yes, it exists. Yes, it’s real. And yes, we found enough to fill today’s cup. So settle in—today’s stories are proof that not everything is on fire.
Arkansas Powerball Ticket Turns Christmas Eve Into a $1.8 Billion Miracle
A single Arkansas lottery ticket just turned Christmas Eve into the richest night of the year.
A Powerball player snagged a jaw-dropping $1.817 billion jackpot—ending a three-month drought and landing the second-largest lottery prize in U.S. history. Not bad for a random Wednesday in December, and even better for the lucky soul who now has the option of walking away with an $834.9 million gift from the universe. As Powerball Chair Matt Strawn put it: “Congratulations to the newest Powerball jackpot winner! This is truly an extraordinary, life-changing prize.” And honestly, he’s not wrong.
With 46 drawings since the last big win, someone was overdue. Arkansas hasn’t taken home a jackpot like this since 2010, and apparently Santa was ready to fix that. Sure, the odds are 1 in 292 million—but one impulsive buyer summed it up best: “Why not?” Why not indeed.
Source: NPR
Editor: Somewhere out there, one Arkansan is having the most stressful Christmas of their life figuring out which cousin to block first :P
‘South Park’ Writer Snags Trump-Kennedy Center Domains Before the Renaming Even Happened
A ‘South Park’ writer saw the Trump renaming coming months in advance—and quietly bought the Trump-Kennedy Center web domains before anyone else thought to.
Toby Morton—professional satirist and part-time fortune teller—snapped up trumpkennedycenter.org and .com back in August, long before the official renaming. His thought process? Trump was reshuffling the Kennedy Center board, meaning the signage was inevitably next. And he wasn’t wrong. The White House later announced the unanimous vote to rename the historic venue.
Morton and a swarm of creatives are now gearing up to build a site focused squarely on Trump’s branding obsession and the cultural weirdness of turning civic spaces into personal billboards. Meanwhile, Rep. Joyce Beatty has filed a lawsuit calling the renaming a constitutional violation. So yes—this story has everything.
Source: NewsNation
Editor: If a ‘South Park’ writer can outmaneuver your branding team with a $12 domain purchase, maybe reconsider the strategy.
The Boss Who Turned a $1.7 Billion Deal Into a $240 Million Thank-You
A Louisiana CEO sold his family company—and handed 540 employees a collective $240 million just to say thanks.
When Graham Walker closed the $1.7 billion sale of Fibrebond, he didn’t angle for a private island. He wrote into the deal that 15% of the proceeds—about $240 million—had to go to employees who stuck with the company through fires, layoffs, recessions, and reinvention. The average bonus: $443,000, with some long-timers receiving bigger life-changing checks.
The aftermath? Mortgages wiped clean. A new boutique opened. One employee took 25 family members to Cancún. And 67-year-old Hong “TT” Blackwell finally retired, saying, “My retirement is nice and peaceful.” Honestly, that line alone deserves a plaque.
Walker steps away from the company on Dec. 31, content that the people who built the place finally got to feel like winners.
Source: The Wall Street Journal (gift)
Editor: If capitalism produced more Grahams and fewer cartoon villains, we’d be in far better shape.
5 Longevity Lessons From People Who Are Aging Exceptionally Well
Super agers—folks in their 80s, 90s, and 100s with the vitality of people decades younger—are proving that healthy aging is more doable than mystical.
We’re talking real food, regular movement, social connection, resilience, and optimism. Marion Nestle swears by “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” Maria Branyas Morera lived to 117 eating lightly and embracing a Mediterranean diet. Ninety-two-year-old Emma Maria Mazzenga still runs sprints. Jeannie Rice, 77, has the aerobic fitness of a 25-year-old. And Si Liberman, 101, sums it up perfectly: “I’ve never been down for very long… there would be better days ahead.”
Turns out the “secret” to longevity is consistency and attitude—not obscure supplements or $900 wellness gadgets.
Source: The Washington Post (gift)
Editor: If the path to living past 100 is yogurt, friends, and not giving up when life body-slams you, then maybe the wellness industry can calm down.
Flood-Damaged Highway to Crystal Mountain Reopens Just in Time for the Holidays (local good news)
State Route 410 is back in business after crews finished emergency repairs ahead of the Christmas travel rush.
The atmospheric river that ripped away a chunk of SR 410 on Dec. 10 threatened access to Crystal Mountain right as ski season opened. But crews sprinted: rebuilt foundation, repaved roadway, both lanes open. With that, the resort lifted its parking reservation requirement for Dec. 24–25 and most midweek January days. Locals no longer need to navigate the one-way signal or plead essential-travel status just to get home.
A fast repair, a smoother road, and a big sigh of relief for skiers and residents alike.
Source: KING 5
Editor: Amazing how quickly a highway gets fixed when ski season is at stake. AND it’s awesome.
A Fast, $50 Lifeline Helped Families Weather the SNAP Freeze
When SNAP payments stalled during the shutdown, a rapid-fire $50 relief effort became the difference between panic and stability for hundreds of thousands of families.
GiveDirectly and Propel teamed up for their largest emergency operation since the pandemic: 246,000 households received immediate $50 payments when their November SNAP benefits never arrived. It wasn’t a replacement for full benefits—but it was enough to fill pantries, buy milk and bread, and in one family’s case, still get a “Bluey” birthday cake.
For many, that small infusion bridged the emotional and financial gap left when the government abruptly froze $10 billion in expected benefits. Trust in the system took a hit, but at least someone showed up fast—and without paperwork purgatory.
As one recipient put it, “It’s not a lot. But at the same time, it is a lot.”
Source: ABC News
Editor: When a nonprofit moving $50 at a time outperforms the federal apparatus, maybe take notes.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. May today bring rest, warmth, and at least one moment that reminds you the world still contains good things—and good people.
—The Editor, me