With the holidays now behind us, I thought we could take a quick look back at the holiday messages sent out by the political leaders. The Prime Minister managed to talk about the upcoming G8 and G20 meetings as well as the Olympics, and he didn’t close with a “God bless” or any variety for a change.

There was nothing from Ignatieff, but here’s Jack Layton, and Elizabeth May’s very inclusive message on video.

In her Christmas message, the Queen called 2009 a “difficult year,” and spoke of the sacrifices made by the troops in Afghanistan. Most of all, she spoke about the Commonwealth, and how it is a force for community across the world, especially among young people. Funny how this contrasts greatly with the “Is the Commonwealth still relevant?” articles that cropped up around the time of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting that happened in Trinidad and Tobago this autumn. Most of all, she feels that the Commonwealth is the face of the future – a family of nations that transcends race, language and religion – and something that we Canadians can definitely feel a part of.

Her Excellency didn’t have a holiday message, but she did post the photo chosen for her holiday cards, taken during a trip to Nunavut.

(gg.ca photo)

If you missed it, here's my interview with gay Liberal MP Rob Oliphant's husband, Marco Fiola. Oliphant and Fiola were my “dates” at this year's Press Gallery dinner.

And after taking credit for defunding KAIROS for their supposedly anti-Semitic stance, Jason Kenney is now backing off that claim and saying that wasn’t the reason, and he had no part to play in it. Uh huh, sure. I believe you.