Early Addition

Photograph of discarded Christmas trees by Marianne O'Leary on Flickr

• From the Gothamist Newsmap: A Power Sailer in Distress at Beach 117 St & Rockaway Beach Blvd in Queens, an auto vs. building at E 14th & Ave U in Brooklyn and a suspicious package on Port Richmond Ave on Staten Island.
• Finally: Top Citigroup executives finally announce they won't take bonuses.
• NJ's most visited lighthouse in Barnegat just got a new state-of-the-art light, thanks to money raised by community groups after the government said it wouldn't help out. The lighthouse is 150 years old and the third tallest in the country.
• The Post's "In and Out" list for 2009 recommends you dislike Jennifer Aniston and ignore the Knicks.
• Prolific mystery writer Donald Westlake died on Wednesday at age 75. Born in NYC, he set many of his novels in the Big Apple and wrote under a number of pen names, since (back in the day) publishers didn't want to publish more than one book a year from an author.
• Rachel Maddow mixes things up at her Air America show, giving a video demonstration of how to make a Jack Rose cocktail.
• Trouble in paradise? The City is reportedly not doing so hot in the ratings category.
• Wanna warm up? NewYorkCityGirl's polaroids of sunrises snapped in Botwsana South Africa are on display at Oak (and online).
• Politico reports that Blago's Senate pick Roland Burris "continue[d] to prosecute, despite the objections of one of his top prosecutors, the wrong man for a high-profile murder case."