From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 25, 1970:

• On the night before Christmas, all had been relatively quiet in the Lawrence area. Police and sheriff’s personnel reported hearing a periodic “Ho, Ho, Ho” on the law enforcement radio frequencies beginning at about 10:30 p.m., but “all denied sending the message or knowing its source.”
• On this chilly morning (the mercury stood at 14 degrees at about 8 a.m.), many area households were waking up to a day spent with family – and presents. Lawrence merchants, polled the night before, had reported brisk sales in clothing, small appliances, color TVs, and the newly popular digital clock-radios.
• In Washington, President Nixon voiced his hope that the nation was “making progress toward peace.” Many American servicemen were arriving home for the holiday under a new military leave program.