If you’re looking for a way to revel in the holidays, we’ve got a good idea.

Through Dec. 27, High Point University is putting on a drive-through Christmas light show. It’s as impressive a holiday display as you’ll find anywhere in North Carolina.

The display features more than 100,000 Christmas lights, 36 nutcrackers and the Triad’s two largest Christmas trees at 70 feet and 58 feet, writes Cardinal & Pine contributor Ryan Pitkin. 

Check it out every night from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on High Point’s campus. For more details, including more holiday parties around the state, check out “3 things happening in NC.” 

Driving through the Christmas light show in High Point, part of this week’s “3 things happening in NC.” (High Point University)

The holidays are nigh. How did that happen? Here’s what’s in today’s Cardinal & Pine newsletter: 

Cardinal & Pine reader Melanie Woodfield brought us this lovely shot from Lake Junaluska near Asheville.

Send us your holiday photos, folks!

Ashe County’s Nancy Weaver told Cardinal & Pine that with federal health insurance subsidies expiring, her monthly premiums are going up by $1,600 a month. (Courtesy of Nancy Weaver)

Ashe County’s Nancy Weaver says she enrolled for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act in 2021.

She says that, for the first time in 12 years, she could afford medication and doctor’s visits. Weaver has been diagnosed with a thyroid autoimmune disease.

Like many, she says her health insurance premiums are expected to skyrocket in 2026. That’s because federal subsidies passed during the pandemic will expire.

Democrats in Congress were willing to shut down the government this fall in order to get Republicans to extend those subsidies, but Republicans oppose it. 

Weaver showed Cardinal & Pine a bill without the subsidies. Her premiums are going up by $1,600. Her new monthly cost would be $1,759. Because of that, she says she’s dropped insurance. 

Cardinal & Pine’s Dylan Rhoney reported on Weaver’s story and why it shows the real stakes behind this year’s ACA subsidies debate. 

1. Opinion: How former Gov. Jim Hunt transformed North Carolina. Cardinal & Pine

“North Carolina’s transformation from a state that was – as UNC President Bill Friday said, ‘poor, rural and segregated to the core’ – to a leader in public education, economic growth, technology and research.”

2. Report: Trash not a throw-away problem for NC. Public News Service

“Trash in America analyzes the contents of the country’s more than 260 million tons of waste. That includes waste from North Carolina, which sent 11.5 million tons of trash to landfills in 2022.”

3. Inside the North Carolina GOP’s decade-long push to seize power from the state’s Democratic governors. ProPublica

“Since 2016, GOP lawmakers have passed law after law stripping powers from Democratic governors, including control over crucial state boards.”

4. It’s official, North Carolina professors will have to publicly post syllabi. WUNC

“The decision puts North Carolina in league with other Southern states like Florida, Georgia, and Texas; two of which legislatively mandate syllabi to be public records.”

These North Carolinians remind us how much small acts of kindness matter. (Copper and Wild/Unsplash)

Kindness needs a shout-out in 2025.

I don’t think that’s because people are any less kind than they’ve ever been. But we are surrounded by a news and social media ecosystem that prioritizes the gnarly and the mean over the good.

We’re wrapping up 2025 with a few stories centered on the good deeds done by North Carolinians this year. Today, we published these 6 stories collected by Cardinal & Pine contributor Karishma Desai.

They include an unexpected hug during a traffic stop, a popular Triangle bakery’s bread giveaway to needy people, and a food truck’s rescue of western NC drivers stuck in winter weather.

This is a warming read.

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Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Billy Ball. I’m an NC native and journalist. I tend to lean left on opinion, but I lean no way on facts. Today’s edition includes stories from Ryan Pitkin, Dylan Rhoney, Gary Pearce, Public News Service, and Karishma Desai. It was edited by Paula Solis.

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