By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Thursday, December 29, 2005; 1:03 PM

Dear White House Briefing readers,

It gives me great pleasure to announce the birth of my firstborn, a boy, Max Fitzgerald Froomkin. Max was born Monday night, Dec. 26 and weighed in at 9 pounds, 7 ounces. He and my wonderful wife, Paige Fitzgerald, are doing well and I am looking forward to spending a lot of time with them in the next few weeks.

As a result, the column is now officially on hiatus until late January.

When I went away on vacation last time, I left behind a list of Web sites to keep readers occupied in my absence. Several said they found that helpful. That list can be found here.

And here are a few additions: Ron Nessen's washingtonpost.com Think Tank Town blog; Chris Cilizza's washingtonpost.com political campaign blog, The Fix; Huffington Post; The Plank, from the New Republic; and Firedoglake.

All the best!

See you again in 2006,

Dan