I'm writing this at 9:25 p.m. ET (just got home from work), so maybe a miracle will happen in the next few hours.
But as it stands now, 27-year-old Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout of Sylvan Lake, Alta. won't be home for Christmas. She's being held captive in Somalia.
Lindhout, Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan and their Somali helpers were grabbed by their captors on Aug. 23. See this Sept. 25 Maclean's item, Kidnapped in Somalia, for a story about what happened.
The blog Free Amanda Lindhout monitors ongoing developments. It hasn't been updated since Dec. 10. Reporters sans frontieres, one of the premiere organizations speaking up for journalists in trouble, has been silent about Lindhout for months.
Maybe no news is good news.
Amanda, as a fellow Canadian journalist, all I can say I hope this ordeal is ended as soon as possible so you and your colleagues can get home to your families and practicing journalism again.
I know it's trite to say it, but Merry Christmas, and I hope you somehow know you are not forgotten.
The same sentiment applies to all journalists who find themselves in similar straits at this time.
"It's a sad thing, but I think you have to have been a prisoner of some kind, your freedom has to have been taken from you completely, for you to completely understand its importance and value and beauty." - BBC journalist Alan Johnston