Here’s our Friday digest of fun and interesting stuff from the web. Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

• Small business M&A activity is at its highest point in three years.
• Phoenix housing is back on track. (via @martygrunder)
• How we pay taxes.
• Joe Calloway offers some great advice.
• We should all aspire to this level of brand loyalty.
• Modern (business) etiquette.
• Above: Mike Schwarze of Mike’s Tree Care saves a baby owl, remains awesome while doing so. (via @voiceoftreecare)

Editor’s note: The L&L team will be out today through next Monday for the holidays. So, we’ve compiled a (mostly) Christmas-themed round-up for you. Enjoy!

• Jeff Korhan on why you should write every day, and how Stephen King can help.
• Davey launches a new mobile app to calculate the value of trees on a property.
• Woody Guthrie’s list of New Year’s rulin’s. (See related here and here.)
• Thanks to the crushing Texas drought, a mistletoe shortage threatens a loveable (if somewhat creepy) Christmas tradition.
• The year in photos from National Geographic.
• Seth Godin: “No one ever bought anything in an elevator.”
• When was the last time you saw a robotic chainsaw reindeer? That’s what I thought. (via @VoiceOfTreeCare and @husqvarnausa)

Above: Image via the wonderful Jessica Hagy’s Indexed.