As the year draws to a close, it’s time to go walking in a winter pun-derland as we take a look back at the shining gifts (and lumps of coal) coming out of Washington recently and look forward, beyond the 12 days of Christmas, to the busy political season ahead.

One of the biggest gifts may come next November if Democrats continue their pattern of missteps and hand Congress back to Republicans wrapped up with a bow. President Joe Biden finds himself on America’s naughty list as his favorability continues to plummet. Nearly half feel that Biden has done a worse job as president than they expected, raising serious questions about his chemis-tree with voters. Corn Pop may have been a bad dude, but it appears Biden is a bad president.

Meanwhile, Biden’s top elves, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, dragged a Christmas bag full of spending, the recently passed $1 trillion infrastructure bill with another proposed $1.7 trillion social safety net and climate bill, in the (Saint) Nick of time at the expense of other top Democratic legislative priorities.

Republicans, meanwhile, banished several far-Left priorities to the naughty list, blocking bills dealing with voter identification, abortion access, and raising the federal minimum wage.

This year saw the largest surge in inflation in more than three decades. The public had a more expensive Fourth of July, a more expensive Thanksgiving, and will have a more expensive Christmas. But the White House maintains that its policies are the best thing since sliced (ginger)bread.

“The Biden economic plan is working,” boasts a tweet from the White House about how the Fourth of July was 16 cents less expensive than last year. After getting ratioed for their lack of self-awareness, Democrats acknowledged rising costs surrounding Thanksgiving but blamed private companies — not inflation.

Democrats’ staunch opposition to acknowledging reality makes no frankincense, but wait — there’s myrrh. The DCCC is skating on thin ice after posting a tweet praising Biden for a mere 2-cent drop in gas prices. One thing’s fir sure: The Democrats’ tone-deaf messaging will leave a fa-la-la-la-lasting impression on voters who are paying more at the pump and at the grocery store.

Another indicator that Democrats are barking up the wrong Tannenbaum is their inability to secure Cabinet confirmations, despite having control of the Senate.

The first blow to Biden’s elf-confidence was the withdrawal of Neera Tanden’s nomination to serve as the director of the Office of Management and Budget. Questions over her Grinchy, infamous Twitter behavior beleaguered Democrats for months until they admitted that she was snow good.

Then, President Joe Biden was forced to pull David Chipman’s nomination to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives after it was revealed that Chipman had previously been a lobbyist for various gun control groups. Once the cat was out of (Santa’s) bag, bipartisan groups agreed it was time to use the gift receipt and return Chipman like an ill-fitting, ugly Christmas sweater.

Most recently, Biden’s nominee to guard America’s gift cards as comptroller of the currency, Saule Omarova, bowed out following concerns that she was more prepared to help Siberian communist elves than good, red-blooded free enterprise elves after she’d argued to “end banking as we know it.”

Tanden, Chipman, and Omarova weren’t (orna)ment to be.

For all the gifts that Democrats keep handing the GOP, Republicans will need to give voters a reason to check the elephant on the most important wish list of all — November ballots. So, let’s talk turkey: Focusing on winning opens up a cornucopia of opportunity, but here are three kingly ideas for GOP messaging.

A good first step is undoing Biden’s miserly energy policy. We don’t have to just light eight candles. America needs affordable energy to power economic growth. That requires the full smorgasbord of oil, gas, wind, solar, and nuclear.

It will also be important for conservatives to show Democrats that they brought an intellectual Nerf gun to a Second Amendment fight. The far Left keeps saying, “You’ll shoot your eye out,” but protecting the right to self-protection will get Republicans a major award.

Third, suburban mothers need to know it’s time to throw away Critical Race Tinsel. It’s bad news to divide children by the color of the tassels with which they were born.

The Auld Lang Signe-age is clear: Absent a Christmas miracle for Democrats, perhaps from nine SCOTUS justices dancing on major decisions, the GOP should be in line for major electoral gains. But whether Christmas 2022 comes early for Republicans or not, rest assured we’ll be back to celebrate the most pun-derful time of the year!

Bret Jacobson is the co-founder of Red Edge, a digital advocacy agency for conservative and center-right causes. Follow him on Twitter: @bretjacobson