Holidays

Archbishop Chaput of Denver has written a great little essay about the difference between Christmas and Xmas [http://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=6&art_id=31083]. Excerpt: > The world has an ingenious ability to attach itself to what Christians believe; tame it, subvert it,

I side with the anti-ACLUites in the Christmas Wars, I really do, but they're going to lose if they insist on seeing every generic holiday greeting as a sign of secularism. The phrase "Happy Holidays" isn't always a capituation. In fact, I always

First Target, now these guys: > Willow Creek Community Church, one of the largest churches in the Chicago area, will be closed on Sunday, Dec. 25--because it's Christmas. > Although thousands of the faithful usually flock to the South Barrington church and its satellites on Sundays, Willow

> A 162-year-old Christmas card - one of the first ever printed - sold at auction Saturday for $16,000. > The hand-colored card, which shows a family celebrating around a table, is one of about 10 surviving from an original batch of 1,000 printed in 1843, auctioneer

What's next? The silver pole? > It worried Mitra Sen when pupils at her school were not allowed to take part in multicultural celebrations because their parents didn't want them to be exposed to different cultural and religious beliefs. > Afraid these kids would be deprived

> Austria's traditional Christmas devils have been given police clearance to carry on smacking people's back-sides. > Locals in towns across the country dress up as either St Nicholas, handing out sweets to the good, or as the devil, handing out beatings to the bad.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer [http://www.tvparty.com/xmasrudolph.html]. Excerpt: > Premiering on NBC December 6th, 1964, RUDOLPH has become the longest running, highest rated television special in the history of the medium. . . . > The special originally premiered on the GENERAL

Another feel-good story for the holiday season: > Alaska inmates at a prison work farm are taking on a new assignment: butchering the meat of moose struck by trains each winter along 68 miles of track. > The meat will be processed by prisoners at the Point MacKenzie Correctional