Holidays

Pontifications has a great assortment of passages [http://catholica.pontifications.net/] for the Christmas season (which hasn't ended, contrary to celebrate-for-four-weeks-then-grow-sullen-on-the-26th American tradition). Thanks, Open Book [http://amywelborn.typepad.com/openbook/2005/12/food_for_though.html].

In case you were thinking you enjoy the holiday season: > Health experts notice a bizarre phenomenon December 25 of every year. It's the beginning of a two week spike in the death rate nationwide. > Depression is just part of this puzzle. The reason the number of

I've posted these before, but they're good enough to repeat: Max Beerbohm once said, “I may be old-fashioned, but I am right.” They're good words to recall at this time of the year. After all, we tend to mark the holidays with things

> Shakespeare calls it "the baleful mistletoe," perhaps in allusion to the Scandinavian legend that it was with an arrow made of mistletoe and wielded by the blind god Hoder that Balder was slain, or to the tradition that it was once a tree from which the wood

“There were only two classes of men who heard the cry that night: Shepherds and Wise Men. Shepherds: those who know they know nothing. Wise Men: those who know they do not know everything.” Fulton Sheen "Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our

> Invented in 1966 by a Reader's Digest editor but made popular through a 1997 Seinfeld episode, the fictional celebration has been brought to life by fervent supporters across the country -- including Clarkston native Blake Coe. > According to the Seinfeld episode, Festivus is celebrated on Dec. 23

Merry Christmas is pulling out front in the culture wars. If it wins in the culture, the schools, big box stores, and malls will will follow. > In the cultural battle over whether to use the seasonal greeting "Happy holidays" or "Merry Christmas," the latter appears