Joy of Christmas

Archive for November, 2005

As a child, I looked forward to the glossy, hardback Beano Annual I would receive each Christmas and relished the smell of the newly minted pages when it was unwrapped. It was my first taste of the Christmas book. Today, this seasonal beast is big business; booksellers expect to shift around half of the year’s books in the run-up to Christmas and it’s no longer comic annuals and copies of Wisden they’re flogging.

Over the past five years, the Christmas book’s rise has been unstoppable, becoming a semi-genre of its own. But why?

‘What defines the Christmas book is that it is the one given as a present,’ explains Andrew Franklin, MD of Profile Books and the man who brought us Lynne Truss. ‘But people don’t buy fiction, as they’re not confident of people’s tastes, so they’ll go for quirky joke books.’

The benchmark was set in 2002 by Ben Schott’s bestselling Schott’s Original Miscellany. But while it started life as a quirky card Schott had intended to send out with season’s greetings, its transformation into a Christmas bestseller was sheer fluke, he claims. ‘People think it was a highly elaborate, very cynical marketing ploy, but it was the opposite. I basically put together a book by accident and it happened to take off.’

This is slightly disingenuous. Schott’s Miscellanies tapped into the very essence of Christmas: they hinted at tradition and nostalgia, but were amusing, too; their retro covers made them instant gifts and their content was perfect for spicing up stilted Christmas conversations with ‘Did you know … ‘ and ‘Listen to this … ‘ factoids. His new book, published last week, Schott’s Almanac (Bloomsbury), a beautifully presented round-up of the past year’s events, from Crazy Frog to hurricane Katrina, again has that rare strain of nostalgia and humour that will appeal to all the family.

Competing with Schott is Lynne Truss’s Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of Everyday Life which should mimic the success of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, the ‘punctuation repair kit’ bestseller of 2003. Also in the frame are Simon Barnes’s follow-up, A Bad Birdwatcher’s Companion (Short Books), Mathew Lyons’s perfect gap-year traveller gift, Impossible Journeys (Cadogan), and The Good Granny Guide (Short Books).

Alongside Truss, Profile Books has another publication which Franklin says he ‘knew we could only publish at Christmas’: a compilation of the New Scientist’s The Last Word columns, entitled Does Anything Eat Wasps?, which includes such titillating facts as how fat you must be to become bulletproof. It has already been republished three times and looks set to be the stealth seller this Christmas.

Meanwhile, Alan Bennett will be hoping to repeat the stocking-filling success of 1995′s Writing Home with his new book, Untold Stories (Faber), and Julian Barnes’s superb Arthur & George (Jonathan Cape), along with David Attenborough’s Life in the Undergrowth (BBC Books), Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Italy (Michael Joseph) and John Peel’s posthumous autobiography Margrave of the Marshes (Bantam) should all find their way under the tree.

However, for the discerning reader, someone like Ben Schott perhaps, who ‘doesn’t buy Christmas books so much as books at Christmas’, the British Library’s Adopt a Book scheme might be more suitable than the Bill Bryson parody, A Shite History of Nearly Everything. For a mere £25, you can help conserve one of the library’s 150 million books. After all, a book is for life, not just for Christmas.

THE festive season is officially here – that’s according to the hundreds of cheering revellers who turned out to see the stars of Dr Who switch on Cardiff’s Christmas lights.

New Doctor David Tennant and Billie Piper, who plays his assistant Rose, looked thrilled as they flipped the switch to transform the capital.

Billie, who has been filming with her new co-star in Cardiff, said she had been overwhelmed by her welcome to the city, which celebrates its centenary year this year.

She said: “I’ve had the warmest welcome, it’s been really lovely. It’s all been great, we’re having such a great time here at the moment.

“Everybody’s been very nice, we walk down the street and everybody says hello.”

David said: “I’m having a great time. It’s very nice and quite overwhelming to be here.”

He added: “Everyone in Cardiff’s friendly aren’t they?”

To which there were cries of “Yes!”.

Billie revealed how her favourite scene in the sci-fi smash hit show will be broadcast over Christmas and will involve being attacked by a Christmas tree.

Speaking from the stage outside City Hall, she said: “That’s pretty exciting and quite threatening and scary at the same time.”

The pair then counted down from 10 to one and shouted “Nadolig Llawen, Happy Christmas” as they switched on the festive lights.

The crowds, with Dr Who writer Russell T Davies among them, were then treated to a dazzling firework display.

The event coincided with the return of open air ice-rink Winter Wonderland in the city centre for the fifth year running.

ANIMATED cartoon character Shrek will switch on Worksop’s Christmas lights this year.

The green ogre, star of two Hollywood blockbuster films, will be in town to launch the festive programme on Tuesday 29th November.

Shrek follows in the footsteps of Postman Pat, who lit up the town last year and the Rugrats back in 2003.

The fun starts at 5pm when the Guardian roadshow swings into action with music, competitions and giveaways in the Matalan car park.

Then at 7pm Shrek will be on hand to switch on the lights before leading a procession with Father Christmas through the town centre to the Christmas Market at the top of town.

“We hope that everyone will join us in Worksop to help celebrate the arrival of Christmas and enjoy some festive fun,” said town centre manager Russell Slater.

This year the council is splashing out a total of £56,000 on the Worksop and Retford Christmas celebrations.

The Market Place will play host to a civic ceremony with the chairman of Bassetlaw Council, Coun Michael Bennett giving a speech.

Starting at 6pm, folk will be able to listen to Christmas carols sung by the St John’s Primary School choir and music by Worksop Miners Welfare Brass Band.

There will also be an opportunity to stock up on Christmas gifts at the Christmas charity market and fun fair run by Bassetlaw Hospice from 10am to 8.30pm.

Free car parking will be offered from 4pm each Wednesday from 7th until 21st December when shops will be open late.

New Yorkers are dreaming of a topsy-turvy Christmas. The latest craze to hit the city is to decorate homes with upside-down Christmas trees.

Shops and mail-order firms are finding that the plastic inverted spruces, which come fully wired with fairy lights and all the tinsel trimmings, are a sell-out in a city where floor space is always at a premium. “We have three on display and they are in enormous demand,” said Cynthia Sayed, the manager of the Heart to Heart florist on Third Avenue, Brooklyn.

“We have ones that hang upside-down from the ceiling, ones that stand upside-down in a specially reinforced stand and a wall-mounted one, too. Plug them in and off you go. They are very popular.”

The wholesale supplier of the Chinese-made trees, Roman Inc, of Addison, Illinois, has temporarily run out of stock even though Christmas is still almost five weeks away. An announcement on the company’s website, below a picture of its “Upside-Down Pre-Lit Christmas Tree”, declares: “Due to the popularity of this item, we are unexpectedly sold out.”

Yet topsy-turvy trees do not come cheap. The three standard sizes, going up to 7ft, cost between $257 (£150) and $500.

Up-market vendors such as Hammacher Schlemmer are selling the top-of-the-range fir tree for $600, with packing and postage extra.

Roman declares the upside-down tree “evokes a 12th century Central European tradition of hanging a tree from the ceiling at Christmas” and that it “is inverted to ensure a smaller footprint” for less-spacious areas, and allowing more room for the “accumulation of presents” underneath.

The company said: “Originally designed for specialty stores to display delicate ornaments using a minimum of floor space, the unusual tapering shape allows the tree to stand in places that do not accommodate a traditional holiday tree, such as between two armchairs or in a corner.

“The inverted shape makes it easier to see ornaments, which hang away from the dense needles and do not get lost in the foliage.”

The historical explanation, however, does not ring true to Sheryl Karas, the author of The Solstice Evergreen: The History, Folklore and Origins of the Christmas Tree, who has become so inundated with queries about the meaning of an upside-down Christmas tree since the craze began that she has stopped taking calls, referring people instead to her internet weblog.

“The original meaning had to do with eternal life,” she writes. “The tree symbolically points to Heaven so that inverting the tree could be seen as sinister if one thought about it too much.

“But the honest truth is that the practice of hanging a Christmas Tree from the ceiling has practical benefits – it saves space, it keeps it safe from running children and pets and as a chandelier it could be made to look very beautiful and festive.”

GET ready for the tears. The must-have product for Christmas has already run out in most major shops and even online.

Supplies of the gleaming new £180 Sony PSP games machine have run so short that major retailers say – five weeks before the big day – that they have run out of the devices and they will not have any more until after Christmas.

In short, if you haven’t bought one, you’ve had it.

One alternative is to fork out between £270 and £1,100 for a special PSP bundle which will include the machine along with a clutch of games. The only other option is to buy a foreign version of the product online, ship it to the UK, but risk it not working with British-bought games.

The PSP, short for PlayStation Portable, is the latest in Sony’s series of games consoles and the first to be portable. It plays movies, games and music, displays photos, downloads songs, and has technology fans drooling because of its dazzling high-quality screen.

The online retailer Amazon.co.uk has warned customers that while they may place orders in advance, the coveted consoles will probably not be delivered before Christmas. They ceased taking orders to arrive for Christmas on November 16.

A query to a Scottish city centre branch of Dixons by a journalist posing as a would-be customer found that no PSPs are expected to be in stock before December 25.

Such is the desperation that websites have even sprung up which list where buyers can get their hands on PSPs. The news is not good. One site, psp-deals.co.uk, listed a series of stores which had sold out of the gadget and said that the only way to get one was to plump for a more expensive package deal.

These package deals cost up to £1,100 and include as many as 24 games. But while the games may pass away the hours of a Christmas holiday, they may well not be a player’s first choice.

Another option for those scrambling for a PSP before Christmas is to look on international auction sites such as eBay. But while these sites may have many PSPs available, they are usually American or Japanese models, only working with foreign-bought games. More worryingly, their warranties are not valid in this country.

The shortages come despite efforts by Sony to ensure that it would be able to get enough units into the shops for Christmas. The company increased production across a series of factories in China so that it would have one million consoles for the UK market.

Fiona Moriarty, the director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “There has been huge demand for the PlayStation PSP. The product has really taken off, it has caught the imagination. Despite Sony’s best intentions they just haven’t been able to keep up with demand.”

CONCORD – It’s a familiar sight that, for many shoppers, signifies the holiday season has arrived.

The sight of the red Salvation Army kettle and the volunteer standing next to it mingle with the sound of the bell ringing, drawing people to drop their change.

The Salvation Army of Cabarrus and Stanly Counties kicked off its annual holiday kettle campaign Friday.

Last year’s campaign raised $74,000, and organizers are hoping to increase that and raise $80,000 this year. Making $80,000 from change people drop into kettles is a lofty goal.

“We need the kettles to do $80,000 this year to even out,” said the Salvation Army’s Captain Bryan Tatterson.

The kettles will be located at the Big Lots and Bi-Lo in Kannapolis, Food Lion in Mount Pleasant, Lowes Foods in Harrisburg, Carolina Mall, Concord Mills, various Harris Teeter stores, Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart locations in both Cabarrus and Stanly counties.

According to Tatterson, the organization’s Christmas programs will serve 2,187 children this year, compared to the 1,825 last year.

“We’re helping a record number of children and families this year,” Tatterson said. “It’s a significant increase, so it’s going to cost a significant amount more.”

Coy Privette is chairman of the Salvation Army’s advisory board.

“I’m involved because the organization helps those less fortunate,” he said. “It has a great history of service.”

One of the Salvation Army’s most popular Christmas programs is the Angel Tree, where community members buy gifts for children. This year, Angel Trees have been set up at B.J. Wholesale, Concord Mills and Carolina Mall.

The Angel Tree families also receive food vouchers so the family has the means to have a good Christmas dinner, Tatterson said.

Through gifts the community buys for the Angel Tree and funds raised by the kettle campaign, the Salvation Army will distribute $140,000 in financial assistance this holiday season.

Mabel Brown has been on the Salvation Army board for 19 years. Her volunteer work there and for other organizations is her way of giving to the children of the community, she said.

To Al Thigpen, who has been on the Salvation Army’s board for about 15 years, it’s all about passing it on.

“When you’re blessed by the Lord, you want to pass the blessings on and help those who need help,” he said.

IT is this year’s most wanted Christmas present. But music fans in Edinburgh hoping to find the new video iPod in their stockings this year may be disappointed.

For Apple’s latest versions of the gadget, which play music videos, are proving so popular that stores in the Capital are all but sold out. Desperate shoppers who order the iPod are being told they are unlikely to have it delivered in time for Christmas.

One retailer said they had “hundreds” of orders outstanding for the new models. Yesterday, only two of the city’s main electrical retailers had the iPods in stock, but in very limited numbers. Only 20 were available at the city’s two Comet stores and PC World at Corstorphine had only two left.

Neither Dixons nor John Lewis had any in stock.

A spokesman for Dixons in Princes Street said: “We have had only two deliveries since the model was released. The last delivery was three weeks ago.

“It’s up to Apple how many they send to each country.” [iPod & iTunes for Dummies | iCon Steve Jobs : The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business]

Curry’s also said it had no stock in currently and was advising customers to order them. An Apple spokesman said: “It’s a very popular item and in demand.”

After the worst summer of box-office flops in a generation, Hollywood is pulling out the stops over the next month as a trio of films vie to be the Christmas blockbuster.

With Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and a re-make of King Kong all to be released over the next month, hundreds of millions of pounds are riding on film-goers returning to cinemas this holiday season.

The most likely candidate for success remains the fourth instalment in the Harry Potter franchise. The £83 million film opens today and has been described as the most sophisticated in the series so far as it charts the young wizard’s shift into moody adolescence.

The New York Daily News has described the film, by the British director Mike Newell, as “blisteringly” splendid.

Newell, acclaimed for Four Weddings and a Funeral and Donnie Brasco, said he pushed Harry to new creative heights in a tale of teen romance.

While the Narnia books are often seen as a religious allegory, with Aslan the lion representing Christ, its director Andrew Adamson said his work was “open to the audience to interpret”. [Books by CS Lewis | A Complete Guide to His Life & Works]

The British actress, Tilda Swinton, who plays the White Witch, said the book was more “spiritual” than religious.

The theme was more “classical” than overtly Christian. “It feels like an ancient myth,” she said.

Another old tale given new life is the film of King Kong, directed by Peter Jackson, of The Lord of the Rings fame.

With a £115 million budget, it could provide the spectacle to win the audiences.

Ed Palizzolo is paying more to get 600 Christmas trees from Nova Scotia to his store in Randolph this year, so his customers may pay more too.

Palizzolo, store manager at Nelson’s Landscaping and Garden Center on Route 28, said customers may have to fork over “a couple dollars” more per tree.

“We’ve had to pay more to get them down here,” said Palizzolo. “Everyone’s anticipating an increase.” [A Wish to Be a Christmas Tree]

Higher fuel costs coupled with price increases for fertilizer and other gardening materials will likely have customers paying more for their holiday trees this year, local tree industry leaders say.

“I’d say it’s going to go up $4 or $5 per tree, but I’m not sure it’s in every case,” said Julie Gauld, secretary of the Massachusetts Christmas Tree Association. “It depends on where (the trees are) coming from.”

Some local retailers said they’ll absorb the price hike this year.

“We’re going to bite the bullet and take the hit and hope that gas prices go down next year,” said Michael Gallagher, owner of Lambert’s Rainbow Fruit and Deli on Crescent Street in Brockton.

“Depending upon where it comes from, it’s going to be approximately $2.50 to $5 more per tree on our end,” Gallagher said. “This is the most we’ve ever seen it.”

Gallagher said he will start getting tree deliveries from Canada, Maine and Pennsylvania on Monday.

“I expected it,” Gallagher said. “Prices went up with flowers in the spring because of gas. This is something all industries are going to feel one way or another.”

Even local tree growers say they’re feeling the fuel pinch.

“We have to mow constantly,” said Phyllis Sanborn, owner of Raven Brook Farm in Halifax. “Fertilizer has gone up. Fuel is a major part of it, but other issues, chemicals that we use for spraying, have gone up.”

While Sanborn has increased prices slightly, she said customers still came out during a rainy “tagging” weekend to choose their holiday trees three weeks ago.

“We only went up 50 cents a foot, but it didn’t seem to affect the sales at all,” Sanborn said.

Robert Costanzo, owner of The Christmas Tree Farm in Pembroke, said he does not think higher fuel costs will greatly affect his business of nearly two decades.

Costanzo, who grows about 3 acres of Christmas trees, said he will not increase prices.

“It isn’t a great amount of gas. Certainly it might bother us a little bit, but not very much,” Costanzo said.

Last year, Americans spent $1.1 billion to purchase 27.1 million real trees, according to the National Christmas Tree Association.

Paul Cristina, manager Seoane’s Garden Center on Route 18 in Abington, said he is expecting a stock of 1,800 trees from Quebec that “often sell out.”

Customers may see a $3 to $5 increase in price on some of the trees, which cost from $20 to more than $100, Cristina said.

“Most likely, we’ll be eating most of our cost,” Cristina said.

But he said the added costs should not dampen the holiday spirit.

“I don’t think it will slow people down from enjoying the tradition,” Cristina said. “We’re paying for the gas anyway. Nobody stopped buying gas. Nobody’s going to stop celebrating Christmas.”

Flashing external decorations are a bone of contention amongst the neighbourhoods of Britain and can even extinguish the very Christmas spirit they are trying to create, according to research from Halifax Home Insurance. [National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation]

According to Halifax Home Insurance over 14 million Brits (37%) feel that Christmas decorations have gone ‘over the top’ in their neighbourhood. Over one and a half million go as far as saying that neighbours’ Christmas lights have caused their family stress, affected their sleeping pattern or caused rifts between them and a neighbour.

Over 5 million people also say that other peoples’ excessive Christmas lights represent a real fire hazard to their homes. Halifax Home Insurance witnesses a 33% rise in the number of claims for electrical fires in December compared to the annual average.

Vicky Emmott, senior underwriter at Halifax Home Insurance, commented: “Every Christmas we receive thousands of phone calls from customers who have had fire damage to their properties. A large proportion of these claims can be attributed to faulty Christmas lights. We advise people to check that all Christmas lights meet the relevant British safety standards before putting them up.”

This year in the UK a staggering £600 million will be spent on Christmas decorations. According to conservative estimates, the nation will purchase 89 million metres of fairy lights, 32 million metres of which will be hung outside. [Holiday Lights! : Brilliant displays to inspire your Christmas celebration]

• See also: Christmas lights carry cancer risk

Santa Claus was joined last night with Christmas showgirls and elves to flip the switch for more than 2 million Christmas lights to come on at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.

More than 150 people braved the cold to watch the 22nd annual lighting ceremony themed “A Country Christmas,” featuring the city’s top brass, businessmen, country singers and others.

Fisk University’s Jubilee Singers opened the event at the Magnolia Front Lawn with Amen, Deck The Halls and other Christmas carols. Hotel staffers handed children cookies and hot chocolate.

“The holidays begin here in Nashville,” Mayor Bill Purcell said. “This is one of the best places to be (during Christmas) in the world.”

Shawn-Mykail Johnson, 6, of east Nashville said when the lights came on “it was supernatural,” and his older sister Blair Wright, 7, agreed.

“I thought it was amazing,” she said. “To see all those lights at the same time, it was so bright.”

Paula McCormick traveled from Memphis to take part in the festivities.

“It was absolutely beautiful,” she said. “This was my first experience and it was fantastic.”

Others in attendance shared the sentiment.

Beth Buchanan, who’s been coming to see the lights for years, said she always enjoys the show. She even remembers the year before last, when the big tree in the middle didn’t light up with the rest of the decoration. She was glad to see that they all worked this time, especially since she brought her 5-year-old niece, Anastasia Buchanan, who was snug in her winter coat and bouncing around from the excitement. [The Shadows of Christmas Past]

“I just like being here with her because it’s her first time,” Beth Buchanan said. “It was good to see her excited.”

Deborah Barnes came out with her family to see the lights. Her family is originally from California, and they’ve only been in Nashville for a couple of years. She said no one knew what to expect.

“It’s my birthday, and this is what I wanted to do. It’s just a very, very nice way to start the season.”

Her son, Austin Barnes, got to take a picture with Grand Ole Opry singer Porter Wagoner, although he didn’t know who the man was.

“It was fine,” he said mildly. Deborah Barnes’ face lit up with a smile: “His grandmother is going to love it.” [The Gift: Home for Christmas / All I Want for Christmas]

A Country Christmas lights and various events will run through Jan. 8. Returning this year is the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, with the world-famous Radio City Rockettes.

There’s also ICE, a showing that features several sculptures carved from 1.5 million pounds of ice.

This year’s new show is the Pam Tillis Christmas Dinner Party, which will be a traditional holiday dinner with the award-winning singer performing Christmas songs and her top 10 hits

Christmas tradition often centers around a tree and lights. Not much has changed since the end of the 1800s when technical innovation extinguished the custom of using candles as decoration and electric lightbulbs emerged, theoretically, as a safer alternative.

Paul Troy works in risk assessment. He read the warning label. “The packaging says ‘Prop 65 warning. Handling the coated electrical wires of this product exposes you to lead, a chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects and other reproductive harm.’” [The Places that Scare You : A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times]

The warning about the dangers of lead exposure appears just below the caution about the risk of fire and electrical shock. Both are written on the packaging of the Holiday Time box of 20 mini lights.

Troy says the lead warning is not exclusive to Christmas lights. “The wires are coated with a flexible PVC coating and that is the coating that’s likely to contain lead….The purpose of the lead is to make the product flexible.”

Lead is a toxic chemical. It is dangerous enough to warrant Tyvex suits, gloves and a respirator to handle significant amounts.

But according to a statement from Walmart, “The warning is not specific to Christmas lights sold at Walmart. The notification of the presence of lead is a requirement by the state of California and the boxes are not repackaged for national distribution. All of our holiday lights meet industry standards and are in compliance with state federal regulations.”

The engineering consultant we talked to says the warning is there to communicate the risk and to protect the manufacturer from lawsuits. But keep in mind, lead is present in many things we touch everyday. It is just as dangerous to hold Christmas tree lights without washing my hands as it is any other cord, cable and many plastics. [The Polar Bear Strategy: Reflections on Risk in Modern Life]

It’s just that Indiana law doesn’t require manufacturers to label products with information about chemical exposure.

• See also: Christmas lights cause stress, sleep loss

Attorney General Tom Reilly has asked the Legislature to clarify that retail employees do not have to work this Christmas, which falls on a Sunday.

Under existing law, when the holiday falls on a Sunday, the legal holiday is marked the following day, Monday, Dec. 26. Most businesses and state offices will be closed that day.

Reilly, however, is concerned the state’s blue laws could be read in a manner that retail workers feel compelled to work on that Sunday, the true date of Christmas. Unlike the other businesses, retail stores will be open Dec. 26. [Skipping Christmas]

“Accordingly, I respectfully ask that you consider a legislative amendment that requires that stores and shops close on any Sunday when Christmas also falls on that day,” Reilly wrote Wednesday in letters to House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and Senate President Robert Travaglini.

The attorney general said his proposed changes would not affect work required to meet emergencies “and other necessities for the maintenance and protection of life and property.”

If you’re dreaming of a white Christmas, you may be disappointed.

Black Christmas trees are flying out of the shops.

In fact shoppers keen to follow the festive fashion could already be too late.

John Lewis is close to selling out of its £90 6ft artificial black tree with 400 inbuilt white lights.

The department store chain said staff were selling more black trees than the traditional white, gold and green varieties.

Argos has a 5ft black fibre-optic tree for £34.99 but the store’s website lists it as ‘currently out of stock for home delivery’.

Internet shopping website iwantoneofthose.com has also seen enormous interest in its black artificial trees.

It has a 3ft version for £11.99 or a desktop size for £7.99.

Susan Rose, editor of the magazine Ideal Home, said black trees were ‘elegant and sophisticated’.

‘Black is the surprise phenomenon of Christmas 2005,’ she said.

‘We all thought it was going to be one of those trends that would take a little while for the public to catch on to but it has really captured the public’s imagination.

‘The thing about black Christmas trees is they do fit into our current interiors very well.

‘We have a lot of neutral and minimalist looking colours and in that environment green Christmas trees decked out with red and gold decorations will stick out like a sore thumb.

‘The marvellous thing about black Christmas trees decked out in frosty white, silver and cream is they do look incredibly stylish.’

Roger Hay, secretary of the British Christmas Tree Growers’ Association, won’t hear of an artificial black tree darkening his door.

‘The trend over the last 15 years has been for more and more people to go for real Christmas trees,’ he said. ‘In 1992 the number of sales was about three million. Now it is nearer to eight million. I understand why people have artificial trees because they are easier to handle. But they are also a blight on the environment.

‘They are just metal and PVC which cannot biodegrade and will end up sitting in a landfill site.

‘The vast majority of people like to see and smell a real Christmas tree in the house.

The smell makes such a difference. Black Christmas trees are a fashion.’

Those who want the real thing but hanker to be fashionable as well could take a hint from Mr Hay.

He suggested using a little spray paint to turn a real tree black – or any other colour you choose.

THERE will be no Christmas lights decorating Islington’s streets this year – the council are calling them “festive” instead.

They are refusing to use the word Christmas for fear of putting off people from other religions and say December’s festivities should be enjoyed by everyone.

But priest, Father George Ranahan, from St Peter and St Paul Roman Catholic Church, in Amwell Street, Finsbury, called their decision “ridiculous”. “If they take Christ out of Christmas what’s left?” he said. “It is a Christian country after all. If the lights are put up for Christmas they should call them Christmas lights. This is just political correctness which is absolutely ridiculous.”

But councillor Laura Willoughby (Liberal Democrat), executive member for communities, defended the decision.

“They are festive lights because some people don’t recognise Christmas,” she said. “This isn’t just about Christmas it’s about the whole festive season. The lights are there for people however they want to mark the occasion.”

Islington Council will spend more than £140,000 on lights across the borough – from St John Street, Finsbury to Junction Road, Archway.

There will be an “Interfaith Celebration of Light” at Newington Green and a switching on ceremony for the lights will take place in St Luke’s Garden, Finsbury, on December 4.

HUNDREDS of residents may have to go without TV for SIX MONTHS because nearby building work has cut out their reception.

Residents living in Heddington Grove, Holloway, are set to miss out on all their Christmas telly favourites – and believe it is all because builders working on new flats in Lough Road are blocking their signal.

One resident Len Ackerman, 56, went out and bought booster equipment, thinking his television was on the blink.

But then he found out one of his neighbours had also taken her TV to the repair shop and that another had brought a new cable. He soon realised the whole neighbourhood was having TV trouble.

He said: “I’ve never heard anything so absurd. The development stretches for quite a way.

“There are cranes everywhere – from Caledonian Road to the Arsenal stadium so there must be thousands of people with at least interference.

“It’s a real inconvenience. After a hard day you want to some in and switch the telly on – but we won’t be able to do that for months.”

Estate manager for the Townends Group, Erica Staveacre, said: “We manage two blocks at Heddington Grove and have received numerous complaints from tenants regarding their TV reception, or rather lack of it.

“We have contacted several TV aerial companies to try and rectify the situation but all have informed us that there is nothing that can be done and the problem is caused by the construction equipment on the nearby building site blocking the signal.

“All tenants that we have reported back to have appreciated this and, while we are sympathetic to the problem, it would appear that whilst the site equipment is present, there is nothing that can be done.”

A spokesman for Arsenal, the Lough Road developers, said: “The developers at the Lough Road site are aware that certain homes within the area are receiving interference to their television reception. A specialist has been appointed to investigate the problem and to ascertain if this is due to the Lough Road development.

A POLITICALLY-CORRECT council has outlawed the term “Christmas lights” from its festive switch-on ceremony.

Councillors were concerned the term “Christmas” might offend non-Christians and decided to change the name to the Festival of Lights.

People of all religious persuasions have branded the decision “barmy”.

Havant Borough Council in Hampshire spent more than £5000 on Christmas lights.

Council leader David Gillett condemned the decision. “It’s just a case of political correctness gone barmy. It will not happen again next year,” he said.

SANTA and some helpful school kids brought a little early Christmas cheer to disadvantaged Victorians yesterday.

With just over a month until Christmas, the Salvation Army is calling on people to dig deep this festive season.

Salvation Army spokesman John Dalziel said this year the Salvos have had an 11 per cent increase in people coming to them for help.

“This Christmas, the situation is exacerbated further by the harsh economic impact of increased petrol prices as well as tightened welfare and unemployment benefits,” Mr Dalziel said.

He called on Victorians to leave a gift under the Kmart Wishing Tree.

The appeal has collected more than 2.95 million gifts during the past 17 years and this year organisers hope to distribute 450,000 presents nationwide.

Gifts can be left under the Wishing Tree at any Kmart store. [Kmart's Ten Deadly Sins]

People can also buy a Kmart gift card, which allows the recipient to select their own gift.

The Grinch couldn’t steal Christmas, but the school board sure can.

Very few San Antonio area school districts refer to “Christmas” or “Christmas Vacation” in their official communications and schedules, although all specifically designate holidays for “Thanksgiving,” “Veterans Day” and “Martin Luther King Day,” 1200 WOAI news reported today. [Etiquette for Dummies]

In the Northside ISD, Bexar County’s largest, as well as in the Judson district, the time off that happens to fall around December 25 is officially referred to as “Winter Break.”

In the North East and Edgewood districts it is “Winter Holidays.”

It’s “Holiday Break” in the New Braunfels ISD, In the Randolph Field ISD, it’s even more politically correct, referring to the time off simply as a ‘Teacher-Student Holiday.’

In San Antonio, only the East Central, South San and Harlandale school districts refer to “Christmas, although Harlandale calls it the “Christmas/Winter Break,” and South San pleases everybody with “Christmas/Winter Holidays.”

Moving further away from the city is apparently good for traditional values. The Boerne, Seguin, Pleasanton, and Comal ISD’s all refer to the holiday as ‘Christmas.”

No district appears to have the same PC problems with “Thanksgiving” and many even refer to Easter. But Christmas, apparently, is a no no.

“We have all kinds of families that live out here,” Northside’s Pascual Gonzales explained. Not everybody celebrates Christmas.

Polls shows roughly 85% of Americans consider themselves Christians and celebrate Christmas, and that figure is larger among Latino families. In fact, polls show a far smaller percentage of Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, and Martin Luther King Day, although all those are prominently named on the official Northside calendar. [Norman Rockwell's Faith of America]

Parents in the Northside district have had it up to here with political correctness. They call the holiday Christmas and they want the school district to call it that too.

“Right now in society if you offend people, they are anxious to sue and get on TV and get publicity,” one Northside parent told 1200 WOAI’s Michael Board.

Another woman rejected the use of the term ‘winter break’ in a part of the country that doesn’t have a traditional winter.

“If it’s during Christmas time, why would it be ‘winter break’?” she asked.

“We thought it would be better to call it is ‘winter break’ because it does better describe the time of the year,” Gonzales said.

Growing up can be difficult in a world where you regularly see how bombs can wipe out entire populations, hurricanes can wreak mass destruction and life decisions are made daily with the click of a button.

So it’s hard to fathom that in that same world a nice fairy pays people for losing a tooth, a jolly fat man and his flying reindeer deliver gifts to everyone in the world in one night and a bunny actually brings colorful candy eggs.

But the good news is, for today’s children, such a world still isn’t so unimaginable.

The Times took a moment to listen to a few local first-graders pontificate on some of life’s biggest mysteries: the tooth fairy, Santa Claus and the Easter bunny.

The tooth fairy

Ryan Usie, 7, missed the tooth fairy the last time he lost a tooth. “I swallowed it,” said the snaggletoothed Evangel Christian Academy student.

He and his mom, Tammy Usie, don’t exactly agree on how that happened. “I was playing ball outside and the ball hit me in the mouth. “»,” Ryan explained as his mom looked on, puzzled. “No, I thought your dad was pulling it out with a string. “»”

Whatever the case, Ryan and his equally snaggletoothed best friend, Jackson Salley, 7, have their own theory about how the tooth fairy works.

“She’s a girl with curly hair with a pink dress,” Ryan said.

“And a sparkling wand,” Jackson, who also attends Evangel Christian, jumped in. “And she lives in a house filled with teeth.”

And just what does she do with all of those teeth? “She uses the bottom part of the tooth to unlock the doors,” Ryan explained. Now it makes sense.

Six-year-old Megan Clinton of Bossier City hasn’t seen the tooth fairy but had a close encounter and discovered the tooth fairy actually is a guy. “He called the day I lost my tooth. It was cool!” she said excitedly.

“We weren’t home at the time, so he left a message,” her mom, Pam Clinton, explained.

“He said something about ‘I’m proud of you’ and that he would leave something for me under my pillow,” said Megan, who got $2 that she added to her piggy bank.

For some children, the tooth fairy is shelling out big bucks these days. Not counting the one he swallowed, Ryan said he normally gets $5 per tooth, while Jackson said he got $10 for his front tooth.

Here are a few more tooth fairy theories:

“I think the tooth fairy is a boy “» and he has wings. That’s what I saw on TV,” said first-grader Hayden Shankle, 6, of Bossier City.

“She gives you money and pennies,” said Quinton Aught, 6, of Shreveport. “And after she takes your tooth, she cleans it.”

Santa Claus

Santa Claus has his work cut out for him every year, delivering gifts to every child on Christmas Eve. But just how does he do it?

“Well, he comes down the chimney and leaves the reindeer on the roof,” Hayden explained.

“He doesn’t come to my house because I don’t have a chimney,” said 6-year-old Ramelo Ford of Shreveport.

But just because you don’t have a chimney doesn’t mean he doesn’t come, said Trinity Jones and Alicia Hoey, two 6-year-olds of Shreveport.

“I don’t have a chimney, so my parents say he has a key. But I don’t believe them,” Alicia said.

“No, if you say you don’t believe that’s mean!” Trinity exclaimed.

“No, I believe in Santa, but I don’t think he has a key,” Alicia clarified before leaning in to share her revelation. “But I think my parents leave the door unlocked for him and let him in.”

Trinity pondered the concept for a second. “Well, I don’t have a chimney either. But Santa has a magic key, and I leave the porch light on so that he can see.”

Both admit they haven’t actually seen him come in, but Alicia came close. “I heard him last Christmas. And he said ‘Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas!”

Ramelo still is not completely convinced. “I just don’t think he’s real,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. “Deer can’t fly, they just can’t!”

A few more thoughts about Santa Claus:

“Santa Claus flies. “» Wait, no, the reindeer fly and Santa rides on the sled and he flies really, really fast,” Jackson said.

“Jesus is why Santa brings us stuff,” Ryan said.

“Christmas is Jesus’ birthday,” Hayden said.

The Easter bunny

Alicia and Trinity’s face lit up with just the mention of the Easter bunny. “He gave us a lot of candy,” Alicia said. “Yeah, we had him here at school,” Trinity said.

Megan’s eyes lit up as well. “He has good eggs, really good eggs. And he puts them in a basket. And he’s cool. And he’s white and has really long ears that go up and down. “» He brought me a cheerleader outfit last year, and pompoms.”

Alicia has a different opinion about the bunny’s gender. “Mine was a girl. And she was brown and her feet were pink,” she said.

“When we were in kindergarten, they gave us candy eggs and baskets and we had a Easter egg hunt,” Quinton said.

“Whoever found the most eggs won, and I won,” Ramelo said proudly.

Ramelo, Quinton and 7-year-old Lauren Dugas had their own ideas of how the bunny looks.

“He’s white,” Quinton said.

“And he looks like a regular rabbit, but he’s the size of a person,” Ramelo added.

They’re not too sure if he talks. “He just goes ‘Boing, boing, boing,’ because he hops,” Ramelo said while Lauren, unable to contain herself, burst into giggles.

Following are a few other thoughts about the Easter bunny:

“I’ve seen the Easter bunny before. It was white and brown and it was little and we got to pet him,” Hayden said.

“He looks like a bunny, but bigger. And his ears are white but pink on the inside,” Jackson said.

“No, I think he’s gray,” Ryan said.

It’s back: Holly Run brings cheer to Tangier

A father-son Christmas tradition turned community-wide practice is booked to return to Tangier Island this winter.

Edward H. Nabb Jr. said he plans to hold his third Edward H. Nabb Memorial Holly Run on Dec. 3 if the weather permits.

Several pilots from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Maryland are expected to deliver bags of holly to Tangier Island, said Janet Hunteman, coordinator.

After the landing, Santa Claus will visit with the children around the island in a golf cart.

Hettie Bowden of Tangier Island said she shared the fun with her three children and now shares it with her four grandchildren. They enjoy meeting the Holly Run and Santa Claus.

“We’re getting excited,” she said.

Nabb said many participants expressed disappointment when the 38-year-old annual celebration was canceled last year and did not want it to die. Several people were sick, among other unavoidable distractions.

“I’ve got my problems and the people who were backing up had their problems,” he said.

So Nabb decided to try it again this year and has invited anyone with a plane to join the celebration. Pilots will depart from Cambridge-Dorchester Airport after loading up more than 30 bags of holly to fly to the Tangier Island airport.

The holly is shared between New Testament and Swain Memorial Methodist churches, Nabb said.

Nabb’s father began the flight in 1968. Nabb and his father used to cut down Christmas trees and greenery for the house at a cousin’s farm, and Nabb Sr. decided to deliver holly to the island because it didn’t have greenery.

The tradition soon grew among Nabb Sr.’s pilot friends.

“He asked a couple of his buddies to help the next year,” Nabb Jr. said. “Most pilots are looking for an excuse to go fly.”

More than 30 pilots in a single day have participated since then, he said.

“It’s showing friendship and kindness,” said Hugh Horning, a Delaware pilot. “It’s part of our heritage.”

More than 700 motorcycle riders clad in denim and leather circled Rocky Mount on Sunday as part of the 19th Annual Toy Run.

The Rocky Mount Harley Owners Group chapter organized the event to give Christmas presents to needy children.

“Last year, we only had about 400 or so riders,” said chapter Director George Young. “We had so many this year because of the good weather.”

Chapter Treasurer Susan Jones said 731 people signed up to ride in the parade.

In order to participate, riders had to donate a toy or pay $10. The money will be used to buy toys, and all toys will be donated to The Salvation Army for distribution to children in Edgecombe, Nash and Wilson counties.

The bike ride began at noon at Rocky Mount Harley-Davidson on Winstead Avenue. The parade route circled the city, going down Main Street and through the Battleboro community, before ending back at the store at about 1:45 p.m.

“It was a long ride,” said Joyce Huneycutt of Rocky Mount.

Huneycutt rode a Harley in the parade with Marvin Reams of Rocky Mount. Reams, who has driven a Harley since 1968, said he enjoyed the ride, but he would have liked to drive faster.

“We went about 20 to 35 mph the whole way,” he said. “When you’re on a motorcycle, you want to go fast.”

The Rocky Mount Police Department, Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Department and Nash County Sheriff’s Department helped block traffic for the motorcycle parade.

Young said there were no accidents this year.

“We’re lucky; we’ve never had one,” he said.

Rocky Mount resident Ronnie Williams said that while the event is fun for the riders, it is all about helping children. Williams wore a Santa Claus suit and beard during the motorcycle ride.

“I wanted to do something funny for the kids,” he said. “It was a lot of fun. (The beard) about killed me, though. It kept flying in my eyes.”

At the end of the ride, Young said about 3,500 toys had been collected. Toys still will be collected throughout the week at the Harley-Davidson store and at the Twin County Motorsports’ Toy Run at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. The chapter’s goal is 10,000 toys.

“We want to ensure that Christmas Day doesn’t go by without having a toy,” Young said. “Can you imagine being a child and waking up to find Christmas Day is just like the day before?”

If you ever see Clanton native Chris Dodd in the Galleria, you must be looking at the ceiling.

Dodd spends more time near the skylights than he does the sales rack, orchestrating one of the state’s largest indoor Christmas light displays.

What has turned into steady work for the last four years started as a fluke when Dodd was just looking to get the opportunity to do electrical work in the facility.

“Every time I saw the maintenance guys, I’d say ‘Ya’ll just let me put a plug in somewhere. Just let me do something and I promise you, I’ll leave you alone.’”

Dodd’s persistence eventually paid off and now he does most of the electrical fixtures for the Galleria, including their signature neon lights in the atrium.

However, an accident involving a lift driver four years ago changed Dodd’s role with the mall, and immediately put him in the Christmas spirit.

“I would rent the lift and hang the neon in the high entry way before they ever put the Christmas lights up,” Dodd said. “Then they would use it for the Christmas lights.”

But, one of the lift operators damaged a storefront about four years ago and since then, Galleria officials will only let Dodd man the lift on the facility’s high atrium.

“They won’t let anybody else do it,” he laughed. “It’s got to be me.”

Overall, Dodd said hanging the lights takes about two and a half weeks, but hanging millions of Christmas lights takes its toll on the holiday spirit.

For a guy that spends more than half a month hanging someone else’s Christmas lights, Dodd said he’s no Clark Griswold at home.

“I don’t do that much,” he laughed. “That’s pretty sad isn’t it?”

Fall’s reds and yellows are on the wane but the colors in the specialty aisles of many area retailers seemed to have changed to red and green overnight.

Christmas decorations have already invaded selected aisles at the Menard store, 3588 Page Ave. and many retailers aren’t waiting for Thanksgiving, traditionally the official start of the Christmas shopping season, to bag early holiday sales.

Retailers are scrambling for early holiday dollars and that could mean bargains for consumers, said Jerry Wood, a Jackson retail expert and owner of GGW & Associates Business Consultants.

Nationally, it could be a pretty good year, Wood said, but Michigan’s lagging economy and higher unemployment tempers enthusiasm here.

Experts believe competition for Christmas dollars will be fierce and consumers could benefit.

“I think that’s why you see them out so early right now,” Wood said.

“And yes, that translates into better buys for consumers because they’re fighting for fewer dollars, so to speak.”

Cross-town home improvement rival Home Depot, 1400 N. Wisner St., started decking the aisles a month ago.

“Hardware, hardware, hardware,” said an upbeat Jim Abraham, store manager. “Our seasonal area is ready to go.”

A late summer created sort of a merchandise gap, Abraham said, but clearance sales will take care of leftover merchandise and clear the way for new tools and hardware items.

Store personnel wasted no time getting Christmas decorations out.

“We tried to get everything set by the first week of October,” Abraham said.

Meanwhile, the Michigan Association of Retailers is projecting “modest” gains for retailers this holiday season.

The association’s monthly retail index survey, conducted in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, indicates 74 percent of those responding believed holiday sales will be as good or better than last year. The average projected sales change was pegged at plus 5 percent, about half the annual increases tallied in 1994 through 2000.

In an association statement, MRA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Larry Meyer said early bird shoppers should reap the benefits.

“Given the sluggishness of Michigan’s economy and recent lackluster holiday seasons, a 5-percent gain for the holidays would be welcomed by most retailers,” Meyer said. “Consumers can look for aggressive pricing and early promotions to kick-start the season.”

A WHOPPING £1million (1,741,563.73 USD) could be riding on a single flake of snow falling this Christmas.

Bookies are reporting more bets than ever on festive- season snowfalls. William Hill have already taken £100,000 and say punters will stake out £1million by Christmas Eve.

Their biggest single bet so far is a £1000 wager on snow in Aberdeen – placed by a punter in Perth, Australia.

Spokesman Rupert Adams said: “Forecasts of a cold winter have stirred interest. We reckon over £1 million will be gambled industry-wide.”

To win, one flake of snow will have to fall on a Met office station on December 25. The betting is 4/1 Aberdeen and Glasgow, 6/1