Joy of Christmas

Archive for December, 2006

IT’S THAT TIME of the year again. The holiday shopping season is in full swing. The stores and city streets are decked out in all their holiday splendor – tinseled trees, angels, reindeer, Santa.

But despite these abundant public Christmas displays, right-wing pundits have begun their annual campaign to convince the faithful that “the liberals,” led by the American Civil Liberties Union, are waging a “war on Christmas.” [When I Was a Kid, This Was a Free Country]

Maybe I’m missing something, but if there really is a war on Christmas, a quick trip to the local mall should convince any skeptic that Christmas has surely won that battle. And I have yet to see throngs of ACLU members picketing the decorated stores. It looks to me as though the Christmas spirit is alive and thriving, as gaudily obvious as ever.

And those who think that the evil godless liberals are out to steal Christmas from them might find it interesting to look at the history of our Christmas traditions. Like many Christian holidays, numerous Christmas customs and symbols have their roots in pagan traditions. Most historians don’t believe that Jesus was born on Dec. 25, and there were no pine trees in the desert around Bethlehem.

These elements were borrowed from the pagan winter holidays of Saturnalia and Yule. So, ironically enough, the early Christians were the ones who originally stole the holiday. But that’s fine, in my opinion. There should be enough holiday spirit for everyone to share.

I admit there are some people who do make a fuss over public displays of religion. They are generally the humorless, militant atheist types who could use a lesson in tolerance (and a big, strong cup of eggnog). Here in the United States, we have freedom of religion. While that also includes the right for nonbelievers to practice no religion, they are doing themselves a disservice by trying to interfere with other people’s right to observe Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan or any other holiday of their choice, religious or otherwise.

But the right-wing zealots need to realize that these types are a very small minority. The ACLU will go to bat when there are complaints about blatant sectarian displays on tax-funded property. But these are very specific incidents. They pose no threat to Santa at the mall.

That said, I have to question the motives of those pundits who, year after year, whine about this imaginary war on Christmas. Are they really so insecure in their piety that they need to blatantly splash their icons in every public square?

And didn’t Jesus himself preach that we should practice our religion in private and secretly, and not in public? According to Matthew 6:5-6, “when thou pray, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy father which is in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee.” I could find nothing in the Gospels advocating giant displays of reindeer and mistletoe.

But I will enjoy those displays, even though I’m not a Christian. After all, we live in a free country, and it is the multi-cultural nature of our melting-pot society that makes this nation so special.

Happy holidays to all.

A man driving a float in the Anderson Christmas parade has been charged with drunk driving after he passed another float then sped down Main Street, police say.

When officers caught up to 42-year-old David Allen Rodgers, he had an open container of alcohol in the truck he used to haul the children and adults on the float for the Steppin’ Out Dance Studio, Anderson Police spokeswoman Linda Dudley said.

Witnesses said Rodgers was driving in line in Sunday’s parade when he pulled out to pass a tractor in the float.

Rodgers sped down Main Street and ran a red light, while a witness on the float called 911 on a cell phone, police said.

Officers started chasing Rodgers, who didn’t stop for three miles. Once he pulled over, he tried to attack an officer, Dudley said.

Rodgers, whose child was on the float, faces more than three dozen charges, including DUI, 18 counts of kidnapping and assaulting an officer, authorities said.

A woman who answered the phone at Rodgers’ home would not talk to a reporter and a message left at the dance studio was not returned Monday.

Rodgers will have a bond hearing on the kidnapping charge Tuesday. He has a prior traffic offense, but Anderson Police officials could not elaborate on the charge.

At this time of year, neighborhoods around the Bay Area put on some spectacular light shows.

Inside 76-year-old Bruce Mertz’s house is a maze of electronic panels that run the 42,000 Christmas lights outside his Concord home. This panel runs Santa and his reindeer.

Bruce Mertz, says ” It allows me to check out each individual reindeer head, tail body, legs, this is a cake pan I got from k-mart and I used it to install all the switches.”

The former Air Force electrician is known around these parts as “Mr. Christmas.”

He designs everything from scratch. He figures out what he wants to see, how his characters should move and then he gets to work.

“When I was in the Air Force I had a lot of bosses and I didn’t have too much time for creativity and so when I got out I got all this creativity bottled up so I let it turn it loose,” Mertz said.

He started putting up lights in 1978. Ten years and two bouts of colon cancer later, he got serious.

He said, “I thought, I got a life and I thought I’d do something with my life and that’s when I decided I’m going to do lights.”

Each tiny bulb is hand painted for optimum color. Santa may have his workshop, Mertz has his office, dining room and garage.

“I’ll show you this computer that’s hanging on the wall,” said Bruce Mertz.

The computer runs Archie—a favorite with the children.

He tries one, tries twice, three times the charm, he goes all the way over.

His electronics are archaic and he’s not particularly organized this time of year. But he’s meticulous about his display and updates his collection each year, this year adding a Hollywood theme with a real red carpet.

Mr. Christmas said, “All my viewers are stars. You know what I mean.”

He spends about seven months either putting up or taking down lights.

About 30,000 people come by each year. All this from a man who grew up on a farm that had no electricity.

“If you told me 30 years ago, I was going to be entertaining people I would have said, entertain people? I don’t have any talents,” Mertz said.

He does have talent and it’s expensive. His electric bill is about $700 for this display, and yes-he accepts donations to pay PG&E.

Christmas Day, Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. Outside it was 33 degrees, snow on the ground, cold wind blowing.

But never mind that. I was at an indoor water park, in my bathing suit, lying on a lounge chair, sipping a strawberry daiquiri. Nearby, my children splashed around, zooming down water slides and hollering with joy. The place looked like a winter wonderland, complete with twinkling lights and decorated trees, but it was so warm inside that it felt like summer.

That was how my family and I spent last Dec. 25, at Great Wolf Lodge in Scotrun, about 100 miles from New York City. Like a lot of indoor water parks, Great Wolf went all out for the holidays, offering everything from Christmas craft workshops to Hanukkah celebrations with candle-lightings and songs. At Grizzly Jack’s Grand Bear Lodge in Utica, Ill., you can have breakfast with Santa every Saturday through Christmas. At Kalahari indoor water parks in Wisconsin Dells, Wis., and Sandusky, Ohio, there are tree-lightings, appearances by Santa and his elves, and holiday movies shown at night. Santa hands out candy canes at the Wilderness Hotel & Golf Resort in Wisconsin Dells, where you can also make mini-gingerbread houses and get an elf to deliver a gift to your child.

Romy Snyder, executive director of Wisconsin Dells Visitor and Convention Bureau, says water parks are catering to the growing trend for families to vacation over Christmas instead of staying home.

“It’s a time for people to get together and really enjoy each other as a family,” she said. “You hear and read so much about the holidays, how stressful they can be, how much work they can be. This is a perfect answer to that. It’s really a vacation for everyone. Someone else is doing the cooking and the decorating.”

In addition, for those of us who live in cold weather regions, the thought of spending a few days in bathing suits in December without having to buy plane tickets to a tropical island is very appealing.

It’s no accident that most of the 80 or so indoor water parks in the country are in the chilly Midwest. Wisconsin Dells calls itself the “Indoor Water Park Capital of the World,” with 20 indoor parks open year-round, Michigan and Minnesota have 20 or so between them, and Ohio has seven, including two new facilities opening this month, a Great Wolf in Mason, and Coco Key Water Resort near Columbus.

In contrast, the East has just begun to discover indoor water parks. Great Wolf opened in Scotrun in late 2005, followed by a Six Flags indoor water park in Lake George in upstate New York earlier this year.

Of course, if it’s peace, quiet and adult conversation you yearn for, an indoor water park is probably not for you. Sure, there are hot tubs, bars and spas, but most of the time you’ll be surrounded by happy shouts, shrieks and the sound of running, splashing water echoing all around in a hollow din.

At Great Wolf, a bell dinged loudly to announce that a gigantic bucket was about to drench passers-by with gallons and gallons of water. And a wolf howled each time the mechanical surf started rolling into the wave pool. There were also lots of water slides, a lazy river, and a ride that flushes you into a gigantic toilet bowl painted in blue-and-yellow stripes; the water swishes you around the bowl, then shoots you out with a gentle splash.

As a mother, what I liked best about the place was that it allowed my children to run around and be silly. At home, they play shoot ‘em up video games and chant the lyrics to rap music; if they’re not playing games on a cell phone or the computer, they’re listening to music on an iPod.

At an indoor water park, though, stripped of electronic distractions, they could act their ages, 13 and 8 at the time. When I let them pick one item each in the gift shop, my older son chose fluffy slippers shaped like giant bear paws; my younger son, who hadn’t played with stuffed animals in awhile, picked out a toy stuffed wolf, named it Buddy and carried it around like a baby.

Outside the water play area, the lodge decor was charming, with wooden rafters, holiday decorations and so many carved figures of raccoons and wolves that when we saw a real deer outside, we thought it was a statue until it ran off. Our room was cozy and quiet, with a gas fireplace and cuddly blankets.

Prices at indoor water parks vary tremendously by day, location and package. In Wisconsin Dells, it’s easy to find rooms for well under $200 a night; at Great Wolf in Scotrun, rates start at over $200 and quickly run into the $400-$500 range, but every room sleeps six, and rates include admission for a family of six. Some indoor water parks offer day passes, but you can’t use the Great Wolf park in Scotrun unless you stay overnight at the lodge.

For those who want a little snow play after splash time, the Pennsylvania park is also near Camelback Ski resort. In Wisconsin Dells, outdoor activities include a variety of snow sports, including skiing at Christmas Mountain and Cascade Mountain.

Snyder said she once heard an indoor water park described as a “reverse snow globe.” From where I sat by the pool at Great Wolf, I agreed. I had a view through a window of the snowy parking lot, where people were crunching around in boots and hooded jackets. How lucky I felt to be in my warm and watery world, on the other side of the glass.

Turns out even Santa Claus outsources.

The U.S. Postal Service kicked off its annual “Operation Santa” program on Monday, offering would-be Santa’s helpers the chance to make Christmas wishes come true for children and families in need by answering letters written to Santa Claus. [The Christmas Letters: A Timeless Story for Every Generation]

Some postal employees started answering letters and fulfilling Christmas wishes more than 80 years ago; last year, the service got about 400,000 letters from all over the country and the world. Close to 150,000 have already been received this year, said Raschelle Parker, manager of marketing for the service’s New York District.

The letters come in all kinds of ways _ handwritten, typed, from children and adults, in English or perhaps Spanish.

Some of the requests are simple _ toys, clothes _ while others are a little more, um, particular. A letter from Zimbabwe asked for video games.

Others are just heartbreaking, and make it clear that some lives are more difficult than others.

Ten-year-old Robert from Brooklyn asked, “Can you send warm bedding for my grandmother’s bed, it’s usually cold,” adding helpfully, “Her bed is a full.”

Edgar, 7, from Queens, wrote on behalf of himself and his 5-year-old brother: “Last year I waited for you and you never showed up. … I am please asking you to send me and my brother coats, clothes and shoes so that I could go to school during the winter. Thank you Santa and please do not forget us this year.”

Some didn’t ask for anything tangible at all. Maya, from the Bronx, sent in a note on white paper covered in purple dots that said, “I want my sister, brother, mom and dad to have a nice Christmas.”

And Floraliz from New Jersey just wanted help. “I’m trying to do good in school so when I grow up and get a career I could give my mother a better life so Santa could you help me because I will behave the best. Love with cookies and milk.”

Manuel Jimenez, 23, was among the first people to look through the letters. The administrative assistant was hoping to find something for his office at Mount Sinai hospital to fulfill.

“It’s always good to give back to people who aren’t as lucky,” he said.

Barbara Vaughan was looking through the letters for the third year, even though she doesn’t even live in the country anymore. A resident of Germany for more than a decade, she’s made sure to stop by the post office when she’s visiting the United States for the holidays.

“This is a program that really brings back that other side; it’s about giving, not just getting,” she said.

People interested in fulfilling a Christmas wish or 10 can pick up a letter from the James A. Farley Post Office on 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan until Dec. 23. Letters come with the writer’s address, so packages can be delivered in person, although Parker pointed out, “There’s nothing more exciting than getting an unexpected gift in the mail.”

Ralphie Parker never slept here.

He did, however, take aim at imaginary nemesis Black Bart from his perch on the kitchen sink. And he was spotted through the front window once, caressing a tarted-up leg lamp.

This is A Christmas Story House, the real Cleveland home that housed the fictional Parker family in the movie “A Christmas Story.” Now, it’s Cleveland’s newest tourist attraction.

San Diego resident Brian Jones bought the house in February 2005 and has poured his heart – not to mention $240,000 – into renovating it to make it resemble the house in the movie. He’s opening it for tours and has created a gift shop and a small museum in another house across the street.

In reality, A Christmas Story House is only part of what viewers remember as the Parkers’ home, the place where Ralphie schemed to get a Red Ryder BB gun. It’s really the house’s exterior that stars in the film; with the exception of the aforementioned scenes, all the interior shots were filmed on a set.

The house is in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood, in a working-class cluster of closely spaced homes dating to the turn of the 20th century. Drive through the streets, and you half expect to see Ralphie and his buddies darting down the sidewalk, fleeing bullies Scut Farkus and Grover Dill.

The house is instantly recognizable to fans of the movie, thanks to the meticulous restoration of the exterior and the iconic leg lamp glowing in the window. Gray vinyl siding was removed, rotted sections of wood siding replaced and the porch largely rebuilt. ICI Paints matched the exterior paint colors, so the yellow siding and green trim wear the precise shades they did in the 1983 movie.

In the backyard, the shed that was swarmed by Black Bart’s gang still stands, overlooking a gray vista dominated by a steel mill. A new board fence surrounds the yard, not so much for appearance as for security.

Inside, however, the match is less exact. Although Jones, 30, said the set was designed to roughly fit the house’s general footprint, the rooms were bigger and the set had features the real house lacked – a dining room, for example, and a staircase with two landings.

So Jones hired Mike Foster, a contractor recommended to him by the Cleveland Restoration Society, to renovate what had been a duplex and make it resemble more closely the interior of the Parker home. It’s more a suggestion of the movie set than a replica, but Jones and Foster have taken pains to re-create it as faithfully as possible.

The construction crew took out a first-floor bedroom and cut a hole in the ceiling to put in the stairs, and a fake fireplace was installed to mimic the one in the movie. A bathroom was gutted to allow for widening the kitchen, which is outfitted with a brown-painted wainscot, the same model of White Star stove that appears in the movie and a sink with doors below, just like the ones Ralphie’s brother, Randy, hid behind.

The crew even cut the 12-inch-square, brown-and-white linoleum floor tiles down to 9 inches to match what would have been available at the time the movie was set, around 1940.

“We’ve done all kinds of crazy stuff to the place,” Jones said.

The house is gradually being furnished, largely with donations from fans. Someone even ponied up a spherical silver shot-glass set, just like the one that sits atop the Parkers’ floor radio.

Part of the house is private, a tiny apartment that Jones occupies during his stays in Cleveland. The house’s curator and director, Steven Siedlecki, looks after the business day to day.

“Me and my wife have kind of tossed the idea (of moving to Cleveland) around,” Jones said, “but it’s cold here.”

It was Jones’ wife, Beverly, who alerted him to the house in the first place. A U.S. Navy officer, she was headed to the Middle East aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard when her captain told her he’d seen the house for sale on eBay. She thought that might amuse her husband, a fan of the movie who made a living making and selling leg lamps, so she casually dropped a mention into the e-mail she sent him four or five days later.

Jones was more than amused. He e-mailed the seller immediately and offered $150,000 – $35,000 more than the high bid at the time – if the seller would take the house off the auction block. The seller agreed and even honored that deal after someone else called and offered $200,000, Jones said.

He’s convinced his investment will pay off. Fans flock to the setting of “Field of Dreams,” “and that’s out in a cornfield in Iowa,” he said. A Christmas Story House is in a city with plenty of tourist draws, so he figures it’s another reason for people to come to Cleveland.

For some fans, it’s the only reason – like the carload of college-age kids who showed up not long ago after a nine-hour drive from Tennessee. Jones let them into the house, and one of the young women was so excited that she phoned her mother to report, “I’m in Ralphie and Randy’s bedroom!”

Jones also bought a house across the street to serve as a ticket-sales center, gift shop and museum. Here visitors can browse a collection of “A Christmas Story” memorabilia that includes Randy’s snowsuit and toy zeppelin (whoopee!), a reproduction Red Ryder BB gun with a compass and sundial in the stock, photos snapped during filming by neighbors and actors, and framed reviews of the movie, not all of them complimentary. A display of blooper scenes points out such goofs as the visible trampoline that boosted Black Bart over the backyard fence and the dual flagpoles that appear in the movie, one in the front of the school, one in the back.

Visitors can also take home mementos from the movie, from a $6 Little Orphan Annie decoder pin to a $595 painting of fictional Cleveland Street by artist Paul Landry. Among the other items for sale are bars of Life buoy soap, jars of Ovaltine, copies of the script, T-shirts, posters and Higbee elf hats crafted and signed by actress Patty Johnson, patterned on the one she wore in the movie. And, of course, there are leg lamps in every conceivable form – ornaments, night lights, light strings and the full-size replicas that Jones sells through his company, Red Rider Leg Lamps.

One thing the store doesn’t sell is BB guns. The restrictions for retailers are just too strict, Jones said.

You’ll have to hope Santa comes through. If he does, just don’t shoot your eye out.

Christmas is the season for taking everything too far.

Look at Clark W. Griswold’s light display, Charlie Brown’s self-doubt, and Jimmy Stewart’s acting—the term “over the top” doesn’t do these crazy characters any justice.

This whole Christmas fever exists outside of cinema, as the holiday spirit takes hold of people and throws them into frenzy akin to Linda Blair in “The Exorcist,” without all of the demon possession and head spinning (except on Black Friday, eesh). And what’s wrong with such passion in the name of charity, family and goodwill? Some might call inviting an entire city of kids to UD to celebrate Xmas “over the top,” but we call it Christmas on Campus. Thus, with all of the lights, fun, and craziness, it’s pretty safe to say that Americans love to exaggerate for their favorite holiday.

Unfortunately, there’s a wonderful touch of grey to this observation of an obvious phenomenon. While most exaggeration of the Yuletide spirit comes with the territory and adds to a general sense of benevolence during the time between Thanksgiving and New Years, our friends in advertising have somehow managed to locate a line and cross it. Now, I’ll admit that the poor people in marketing have suffered enough criticism about “commercializing Christmas” with their jingles, sales, and last-minute shopping extravaganzas, so I can’t blame a group of people for trying to pay the mortgage by providing an honest supply for an otherworldly demand.

Yet, the disgustingly enterprising people at Cingular have encroached upon a new Christmas tradition by adapting the 1983 classic “A Christmas Story” as a commercial for a prepaid cell phone plan, replacing the famous catchphrase “You’ll shoot your eye out” with “You’ll run the bill up.”

Ralphie, get your Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle.

Now, this entire film has endured a history of over-exaggeration. After relatively little success after its release in 1983, “A Christmas Story” managed to skyrocket to the mainstream of American Yuletide consciousness by first cementing itself as a holiday classic and later gaining a 24-hour holiday marathon on TBS. Recently, Brian Jones, a Naval aviator, purchased the original home from the film, located in Cleveland, and transformed it into a kind of museum. The man even sells replicas of the “Major Award” leg lamp that Ralphie’s father exhibits in his window.

These occurrences obviously fit under the title “over the top,” but with a certain justification. This film represents every standard and ideal revered in America, as a young boy with a dream (his BB gun) and a clever sense of humor and fate manages to obtain his goal, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds: hearing “You’ll shoot your eye out” from his mother, teacher, and the Claus himself, suffering the malevolence of the bully Farkas, and facing the embarrassment of wearing a pink bunny suit.

And the Dr. Frankensteins at Cingular have scoffed at Ralphie’s victory by taking the genius of this film and turning it into an ugly, terrible monster of an advertisement intended to play on the imaginations and love of the American public. This commercial doesn’t fit into the category of “over the top” Christmas spirit. Instead, Cingular has crossed a line of decency by spoofing a spoof, and creating a new standard for holiday season advertising. What’s next—Verizon airing a commercial mirroring “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation?” Thanks for ruining a tradition, Cingular. In the words of Joey Tribbiani, “You have crossed the line. You are so far past the line you can’t even see it! The line is a dot to you.”

Now go have Ralphie’s mom clean out your mouth with that red soap, you Grinches.

he History Center’s collection contains more than 22,000 items chronicling nearly every aspect of Allen County’s past. But few will evoke more warm memories, in more people, than the precious bits of red velvet, white rabbit fur, black leather and yak hair the museum received this week.

“This means more to more people than just us. This is much bigger than our family. We’re not giving it away – we’re sharing it,” Laura McCoy said as she donated the Santa suit her late father made famous for more than 40 years.

When Phil A. Steigerwald died from diabetes-related complications on Jan. 15, 2004, Fort Wayne lost more than a 76-year-old father of four. More than anyone else in local history, Steigerwald was Santa Claus – at the old Wolf & Dessauer department store from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s, and at a variety of other venues until the disease claimed part of his left leg in 1996. During his W&D heyday, Santa Steigerwald was so popular he had his own television show, and more than 10,000 children flocked to the huge downtown store every week at this time of year just to sit on his lap.

No one will ever again wear or even sit on the red velvet pants McCoy donated this week, part of the last Santa suit Steigerwald wore at W&D’s. But future generations will get a taste of Fort Wayne’s Christmases past, thanks to his family’s selflessness in parting with one of its most prized possessions.

Curator Walter Font, the man responsible for preserving all the objects in the museum, said Steigerwald’s suit will probably be displayed for the first time, together with other W&D mementos, during next Christmas season’s annual Gingerbread Festival. The museum is in Fort Wayne’s old City Hall at 302 E. Berry St. and, ironically, the suit would most likely be displayed in the same room where Steigerwald served as city councilman in the 1960s.

Even though the Santa ensemble is only a few decades old, Font believes its place in Fort Wayne history and culture is indisputable. “It was an important part of our Christmas tradition, and people remember it,” he said. “This is different than just having photographs. This is the real thing. A generation from now, as people who remember (Steigerwald) fade from the scene, this will help us document the past.”

Before it is displayed, however, the hand-made suit will be repaired if necessary, cleaned, then carefully stored, along with Steigerwald’s size 13 black boots. Also being stored are his white gloves, belt and bells, along with beards and wigs made from yak hair.

As important as the suit is, its historical value would be diminished without the documentation McCoy has collected since her father’s death: newspaper articles, photographs, interviews and other items testifying to Santa Steigerwald’s place in local history.

“Items by themselves just aren’t as useful without the background,” Font explained. “The more you know about the item, the better story you can tell.”

The thousands of Fort Wayne children who sat on Steigerwald’s lap over four decades all have their own unique stories about what he meant to them. But his children don’t have to guess about what her dad meant to people. Fort Wayne made its feelings for Phil Steigerwald very clear just before he died – which is why McCoy, sisters Beth Walker and Marcia Steigerwald and brother Phil C. Steigerwald were so eager to give a piece of their father back to the community.

One of the newspaper stories McCoy gave the museum this week was a column I wrote about Steigerwald’s brave battle against diabetes on Dec. 6, 2003 – a little more than a month before he died. Steigerwald received more than 200 Christmas cards as a result of that column, many of them containing heartfelt notes offering thanks and get-well wishes.

With Steigerwald’s eyes clouded by illness, his children spent what they knew would be their father’s last Christmas reading those cards and letters to him – adding unimaginable joy to an otherwise sorrowful holiday.

“We were overwhelmed by how many people recognized what he had done,” McCoy said. “This suit is so much bigger than our family. I’d like people to remember his spirit of giving, and not just as Santa.”

Everyone dies, but few are blessed to die knowing they are loved by generations of children. Because Fort Wayne gave Steigerwald that precious gift, his children have responded with equal generosity.

The spirit of Christmas, it seems, has outlived even Fort Wayne’s most famous Santa.

For many Christian families, the most important Christmas decoration they place in their home is the Nativity scene, depicting the Holy Family and illustrating the birth of Jesus Christ in a manger.

All over the world, artisans carve, sculpt and paint Nativity scenes, known as crèches (the French word for crib). Some families own one treasured crèche, others collect many.

For the last 12 years, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Corvallis stake center has played host to a community crèche exhibit. The exhibit is open to anyone who wants to display a Nativity scene, and allows visitors to view scenes from all over the world, in all mediums. [Build Your Own Bethlehem: A Nativity Scene and Activity Book for Christmas Time]

“It’s different this year,” said Jacqui Reich, who was helping out with crèche setup on the first day of the exhibit. “It’s separated into categories.”

The Holy Family is this year’s theme, and any Nativity that features only Mary, Joseph and Jesus was placed in a special section. Wood Nativities had their own home, and children’s themed Nativities were placed by the children’s area. A special collection of more than 100 Nativities owned by Kip Worley had its own space, and the rest of the exhibit hall was filled with a variety of different kinds of crèches, featuring everything from resin bears to Eskimos.

“We usually have between 700 and 800 creches,” said Ileen Barlow, who hadn’t counted this year’s crop because people were still coming in with their boxed sets to put on display.

During the two-day event, music will fill the hall, and there will be several concerts in the chapel, including Windswept, an ensemble from Lincoln County, at 2 p.m. today, and the Good Samaritan Handbell Choir at 7 p.m.

For a few hours each day, there are also live crèche displays, where parents with newborns re-enact the Nativity scene. This year, children carrying baby dolls will also have a chance to act out that fateful night in the manger.

Four-year-old Michael Nelson was starting a new Christmas tradition as he helped his mother, Beth, put up several international Nativities she’d been collecting.

“We lived overseas for a few years,” she said, so her display included pieces from Germany, Switzerland and Panama.

“It’s a good thing to collect,” she said.

For Wendi Jessee, 19, Christmas comes with many special traditions, including the annual baking of Jesus’ birthday cake.

The tradition began with Jessee’s great-grandmother, and passed down to her grandmother, Emma Erickson, who baked an angel food cake each year to celebrate Christ’s birthday.

“We eat the cake,” Erickson laughed, but first the family sings happy birthday to Jesus.

Now, Jessee carries on the tradition, but makes a cake for the crèche display as well. When she was 1, Jessee said, she placed a small wooden Nativity scene on top of the birthday cake, and that tradition has continued as well.

In their household, Christmas means putting up many, many Nativities.

“Every year for Christmas we get a new Nativity,” she said.

You’d have to live in one of those vintage Manhattan apartment buildings with extra-high ceilings to make it fit _ and even then, it might not fit your budget.

We’re talking about the asking price for some of the tallest Christmas trees this season _ as much as $400 for a 12-foot Canadian balsam.

“This is New York,” a resigned Kevin Cruse told the Daily News as he and sons Devin, 5, and Taylor, 1, snatched up a 7-foot tree for a mere $100 on the Upper East Side.

The $400 12-footer was offered in Tribeca _ seemingly a bargain compared to a 10-footer priced at $395 at the Chelsea Garden Center, the News reported.

“Hundred of dollars is outrageous,” said Sophia Koulomzin, 27, of Brooklyn, who spent $25 for a 2-foot Christmas bush.

“People think, ‘These guys spend $5 on a tree and make $100,’ and it’s not true,” countered Scott Gartland, manager of the Tribeca lot. “You can do the math of how much money I’m not making.”

Gartland said his prices have held steady for 10 years, despite the $3-a-gallon diesel fuel he uses to run a generator.

And he pointed out that his inventory includes trees for as little as $30.

Jonathan Felch, 39, conceded the $200 he was prepared to pay Gartland for an 8-foot tree was far beyond the $40 or $50 he was used to paying in his native New Hampshire.

But “it’s New York City, and they deliver, so I’m not complaining.”

he most famous Christmas story, not to mention the reason for the holiday, is live and in living color this holiday season for the entire world to witness.

“The Nativity Story,” based on accounts from the Bible, portrays the events leading up to the most famous birth in history and the burden of such a blessing.

Keisha Castle-Hughes stars as Mary, a young woman chosen by God to give birth to his son, Jesus. Although this is a tremendous honor, it is also a burden. Mary’s parents have made arrangements for her to marry a young man named Joseph, so she must remain pure for one year.

In a quest for answers, Mary leaves her hometown of Nazareth to see her cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant although she is advanced in age. After convincing her parents to let her leave, Mary learns that Elizabeth’s baby is a miracle given by God. Their time together reinforces Mary’s faith and gives her the confidence to return home.

Upon her arrival, Mary is now well into her pregnancy. Obviously, her parents and Joseph have questions. Mary attempts to ensure them she hasn’t broken her vow to Joseph, but given the evidence, her parents are skeptical. Joseph, despite his doubts, decides to believe her and keep her as his wife.

Similar to today’s society, a young woman with a child out of wedlock is ostracized by her community and subject to ridicule, apathy and cold stares. All the negative attention begins to wear on Joseph, until one night while sleeping.

An angel of God comes to Joseph in a dream and tells him not be afraid. Joseph should keep Mary as his wife because the child in her womb is the child of God, says the angel. The next day, Joseph goes to Mary and reassures her that they will have this child together.

Meanwhile, King Herod, appointed by the Romans to oversee Israel, is searching for the Savior of whom the Israelites speak. Herod is afraid this Savior will appoint himself king of Israel and kill Herod.

While Herod is leading an exhaustive search of Israel, Caesar makes a decree that makes his search much easier. Every man must return to the town of his birth to be counted for a census.

The Jewish scriptures proclaim their Savior will hail from Bethlehem. Herod orders his men to set up at every road leading to Bethlehem to find this Savior, which he believes will be a man of royalty or great wealth.

In Nazareth, Joseph hears the news and tells Mary’s family that he is from Bethlehem and would like to take his wife and child with him, even though it is over 100 miles away. Their journey is very difficult and takes several days. They only have one donkey, little food and almost no money.

But they aren’t the only ones traveling a great distance. Three wise men, well studied in the Scriptures, have been watching the heavens and observing the movement of the planets. According to their calculations, three planets will form a bright star when they get close. Believing the star is an indication of something magnificent, they set out on a four-month journey in its direction.

What they find is far more valuable than they expected.

While “The Nativity Story” will draw comparisons to “The Passion of the Christ,” they are very different in subject and nature.

Much like “The Passion,” “The Nativity” depicts society some 2000 years ago. The actors were trained to build homes, make cheese and bread, and use the tools from the time the events took place. Theologians and scholars may debate the details, but they are missing the point.

The story nearly every Christian church puts on display for their congregation during the holiday season is now a major motion picture that the entire family can see together.

New research suggests that if you have an artificial Christmas tree you may want to take precautions against lead poisoning.

It’s far too early for Chi Chi Burnett and her family to set up their home for the holidays just yet. But in a couple of weeks, they’ll be ready.

Chi Chi Burnett, Mother: “We have an artificial tree. My mom passed it down. She probably had it about ten years ago, and it’s an inexpensive way to celebrate Christmas because we’ve got two children.”

But there’s a warning from the University of North Carolina-Asheville about those older artificial trees. A 2003 study found some of those branches may have been made with PVC, and putting those trees near heat, like a sunny window or fireplace, makes matters worse.

Sr. Steve Patch, University of North Carolina-Asheville: “These trees, some of the plastics, will dissolve into a dust and lead will be in that dust.”

Ingesting lead, especially by children, can be toxic. That’s why on holiday lights sold in California, many have warning labels on the outside because of a 1986 voter-approved initiative called Proposition 65.

Allan Hirsch, CA Environmental Protection Agency: “It’s just a heads up to the buyer that the product does contain a substance that has been identified as causing cancer or reproductive harm.”

The holiday light cords with the warning label contain at least two percent lead. Consumers must wash their hands after handling them and keep children away.

Most artificial Christmas tree makers, though, have already changed their formulas so that new ones are made without toxic ingredients.

Burnett is upset her hand-me down tree could be harmful.

Chi Chi Burnett, Mother: “It really does surprise me. It also makes me want to go out and just by a new Christmas tree. Lead is a big deal. Lead poisoning is a big deal.”

If you’re worried about the safety of your artificial tree, you can order a test kit from the University of North Carolina.

When National Guard Spc. Michael Plaska celebrated Christmas in Baghdad last year, knowing people in the U.S. were thinking of him mattered.

“When people send trees, and little ornaments and stuff like that … it helps, it makes the holidays go a lot better,” said Plaska, 21, of Comstock Park.

“Having people in the States that are not your family, people who actually care about you, it means a lot.”

To help those risking their lives in the Middle East, and their families in the U.S., Michigan Christmas tree growers are joining a national campaign called Trees For Troops.

The program will send 11,000 trees to families of military serving overseas.

“Our boys are over there fighting for our freedom. It’s the least we can do,” said Jody Wilkes, one of the owners of Happy Holiday Christmas Trees Farm in Greenville.

The farm is among 20 Michigan growers joining Trees for Troops.

This morning, the farm was expected to deliver 100 Fraser fir trees to the Korson’s Tree Farm, where 700 from all over Michigan will be loaded and sent to Fort Campbell, Ky.

From Kentucky, the trees will be distributed to U.S. bases. An international convoy was sent last week from Ohio and Indiana.

Wilkes said he hopes the program will help families cope with having a loved one gone for the holidays.

“When the loved ones are away, the trees can help bring some smiles to the family,” he said.

Plaska’s mother, Tina Plaska, 40, of Comstock Park, said in addition to her son, her husband Sgt. 1st Class Noel Plaska and her daughter Kristy, are all members of the Michigan National Guard and have served in the Middle East.

“The families sacrifice as much as the guys overseas,” she said.

Nationwide, the program is being organized by National Christmas Tree Association in conjunction with FedEx and the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation.

Last year, the first of the program, about 5,000 trees were sent to families, said Marsha Gray, of the Michigan Christmas Tree Association.

“It’s something Christmas tree growers really wanted to do,” Gray said. “The response, from families, has been really good.”

In all, the 11,000 trees from 27 states will be delivered to 25 military bases, in the U.S. and to 17 countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Qatar.

The love affair between Canadian retailers and gift cards has exploded over the past three years, according to Statistics Canada.

Numbers released today show that 82 per cent of large retailers offered such cards last Christmas compared to 53 per cent just two holiday seasons before.

The largest increase has been among retailers that were slowest to introduce such cards, especially clothing stores where gift card availability has doubled to 79 per cent from 36 per cent two years earlier. Supermarkets have also begun to issue such cards more widely.

The Statistics Canada study also shows that that stores which issued gift cards had more than twice the amount in sales than stores that didn’t offer them.

One possible reason that the demand for gift cards has shot up is because they can be purchased using points from loyalty programs, many of which had only offered specific products or services in the past.

“We’re very focused on expanding that category,” Donna Lue Atkinson, director of marketing for Amex Bank of Canada, told The Star.

The addition of gift cards has taken points redemptions to a whole new level, not only because it means the card can be used to buy anything in the merchant’s store but also because it’s less obvious to recipients that you used your points to buy them. The gift cards look just like the ones you’d buy in stores.

Their increased use has also come to the attention of the provincial government. It announced in September that millions of Ontario consumers won’t have to worry any longer about losing the value of gift cards because of expiry dates.

The proposed legislation, which bans expiry dates on gift cards and certificates, will be in place by 2007.

SANTA is urging the people of North Yorkshire to save Christmas, after his sleigh was wrecked in a freak accident.

Thousands of children could miss out on Christmas morning, unless replacement animals can be found to tow the vehicle, after two long-serving horses literally lost their heads.

Disaster struck when Santa got caught up in a road accident in Selby District, on Friday night.

Fallen electricity cables hit his car, causing sparks to fly, and decapitating two polystyrene and fibreglass horses on the top of the sleigh.

The former carousel horses have been an integral part of the Elmet Lions sleigh for 12 years, but Santa is now urgently seeking replacements.

The accident occurred as Elmet Lions set off on the first of 22 nights around the district in the run up to December 25.

Paul Smith, 62, was towing the trailer sleigh towards Ulleskelf with Santa, aka Jeff Jackson, when a car ahead of him hit an electricity pole.

That car then rolled, coming to a rest in Scarthingwell Golf Course. The 25-year-old female driver was unhurt.

But in pitch darkness, Mr Smith then drove into the low-hanging cables, decapitating the horses.

Mr Smith said he saw cars with their hazard lights on at the side of the road, and slowed down.

He and Mr Jackson looked for something in the road, but with the electricity down as a result of the initial accident, they could not see the cables.

He said: “We saw flashing, and heard this clattering sound going straight across the car.

“I looked in the mirror and the horses’ heads just disappeared over the back of the sleigh.

“Santa then got on his belly and crawled under the cables to retrieve the heads, then went to see if there was anything he could do to help. There was nothing.”

He added: “The carousel horses are wrecked – it just looks like they have been melted through.

“The horses have been there since we built the sleigh 12 years ago, and kids have grown up with it. People come out to see it because it’s so unusual.

“We put the horses on because we could not get reindeer.

“The perfect choice would be reindeer, but we would take whatever we could get to cover for them.”

The sounds of Christmas cheer filled the air over the weekend at Iron River’s first Christmas In The Lights Parade on Friday. Lights were beaming from over 30 different floats. Elvis, the Grinch and Disney characters were among some of the themes.

Organizers spent the last four months preparing for the event. They say it helps build Christmas spirit within the community.

Marla Busakowski of Iron River said, “We wanted to bring people into the community and have something different and gives us the spirit of Christmas and show that a small community can do something to have business come to town.”

Organizers say the Christmas In The Lights parade will be a tradition from here on out and will be back the same time next year.

CHRISTIAN and Muslim leaders in Peterborough say moves to suppress the traditions of Christmas is taking political correctness a step too far.
City centre chaplain The Rev Ian Houghton and chairman of the Muslim Council of Peterborough Zahid Hussain have added their weight to a national campaign urging councils not to ban Christmas.

They have expressed their disbelief at revelations this week that the local authority in Birmingham has named its seasonal celebrations “Winterval”, while Luton has attempted to change Christmas into a Harry Potter festival by renaming its festive lights “Luminous”.

Angry at these moves, the newly-created Christian Muslim Forum has fired off a strongly worded letter to local authorities up and down the country pleading for the real meaning of Christmas not to be stamped out.

In the letter, council leaders were told that the result of not mentioning a religious celebration to avoid causing offence would backfire and end up offending the entire population.

Today, Rev Houghton welcomed the letter and echoed the body’s fears that the rebranding of Christmas could spark a backlash against Muslims.

He said: “I think the forum is absolutely right that there is an over-sensitivity and attempts to be scrupulous by local authorities.

“As a result, this may lead to a Muslim backlash. People can often have things attributed to them that they are not saying.

“We all celebrate other people’s festivals, and some of the people in local authorities don’t understand the place of faith in contemporary society. I know enough about Muslims to know that they respect the Christian religion very highly.”

He added that however hard people tried to suppress the spirit of Christmas, it would remain a vital part of all its festivities.

He said: “The giving of presents is symbolic and saying ‘Christmas’ brings to mind Jesus’s name. Millions are aware of the connections, and it’s difficult to break them.”

The Muslim Council’s Mr Hussain said: “Christmas has been celebrated for many, many years and any changes to the name would be offensive, in my view. I fully support this letter. Christmas is Christmas and I don’t think rebranding it is a good idea. Why suddenly change the name when it’s been like that for so many years?

“It’s the celebration of Jesus’s birth. It’s a festival everybody celebrates. Muslims believe that Jesus is a prophet rather than the son of God, but he is very important. We respect him as well as Christians.

“We want people to be tolerant. We should live in harmony and respect people’s views.

“As British Muslims, we all get involved and celebrate it. We have had Christmas dinners and parties. It’s all about getting together and integrating.”

Despite the ease of electronic communication, many people still cling to traditional ways of staying in touch, whether through holiday get-togethers or handwritten Christmas cards.

In fact, Americans send nearly 2 billion greeting cards to friends and family every year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, making the holiday the largest card-sending occasion in the United States.

“Face-to-face communication – dinners and parties, for example – still give that extra intimacy,” wrote Pepper Schwartz, trend watcher and sociology professor who always hosts a big Thanksgiving dinner at her ranch in Snoqualmie Valley, Wash.

“You can hug, sit next to each other, read each other’s faces for true emotions.”

“Between Friends” comics creator and cartoonist Sandra Bell-Lundy mails out greeting cards, has dinner with her girlfriends, even organizes a tobogganing party at her home in Welland, Ontario.

Every year she helps plan the annual Christmas party for the Canada Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society, which she chairs.

It’s important, she said, for cartoonists to connect face to face, rather than through phone calls and e-mail.

“The nature of this business is that we are far-flung and don’t get to see each other often,” said Bell-Lundy, 48 and married with two kids.

“Keeping in touch is an obligation … but it’s a good obligation because it forces you to connect with people,” she added. “Time has a way of passing so quickly when you are busy. I enjoy the effort after I have made it.”

Cathy Chun, a 39-year-old operations manager in Denver, finds immense value in taking the extra time to send handwritten cards to friends and family during the holidays.

She’ll wake up a little earlier most mornings to write short notes in the more than 50 Christmas cards she sends every year.

“This is the one time of the year I can actually send a handwritten note, and I think it’s really special,” Chun said. “Especially with e-mail now, nobody gets letters anymore, nobody writes things. The older I get, the more I feel this way. If I get something handwritten, I think it’s so exciting. I think it makes people feel thought of.”

Even before the Christmas tree was lighted in Rockefeller Center last week, I’d been thinking about evergreens.

Since the fall really, when the hulking cell phone tower on the Hutchinson River Parkway stood out more than usual amid all the red and gold leaves. For the first time, I appreciated the decision to disguise it as an evergreen. Imagine workers climbing up with branches of fall foliage. Would the tree shed a few each week?

But someone had more foresight than I, and its mock needles kept their color.

Those green needles of course are why we decorate Christmas trees. The origin of the tradition is rooted in winter solstice festivals celebrating life in the darkest days of the year.

Christmas, too. The holiday seems to have evolved from a pagan festival called Saturnalia, a seven-day festival honoring Saturn, the god of agriculture, that can be traced as far back as 496 B.C. Romans turned it into a civic holiday of gift giving and gluttony, as my colleague Gary Stern wrote one year, and decorated their homes with greens.

Throughout Europe, you could find traditions around the evergreen, a symbol of life. Celtic priests, Druids, used holly and mistletoe; Germans and Scandinavians placed evergreens in or near their homes as a sign that spring would come.

Christians eventually appropriated the solstice celebrations – and the traditions of fir trees and holly and wreaths – and so here we are at the start of another Christmas season.

And we’ve begun another round of the Christmas wars, when Americans go to it over how to celebrate the holiday. We never seem to tire over arguing about religious displays on public land as if there is no private land that would suit just as well. Or over holiday greetings. Someone on the conservative blog “Redstate.com” called, or e-mailed, 20 chain stores to find out what their policy was on wishing customers a Christmas greeting. His argument was that if stores were making money on Christmas, they should acknowledge it.

So as the battles are waged in this season of peace and love, here are some tidbits about the holiday. Especially about the Christmas tree and charges of a pagan ancestry that it’s never quite lived down.

Christmas didn’t become a federal holiday until June 26, 1870, and its acceptance was hardly smooth. Its celebration was banned by the Puritans in Massachusetts as a superstitious holiday that gave great dishonor to God and one apparently that recalled the disliked Church of England. Between 1659 and 1681, you were not permitted to observe Christmas in any way whether by feasting or forgoing labor. The punishment for disobeying the edict? Five shillings.

Schools in Boston remained open on Christmas Day until 1870. Into the mid-1800s, different denominations differed on whether it was a holiday.

Christmas trees came to America from Germany. Some even say that Hessian soldiers set up a Christmas tree in Trenton, N.J., in 1776, according to the Web site of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library. A few German families in Pennsylvania were decorating trees as early as 1820, but the term “Christmas tree” wasn’t commonly used until 1830.

Queen Victoria, whose husband, Albert, had come from Germany, popularized the custom in England and across the Atlantic. A tree had been a feature of her childhood as well, introduced by King George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte, according to a British government Web site on the royal family.

The first decorated Christmas tree to be put up in a church in the United States caused a stir. It was at the Zion Lutheran Church in Cleveland in 1851. Heinrich Christian Schwan, the newly appointed pastor, chopped down an evergreen in the forest near his parsonage, decorated it with his wife, Emma, with cookies, colored ribbons, nuts and candles, and, according to the church’s Web site, placed it in a prominent spot in the chancel.

Some of the congregation approved; others were indignant. There was this from a prominent local newspaper: “a nonsensical, asinine, moronic absurdity.” It decried “these Lutherans … worshipping a tree … groveling before a shrub.”

And in the best of the Christmas wars tradition, it recommended that the good citizens of Cleveland shun anyone “who tolerates such heathenish, idolatrous practices in his church.”

Irina Koltoniuc, a Jewish native of Lithuania, became a Christmas treasure here when she called a year ago to sound a warning.

“I called because I read the paper every day, and I’m afraid,” she explained. “For people like us who have already been down this road, it scares us to see what is happening because we do not want to go down that road again.

“We see America turning into the kind of society we came from, where everyone was worried about offending someone else and where it was dangerous to draw attention to your beliefs.”

Koltoniuc, 61, saw militant secularists suppressing all reminders that Jesus is the reason for the season and it greatly troubled her, even though her own faith led her every Friday to Shabbat at B’nai Moshe in Brighton, where she settled.

Christmas was her first impression of America when she arrived in December 1989 from the capital city of Vilnius, where religious freedom did not exist. Though she was 44 at the time, she remembered experiencing a childlike wonder.

“It was like stepping into a fairy tale,” she said. “There were ornaments, lights and trees everywhere we looked. It was so festive and such a joy to see everyone free to celebrate what was important to them.”

Manger scenes didn’t traumatize her, nor did Christmas carols offend her, which is why she still can’t understand how we’ve gotten to a point where an angry cult of malcontents, encouraged and abetted by the cultural anarchists of the ACLU, are succeeding in making Jesus persona non grata.

Because they choose not to acknowledge Him, they argue no one else should be allowed to, either. It is insanity.

“It isn’t about me being Jewish and you being something else,” Koltoniuc insists. “It’s about all of us being free to celebrate whatever we believe. I want Christmas trees all around me. I want menorahs, too. I don’t care if someone else doesn’t like them; let them display an apple tree if a Christmas tree offends them.

“Maybe you can’t feel the way I do because you didn’t come from the same place I did, but I see us being pushed in a very wrong direction and that’s why I’m so scared now. America is losing its traditions and traditions are important; they’re what keep people together. As long as no one is forced to agree with them, no one should be offended by them either. I’m a Jew, yet this conspiracy against Christianity frightens me.”

Koltoniuc was right; that’s exactly what it is.

There’s a reason we pledge we’re “one nation, under God.”

There’s a reason we declare “In God we trust” on our coins.

There’s a reason you’ll find expressions of faith in all of our founding documents. It was understood the church didn’t run the state, but the state certainly acknowledged the presence of the church. That’s American history

Freedom of religion meant we were free to express it and free to ignore it.

But now we’re told faith has no place in public life, that Americans must hide it behind closed doors, especially at Christmas.

How ironic that this lady from Lithuania so clearly sees what blinds the rest of us.

“I told them at Shabbat we need to support our Christian brothers and sisters in their celebration of Christmas,” Koltoniuc said, the last time she called, “because if this country ever stops being the country that drew us here, what will our lives be like?

“I wish I could talk to the ACLU, too. If they could spend just a week in the kind of life many of us had before we came to America, they might understand the damage they are doing.”

The annual Christmas wars, pitting right-wing commentators against the supposed enemies of Christ, seem to be getting off to a slow start this year.

The only real controversy I’ve read about takes place in Chicago, where the city has convinced distributors of a holiday movie, “The Nativity Story,” not to advertise during the annual Christkindlmarket, a German-style festival in Daley Plaza.

The movie had its official premiere Nov. 27 in the Vatican and it is now being screened in several Madison theaters. There has been no controversy surrounding the film, which basically tells the biblical story of the birth of Jesus.

Even the Chicago uproar is tempered somewhat by the fact that there is an actual Nativity scene displayed in the Plaza, along with the requisite menorah and Islamic crescent displays.

WorldNetDaily, an online news and commentary service, says it isn’t waiting for the anti-Christmas forces to act. It is selling, for $2.99 each, magnets in the shape of Christmas trees proclaiming “The Reason for the Season.”

This, the Web site promises, is a way to strike a pre-emptory blow.

“Were you tired of the annual ritual of Christmas-tree burnings and nativity-scene demolitions?” WorldNetDaily asks. “Are you sick of being on the defensive each year as the American Civil Liberties Union wars against God in the public square? … This year, you won’t have to wait for the first salvo to be fired by the ACLU. This year, it’s your turn to go on the offensive for a politically incorrect, but spiritually correct, Thanksgiving and Christmas season.”

Just for the record, there is no “annual ritual” of Christmas-tree burnings and Nativity-scene demolitions. Indeed, I don’t recall hearing of even one such instance.

hasn’t protested the religious scenes in the state Capitol (which now includes a placard from the Freedom From Religion Foundation) and it isn’t involved in the Chicago controversy.

But you can’t raise money on the basis of no controversy, so those who want to convince the faithful that Christianity has real enemies keep trying to fan the embers.

And there are some embers. A year ago, even President Bush was attacked as being soft on Christmas, mainly because his official holiday card quoted an Old Testament scripture.

Fox News television star Bill O’Reilly insisted, not only on his show but on the David Letterman show, that Ridgeway Elementary School in the Dodgeville School District was staging a pageant that replaced the song “Silent Night” with some non-Christian words.

O’Reilly referred to the “Ridgeway Elementary School in Dodgeville, Wisconsin,” when it is in fact in Ridgeway, and got all the other facts wrong, too, but that didn’t quell a national controversy based on nothing but misunderstanding and distortion.

A number of conservative groups threatened to boycott chains such as Wal-Mart that used the expression “Happy Holidays,” rather than “Merry Christmas.” This year, Wal-Mart announced it will once again promote Christmas. Spokeswoman Linda Blackley said “We’re not afraid to use the term ‘Merry Christmas.’ We’ll use it early and we’ll use it often.”

So Christmas, apparently, is now safe for commerce, which may, in fact, be the “reason for the season” in our commercial world.

Herald-Standard readers have donated $320 more to the 2006 Give-A-Christmas campaign, pushing the new total to $3,380.

“That’s so great,” said Sparkle. “We appreciate everything you do but we are so far below our goal of raising $40,000 for the Salvation Army. I’m really starting to worry.”

The Give-A-Christmas campaign closed at noon Dec. 22. That leaves 18 days to raise money for the Salvation Army units in the local area. All money contributed stays in the donor’s area. So when a reader in Uniontown donates, that money goes to the Uniontown Corps. When a reader in Masontown donates, that money goes to the Albert Gallatin Service Center. There is no sharing of funds.

“If you want to make sure that your neighbors receive assistance from this campaign, please help,” said Sparkle.

The latest donations came from Uniontown, Hiller, Point Marion and Vanderbilt. They included donations from two organizations: Adrian Bible Class of Christ United Methodist Church in Uniontown and American Legion Post 499 Wednesday Muster Bunch in Point Marion.

“Thanks so much,” said Sparkle. “It really helps when we all pull together.”

The final total will be reported in the Christmas Eve edition of the newspaper.

Sparkle also received the following nice notes.

“We wish everyone a happy holiday,” wrote David and Zoann Callahan of Point Marion.

“Dear Sparkle, Just seeing your cheerful smile every Christmas season and knowing how much you help our needy families makes it a pleasure to contribute,” wrote Bob and Donna Bakewell of Uniontown.

Donations can be mailed to Give-A-Christmas, P.O. Box 1147, Uniontown 15401 or brought to the offices of the Herald-Standard in Connellsville and Uniontown weekdays during business hours. Sparkle cans also have been placed in 250 store locations in the Herald-Standard distribution area.

Today’s donors are Bob and Donna Bakewell, Uniontown; Anonymous, Uniontown; Adrian Bible Class, Christ United Methodist Church, Uniontown; Robert W. Sonoga, in memory of brothers Richard S. Sonoga and Thomas R. Sonoga, Uniontown; Dave and Cherie Pursglove, Hiller; David and Zoann Callahan, Point Marion; Jeff and Stephanie Dean, in memory of sister Sherri McGibbon, Vanderbilt; American Legion Post 499, Wednesday Muster Bunch: Bob Abraham, Jim Anthony, Gene Handlin, Dewey Hughes, Terry O’Neil and Gary Reynolds, in memory of departed comrade George Torbich, Point Marion.

THANKSGIVING Day is dead as a doornail. We now have to get on with Christmas. We can’t pass go. We have to stop at Wal-Mart, Sears, K Mart and Target. The order comes from on high. We have to spend like there’s no tomorrow. And even if there is a tomorrow, we still have to spend more.

Everyone — almost everyone — is going to have a great Christmas, except possibly Donald Rumsfeld. He’s not going to be able to get into the Pentagon City parking lot. But we can’t win them all.

The question is, how do we know that Christmas is that important to all of us, even if we don’t celebrate the birth of our Lord?

We know it because we’ve been told that, even if there’s no Santa Claus, there is still a Christmas. Santa Claus will be waiting for you at Macy’s, Lord & Taylor, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been naughty or nice, as long as you spend some money.

The secret of a great economy is how much money we will spend to make it a better economy than last year. Whether you’re in the upper class, middle class or lower class, you’re still expected to spend your share, either on toys for your children, gifts for yourself, or presents given out of guilt.

To make life easier, department stores open at 6 a.m. and stay open until midnight. Shoplifters are welcome.

How did this all come about? How is it that Bloomingdale’s is running our lives? This is a good question. If I had my way, I’d skip exchanging presents for Christmas — presents I don’t want and no one wants to give me. There are only so many neckties one man can wear at a time. Every year it’s the same thing. Wal-Mart, Target, Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor and all the rest. A new generation has grown up and they’re watching every commercial on television that money can buy.

Is Christmas a good thing or a bad thing? It is something.

There are obviously people who want to do away with Christmas.

They’re the same people who want to do away with the manger and Saks Fifth Avenue window decorations. They’re the same people who won’t even walk down Fifth Avenue and look at the Radio City Music Hall Christmas tree.

The big question is, how do you avoid another Christmas at the very moment that the economy is going downhill?

The question is, what good is a mall if no one will go to it? What good is Internet shopping if you can’t order on it? Where is it all taking us?

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to be a Christmas shopper. You don’t have to be a member of a union to work for Wal-Mart. Does this mean our boys will be home for Christmas? We all hope so.

But we’re all going to have a Christmas, whether they come home or not.

No matter where you are at this very moment, or what you’re doing, we will deal with the holiday, even if the Shias and the Sunnis don’t.

What are we doing over in Iraq in the first place?

Whether you put up a real or artificial tree, there are several key points to keep in mind when you shop for one, says Patti Price, vice president of merchandising for seasonal living at Lowe’s (lowes.com).

Make room for the tree. Decide where the tree will be placed and make sure that area is free of obstructions. If space is tight, consider a slim-line tree; with a 36- to 48-inch base, slim-lines are narrow and easy to decorate and fit into smaller, nontraditional rooms.

If you prefer a real tree and live where floor space is limited, consider one for the tabletop. A Norfolk Island pine makes a nice living Christmas tree and can be planted outdoors.

Pick the right-size tree. Trees come in a variety of heights, from 18 inches to 12 feet. The size you choose depends on your lifestyle. If you’re in and out a lot during the holidays, a 4-foot tree might work best for you.

Also, consider the height of your ceiling. Allow at least 1 foot for the tree topper. Remember, a tree always looks smaller outdoors; it magically “grows,” quickly filling a room when you get it home.

Know your tree types. Artificial trees vary in color, needle style and shape, so you can pick a look that complements your style. Popular varieties for fresh-cut trees include Fraser fir, Scotch pine, Colorado blue spruce and Douglas fir.

Check the density. Coverage refers to how dense the tree’s branches are. A full tree will leave little space for hanging ornaments. Pines are full and dense; spruces are more open and airy. When selecting an artificial tree, make sure that you cannot easily see through the tree and that outer branches allow space to hang ornaments.

Some artificial trees have a tip count, which refers to the number of tips the tree has. But don’t select a quality tree based on this number alone.

For more tips on choosing a tree and tree types, go to the National Christmas Tree Association’s Web site at christmastree.org/home.cfm.

Sunday Morning commentator Mo Rocca expresses his love for the excess of Christmas. It’s big, loud and garish — and he wants it to stay that way.

I love Christmas. Frosty the Snowman, peace on Earth and mangers, Salvation Army bell ringers and reindeer, the movie “Meet Me in St. Louis,” office parties and cookies. Christmas is a stocking stuffed with sugary goodness.

I love the excess of Christmas. The shopping season that begins in September, the bad pop star recordings of Christmas carols, the decorations that don’t know when to come down. One Christmas my father kept our tree up till March. He hated to see it go. I loved that.

Christmas is a big, garish, sprawling, devour-everything-in-its-path monster of a holiday. And thank goodness.

People are nicer to each other around Christmas (except maybe when they’re trampling each other for the Playstation 3). They invite each other to parties and give each other presents. What’s not to love?

I don’t love the Christmas scolds — the ones who say it’s too commercial. Or the ones who won’t use the word “Christmas.” Or the ones who get offended by the greeting “Happy Holidays.”

“Happy Holidays” doesn’t offend me. It just sounds lame.

By the way, there is no War on Christmas, no soldiers slogging through the Nog of War. Christmas is too big to take on.

It’s a big tent holiday. You can celebrate it religiously as the birth of Christ. Or as the one time your whole family gathers in one place each year. Or as an excuse to buy yourself that plasma 58-inch.

When I was growing up the family up the street had the best Christmas decorations on their lawn: A full manger with a baby Jesus and animals, a larger than life Santa, a brightly lit tree, and a team of reindeer including Rudolph … two parts Christianity, one part paganism, one part Rankin/Bass TV special.

They understood the true meanings of Christmas.

I’m a libertarian when it comes to Christmas. Let everyone celebrate it the way they want. Just one thing: no “tasteful” display of lights — you know, the tree with just white lights. I hate that.