Candy tossing seen as parade danger
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Organizers say they may have to crack down on people being “naughty” in the Rutherford County Christmas Parade.
Despite rules designed to stop it, children running into the street to grab candy tossed from floats was a problem again this year, said Angie Walker, who organizes the parade every year with her mother-in-law.
“Children were just a […]

Bah Humbug


Santa putting children’s information at risk, warn experts
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Santa Claus could be breaking privacy laws in his collection and use of data about British children, experts have warned. Yuletide cheer-bringer Claus could be putting the personal data of millions of children at risk.
Data protection laws lay down strict conditions for the use of personal data and there is no evidence that Claus has […]

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He Whose Name We Dare Not Speak: Taking Christ out of Christmas
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Growing up in the middle of America during the 1950s, I usually began to notice the first evidence of the Christmas “Spirit” creeping into my consciousness on or about Thanksgiving.
Having the “Spirit” meant that one was emotionally ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, openly and with gusto. The Spirit overshadowed hatred and […]

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Wal-Mart is bringing Santas back to its stores
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Two years ago, Wal-Mart Stores substituted the word “holiday” for Christmas references and encouraged store greeters to do the same, in line with other retailers’ removal of “Christmas” from advertising and stores.
Now, after criticism from religious groups, Wal-Mart is getting back in the Christmas spirit. For the first time, the retailer is bringing Santas into […]

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Australian Primary school chooses Madonna over Christmas carols
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A PRIMARY school has scrapped its Christmas carols concert in favour of scaled-back shows featuring nursery rhymes and Madonna’s Papa Don’t Preach.
Disenchanted parents have written to Premier John Brumby - who called on schools to embrace the festive season last month - seeking his intervention.
The latest furore follows attempts to ban some shopping centre Santas […]

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UK School bans Christmas cards in class
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A school has banned children from giving Christmas cards to their friends, claiming they cause ‘tears and tantrums’. Instead, staff at Healey Primary, Rochdale, told parents of pupils aged five to seven they should send one card, addressed to the whole class, to avoid upset. They claimed some children can be left with hurt feelings […]

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Swedish teacher bans Santa
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A Swedish head teacher has decided to take Santa Claus out of Christmas this year, at least for in-school festivities.
“Father Christmas is, after all, based on the Christian St. Nicholas,” Peter Norlin told Blekinge Lans Tidning.
Norlin said all schools in the Brakne-Hoby area in southern Sweden should also avoid overtly Christian services. He plans to […]

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Ho ho ho Santa - you’re sacked
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A 70-year-old man working as Santa Claus says he was sacked from a Cairns department store for saying “ho, ho, ho” and singing Christmas carols.
In a case of political correctness seemingly gone mad, retired entertainer John Oakes says he was fired from his job at Myer for his rendition of Santa’s famous laugh.
His employer, […]

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Towns cautioned to avoid decorations linked to religious themes
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When Millville bought new holiday decorations for its downtown, it opted for lighted snowflakes to hang on streetlamps along High Street.
Mayor James Quinn said it was a safe decision, as the snowflakes were a generic, secular decoration that wouldn’t offend anyone who might otherwise raise a legal stink over the city opting for something related […]

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Going on the offensive
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The holiday season is here, so it’s time to engage in the time-honored Christmas tradition of objecting to every time-honored Christmas tradition. Australia is a gazillion time-zones ahead of the United States — it may even be Boxing Day there already — so they got in first this year with a truly fantastic headline: “Santas […]

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Surgeon General vs. Santa Claus
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Popular Christmas movies would have you believe that Santa’s biggest problem is people who stop believing. (See Miracle on 34th Street, The Year Without a Santa Claus, Elf, etc.) But today it’s the believers who are causing Saint Nick so much grief. When announcing on Friday that role models have an obligation to promote healthy […]

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Serial killer proves hit on German advent calendar
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A German advent calendar for children has become a hot seller since word got out it has a picture of a notorious serial killer on it.
The cartoon calendar shows Fritz Haarmann, who murdered 24 young men and boys in the 1920s, lurking under a tree with a hatchet next to the door for December 1. […]

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Red & Green Christmas Lights to be Banned as “too religious”
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A special task force in a Colorado city has recommended banning red and green lights at the Christmas holiday because they fall among the items that are too religious for the city to sponsor.
“Some symbols, even though the Supreme Court has declared that in many contexts they are secular symbols, often still send a […]

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Red tape turns off a second UK town’s Christmas lighting
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ANOTHER North Wales town will be stripped of traditional street lights this year because of new health and safety red tape.
Disappointed Pwllheli town councillors said they will only be able to cover the Maes area with festive decorations because of rising costs.
They blamed tight new health and safety regulations for depriving the town of its […]

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Fury at plans to sell Christmas lights
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A TOP business figure has threatened to chain herself to railings if a Suffolk council sells off its Christmas lights.
Although the Christmas lights will be shining this year, Bury St Edmunds Town Council has given interested parties until the end of February to come forward and take the town’s Christmas lights off its hands.
If nobody […]

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Naughty Santa told to lose weight… seriously
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Coming out of the first weekend of November, if the shopping mall can play Christmas Carols already, it’s not too soon to talk about Santa. And it’s never too soon to be politically correct, Here goes.
Santa Claus has been naughty, and needs to shape-up. Literally. Shopping malls in Great Britain — and remember; everything there, […]

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UK: The Law Decided What I’m Doing Totally Illegal
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There could be a glimmer of hope for Gloucester fundraiser Dick Sheppard after the plug was pulled on his charity festive lights display.
Every Christmas for the past 15 years, Mr Sheppard has decorated his house and garden to bring joy to hundreds of children and families.
But this year, the 77-year-old said he would not […]

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Common sense call as bureaucrats ruin Christmas lights
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Health and safety experts have hit back against accusations that their regulations look set to lower the number of Christmas lights displays this year.
The Federation of Small Businesses has claimed that the crushing weight of health and safety compliance is putting more and more local councils off dealing with Christmas lights, which traditionally adorn high […]

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Pensioner’s Christmas light show stopped by nanny health and safety laws
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Pensioner Dick Sheppard has pulled the plug on the spectacular Christmas lights display he has arranged at his home for the last 17 years - blaming ‘nanny’ Government legislation.
Dick, 77, has delighted the neighbouring children every Christmas since 1980 with his amazing garden grotto, made of up of ten thousand bulbs and ninety animated […]

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Christmas lights banned on UK street
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Some traders in Clevedon cannot put up Christmas lights because of new health and safety guidelines.
North Somerset Council said it was unsafe to attach lights to columns in Hill Road because they are not load bearing.
Bob Hughes, from the local Traders Association, said traders had raised £3,500 towards the lights and that the […]

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Christmas trees could be banned in Fort Collins displays
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A task force has recommended that the city’s outdoor Christmas displays include secular symbols and greenery but avoid things associated with a specific religious or cultural holiday.
Task force members generally agreed that Christmas trees wouldn’t be among their recommended displays for city property, although their proposal does not mention them by name, said Seth […]

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New rules to push up price of Christmas trees
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A ruling by the European Union could make the price of a top variety of Christmas tree decidedly unfestive.
Imports of the popular Nordmann Fir, which is grown in Denmark, are to fall after the European Union scrapped subsidies, putting many growers of the tree out of business and leading to a shortage.
That’s putting […]

Bah Humbug, Christmas Trees


Jade’s ‘ludicrous’ £3,000 Christmas lights demand
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DISGRACED Celebrity Big Brother housemate Jade Goody has been slammed after it emerged that she demanded £3,000 to switch on Ongar’s Christmas lights.
Organisers refused to pay such a “ludicrous” sum and instead asked Father Christmas to do the honours.
Jade, who lives at The Gables, off Fyfield Road, Ongar, made millions of pounds following her initial […]

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Village orders pregnant woman to take down Christmas lights
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A Metro East woman who’s nearly nine months pregnant and whose husband is serving in Iraq says she’s at a loss to explain why she was ordered to take down her house’s Christmas lights or be fined 75 dollars.
Melissa Neitzel was among 32 Bethalto residents who received citations last week as part of the ten-thousand-resident […]

Bah Humbug, Christmas Lights


Grandma loses bid to keep festive lights
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GRANDMOTHER Elizabeth Sayers fought back tears when officials pulled down her Christmas lights yesterday.
They had adorned her home in Unsworth Street, Radcliffe, for the past four years.
They were switched on over each festive period but remained unlit on the building for the rest of the year.
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Mrs Sayers said she left […]

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